ground bass
Looping melodic underpinning
Ground bass is a musical technique where a short bass melody repeats continuously throughout a piece while upper voices vary above it.
The repeating pattern, typically four to eight bars, creates a foundation that grounds the composition—hence the name.
Common in Baroque music: Pachelbel's Canon uses a ground bass.
Also called basso ostinato.
Simultaneous independent melodies
- polyphonySimultaneous independent melodic lines
- harmonyAgreement or musical blend
- chord progressionSequence of tonal changes
- variationChange from a norm
theme · motif · texture · layering · structural · form · development · elaboration
Baroque harmonic foundation
- harpsichordPlucked-string keyboard instrument
- celloDeep-voiced bowed instrument
- organBody's working component
- violBowed Renaissance instrument
Purcell · Monteverdi · Baroque · cantata · aria · lament · recitative · realization
Act of redoing
- loopCurve closing on itself
- cycleRepeating sequence of events
- patternRecurring arrangement or template
- recurringHappening repeatedly over time
persistent · reiteration · unchanging · variation · obstinate · continuous · unbroken · foundation
Arterial blood throb
- meterDevice that measures usage
- grooveNarrow cut or routine
- steadyFixed, not fluctuating
- regularityConsistent, predictable occurrence
beat · tempo · measure · time signature · momentum · drive · propulsion · undergirding
counterpoint
Simultaneous independent melodies
- polyphonySimultaneous independent melodic lines
- harmonyAgreement or musical blend
- chord progressionSequence of tonal changes
variation · theme · motif · texture · layering · structural · form · development · elaboration · descending
continuo
Baroque harmonic foundation
- harpsichordPlucked-string keyboard instrument
- celloDeep-voiced bowed instrument
- organBody's working component
viol · Purcell · Monteverdi · Baroque · cantata · aria · lament · recitative · realization · ornamentation
repetition
Act of redoing
- loopCurve closing on itself
- cycleRepeating sequence of events
- patternRecurring arrangement or template
recurring · persistent · reiteration · unchanging · variation · obstinate · continuous · unbroken · foundation · underlying
pulse
Arterial blood throb
regularity · beat · tempo · measure · time signature · momentum · drive · propulsion · undergirding · metrical
- Music Techniquescounterpoint, fugue, harmony, chord progression, modulation
- Early Musicmedieval music, Gregorian chant, Renaissance music, motet, baroque music
- musical formsfugue, da capo, variations, rondo, minuet
- musical techniquesaugmentation, diminution, inversion, retrograde, transposition
- repetitionagain, repeat, repeated, recurring, recurrence
- Baroque MusicBach, Vivaldi, Handel, harpsichord, Vivaldi Four Seasons
ground bassthrough-composed
Entirely new throughout
free variation · fantasia · recitative · rhapsody · walking bass
ground, bass, background, underground, grounds, grounded, groundwork, grounding, groundless