Ostinato
Well-known ostinato-based pieces include classical compositions such as Ravel's Boléro and the Carol of the Bells, and popular songs such as John Lennon’s “Mind Games”(1973), Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), Henry Mancini's theme from Peter Gunn (1959), The Who's "Baba O'Riley" (1971), The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997), and Flo Rida's "Low" (2007).
If the cadence may be regarded as the cradle of tonality, the ostinato patterns can be considered the playground in which it grew strong and self-confident.Within the context of European classical and film music, Claudia Gorbman defines an ostinato as a repeated melodic or rhythmic figure that propels scenes that lack dynamic visual action.
This style was emulated by other bel canto composers, especially Vincenzo Bellini; and later by Wagner (in pure instrumental terms, discarding the closing vocal cadenza).
Applicable in homophonic and contrapuntal textures, they are "repetitive rhythmic-harmonic schemes", more familiar as accompanimental melodies, or purely rhythmic.
Over this, the main melodic line moves freely, varying the phrase-lengths, while being "to some extent predetermined by the repeating pattern of the canon in the lower two voices.
His most famous ostinato is the descending chromatic ground bass that underpins the aria "When I am laid in earth" ("Dido's Lament") at the end of his opera Dido and Aeneas: While the use of a descending chromatic scale to express pathos was fairly common at the end of the seventeenth century, Richard Taruskin pointed out that Purcell shows a fresh approach to this musical trope: "Altogether unconventional and characteristic, however, is the interpolation of an additional cadential measure into the stereotyped ground, increasing its length from a routine four to a haunting five bars, against which the vocal line, with its despondent refrain ("Remember me!
A particularly fine and complex example is his Fantasia upon a Ground for three violins and continuo: The intervals in the above pattern are found in many works of the Baroque Period.
Pachelbel's Canon also uses a similar sequence of notes in the bass part: Two pieces by J.S.Bach are particularly striking for their use of an ostinato bass: the Crucifixus from his Mass in B minor and the Passacaglia in C minor for organ, which has a ground rich in melodic intervals: The first variation that Bach builds over this ostinato consists of a gently syncopated motif in the upper voices: This characteristic rhythmic pattern continues in the second variation, but with some engaging harmonic subtleties, especially in the second bar, where an unexpected chord creates a passing implication of a related key: In common with other Passacaglias of the era, the ostinato is not simply confined to the bass, but rises to the uppermost part later in the piece: A performance of the entire piece can be heard here.
131, there is a harmonically static passage, with "the repetitiveness of a nursery rhyme"[14] that consists of an ostinato shared between viola and cello supporting a melody in octaves in the first and second violins: Beethoven reverses this relationship a few bars later with the melody in the viola and cello and the ostinato shared between the violins: Both the first and third acts of Wagner's final opera Parsifal feature a passage accompanying a scene where a band of Knights solemnly processes from the depths of forest to the hall of the Grail.
The "Transformation music" that supports this change of scene is dominated by the iterated tolling of four bells:Brahms used ostinato patterns in both the finale of his Fourth Symphony and in the closing section of his Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Debussy featured an ostinato pattern throughout his Piano Prelude "Des pas sur la neige".
The African guitar parts are drawn from a variety of sources, including the indigenous mbira, as well as foreign influences such as James Brown-type funk riffs.
Harmonic progressions which move from the tonic to the subdominant (as they are known in European music) have been used in Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony for hundreds of years.
[25] The term guajeo is often used to mean specific ostinato patterns played by a tres, piano, an instrument of the violin family, or saxophones.
The guajeo is a seamless Afro-Euro ostinato hybrid, which has had a major influence upon jazz, R&B, rock 'n' roll and popular music in general.
Rikky Rooksby[29] states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song."
[31][33] Many vamp-oriented songwriters begin the creative process by attempting to evoke a mood or feeling while riffing freely on an instrument or scat singing.
Classic examples of vamps in jazz include "A Night in Tunisia", "Take Five", "A Love Supreme", "Maiden Voyage", and "Cantaloupe Island".
[6] Rock examples include the long jam at the ends of "Loose Change" by Neil Young and Crazy Horse and "Sooner or Later" by King's X.
In jazz, fusion, and related genres, a background vamp provides a performer with a harmonic framework supporting improvisation.
"Take Five" begins with a repeated, syncopated figure in 54 time, which pianist Dave Brubeck plays throughout the song (except for Joe Morello's drum solo and a variation on the chords in the middle section).
[full citation needed] Examples include the outros to George Benson's "Body Talk" and "Plum", and the solo changes to "Breezin'".
[31] The following songs are dominated by vamps: John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, and Grant Green's versions of "My Favorite Things", Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" and "Chameleon", Wes Montgomery's "Bumpin' on Sunset", and Larry Carlton's "Room 335".
Depending upon the musician, a repeating figure in "A Night in Tunisia" could be called an ostinato, guajeo, riff, or vamp.
In gospel and soul music, the band often vamps on a simple ostinato groove at the end of a song, usually over a single chord.
In soul music, the end of recorded songs often contains a display of vocal effects—such as rapid scales, arpeggios, and improvised passages.
Unlike these music genres, funk is based on the rhythmic groove of the percussion, rhythm section instruments, and a deep electric bass line, usually all over a single chord.
"[31] Examples include Stevie Wonder's vamp-based "Superstition"[31] and Little Johnny Taylor's "Part Time Love", which features an extended improvisation over a two-chord vamp.
The playing of the lehara is relatively free from the numerous rules and constraints of Raga Sangeet, which are upheld and honoured in the tradition of Indian Classical Music.
It is essential that the lehara be played with the highest precision in Laya (Tempo) and Swara control, which requires years of specialist training (Taalim) and practice (Riyaaz).
While there may be scores of individually talented instrumentalists, there are very few who are capable of playing the lehra for a Tabla / Pakhawaj solo performance.
