Identifying harmonized basslines

We are wrapping up the harmony unit of pop aural skills class with harmonized basslines. These sound more “classical” than the other material we’re covering, and for good reason. Long before Western Europeans thought in terms of chords, they saw harmony as something that emerged from the interaction of multiple simultaneous melodies. Baroque composers frequently wrote pieces using ground bass, formulaic basslines that act as a foundation for counterpoint. (Bach used ground bass for the Passacaglia and Fugue and the Chaconne.) Galant composers used schemas, short figures combining basslines and contrapuntal melodies that you use as points of departure for larger compositions. And many European composers in the 17th and 18th centuries honed their skills with partimento, basslines that you improvised counterpoint on top of according to particular rules.

Some the Baroque ground bass patterns and galant schemas persist in the vocabulary of Anglo-American pop, though with fewer rules about the correct way to harmonize them. Continue reading

Polymeter vs polyrhythm

As I continue to build groove pedagogy resources, I want to clear up some persistent confusion about polymeter and polyrhythm. If you don’t feel like reading the whole post, it can be summed up in this image:

The most concisely I can put this into words: in polymeter, the grid lines are aligned, but the downbeats aren’t. In polyrhythm, the downbeats are aligned, but the grid lines aren’t.

Continue reading