Counterpoint Help

Hey guys, I've been looking for some help on how to improve my voice leading in this piece I've been working on: http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/53776a09feb33c2a470b1adabe6119aa895300c0

It's sorta hard finding help on your compositions when you don't have a teacher. :( 

Also checking this counterpoint exercise would be helpful as well: http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/7e882c8f0658b683ea26d1e9adabb496ea7b5b90

Thank you!

Alright, I got you! 

Okay, first thing I noticed in the second measure, third beat was the E in the treble and C# in the bass. That's not necessarily a good thing, especially when you're building a chord with only two notes. It's implied that it's a dominant chord with the E and C# but it's very, very, very weak. You should, instead of placing an E in the treble, place an A, going back up from the G. And you should make the G a G# because that will cancel out the weak progression you have as well (usually,the dominant (V) doesn't lead to anywhere but the tonic (I), except in special cases, otherwise you set yourself up for a weak progression), and the G# will act as a leading tone for the A and it will pull it back up. 

Secondly, on the fourth beat you have a C# and an A in the Bass Clef. When there's a leading tone (C#), you're always going to want to resolve it by the smallest interval possible. To achieve that, you can take out the A, and drop that C an octave below so that it resolves up to the D that you have in the next measure. To avoid a lack of interest and to follow as good of counterpoint rules as possible, you can make that 'newly put' A in the treble clef a dotted rhythm and then put an eighth note as a C# that resolves to the D in the next measure.

I just noticed that in the first measure, you have a I-V7-IV going into the next measure. That's bad. Especially with dominant seventh chords, you don't want to lead to anything but the tonic chord because that seventh you have, in this case, g natural, adds extra emphasis to going to the tonic. You instead go to the IV chord. Try this instead: think about common progressions. That is, I-IV-V as being the most common and popular. V goes back to I in 95% of those cases, they just never complete the progression. So instead of making that a V7, you could take the A on the third beat of the second measure and make that a G, then provide a IV chord underneath in the bass clef, especially because you have an F# there, that acts as a leading tone for the G and as I said before you want to resolve those. 

Anyway, those are just the first two measures. But, if you look up and apply those rules to your writing, they'll save your life. Also, I'd suggest looking up some basic counterpoint rules (at least similar, contrary, and oblique motions), and try to apply those. Learning and living by those rules for a while will really help a lot of things.

Here's a link to a chart on chord progression guidelines: http://books.google.com/books?id=sTMbuSQdqPMC&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=A+chart+on+chord+leading+rules&source=bl&ots=mM6vXH2ESP&sig=3oL5vKtKFPrcXCQuKs8ynvc1RCc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YhxVVN_iCI2cygSXvoGACA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=A%20chart%20on%20chord%20leading%20rules&f=false

Also, I recommend this book. I bought and read it when I first began composition. If you don't get offended by the title, it can help so much.  

Good luck!