Stronger Bass
A week ago I asked what makes a strong bass line. My friends Alan and Ian answered in the comments with definitions of good bass lines. Ah, now that I have answers, I understand better what question I was asking. I was interested in the quality of strength, which can be a component of goodness but is not exactly equal to it.
In other words, imagine a bass line optimized for this quality I've not yet defined called strength. It may quite possibly (and would probably, I think) lack some of the virtues mentioned by Alan and Ian. Specifically, it would likely not work as an interesting melody when sounded independently.
Again, I have my ideas, but I'd love to hear from others. Also worthy of discussion is a comment made by a long-time chorister during a rehearsal of Jesu meine Freude, a comment which started this slowly gestating line of thought, to the effect that Bach was a master of strong bass lines. Is that true? Is that good?
Labels: MusicTheory
Umie the Umlaut says, "ask your doctor about the Fredösphere!"
4 Comments:
Hmm. This lack of definition thing is a bit problematic. But here goes:
Low and Loud. With lots of fifths and fourths.
That's my idea of strong anyway.
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A good bass line has a mixture of inevitability and surprise. It has to drive towards the tonic (and I imagine that you are talking about tonal music when you ask this question), but it has to do so in a way that makes the tonic a really desirable place to be. A good bass line harnesses the power of gravity. A good bass line outlines phrases that suggest a complicated line of thought, and then offers resolution--a point of repose, perhaps, that sets up the next line of thought. Yes, Bach was the master of bass lines. But he was the master of everything else as well.
One of the bass players in the opera orchestra had the night off, so he bought a ticket to the opera and sat in the audience. When he met his colleagues in the pit the next night they asked him about his experience. "It's really interesting," he said; "while we're playing the tune (F - C - F - C - F- C - F - C ...) somebody's singing a song about a toreador." [this joke is so old it has a Köchel number]
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