Just as we might feel inclined to see music resisting the implicit morality of high and low (high being the good and low being the bad or base, basso, by that telling ambiguity of language), music is much more than melody. Melody may be the pre-eminent quality of western metrical music; but in most performed genres since the middle ages, music was arranged in different voices. Initially, this may have involved little more than a drum or drone that accompanied one voice, more or less providing padding or a beat for the single voice that rose above it. But the bulk of early music already reveals a bass part. With the development of the keyboard, the bass notes could even be played in the left hand by a single performer while the right hand typically provided the melody on the higher side of the scale.
The continuity of the drone is perhaps recalled in the delightful Italian baroque term basso continuo, a bass line that keeps going, or as English musicians would say in the same period, a ‘thorough bass’, meaning a bass that runs through the piece (‘through’ and ‘thorough’ possessing the same etymology). Romantic music makes us think that high and low instruments are put together to make a duet; but that conception does not belong to earlier music, right through the baroque. Even in the romantic period, a piece for violin and piano is not referred to as a duet but a violin sonata (with accompaniment). In the baroque a solo which is unaccompanied is rare and will often be published with the stipulation of being unaccompanied, so that there is no confusion and musicians do not go hunting for the missing part or invent one for good measure.
The continuity of the drone is perhaps recalled in the delightful Italian baroque term basso continuo, a bass line that keeps going, or as English musicians would say in the same period, a ‘thorough bass’, meaning a bass that runs through the piece (‘through’ and ‘thorough’ possessing the same etymology). Romantic music makes us think that high and low instruments are put together to make a duet; but that conception does not belong to earlier music, right through the baroque. Even in the romantic period, a piece for violin and piano is not referred to as a duet but a violin sonata (with accompaniment). In the baroque a solo which is unaccompanied is rare and will often be published with the stipulation of being unaccompanied, so that there is no confusion and musicians do not go hunting for the missing part or invent one for good measure.
Source: Basso: A Low Point in the Study of Musical Meaning and Metaphor by Robert Nelson
Frank Sinatra - All Of Me
Frank Sinatra - All Of Me
- First recorded on October 19, 1947
- Released on "All of Me" single April 5, 1948
- Written by Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons
"Count Basie and his orchestra performed this song in an instrumental on Sinatra's 1966 live album, Sinatra at the Sands. Many unconfirmed sources claim this work was introduced over the radio by Belle Baker in 1931. Broadcasting day and station remain unknown."
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