Re:Tritone Substitutions
by zozbot234 on Sunday July 28, 2024 @07:17AM
(#41092495)
> The whole idea of figured bass is chords.
I think this might be missing the point a little bit - the bassline in figured bass has more primacy than any of the sonorities above it. The most relevant feature of "chord"-based approaches to music (as found historically, e.g. in performance methods for the Baroque guitar, and to a far lesser extent in repertoire for the lute) is that the vertical sonority (such as "Cmaj7") is all that matters; individual "voices" or "parts" are of secondary importance at best. This maps well enough to how lute- or guitar-like instruments might be played in an accompaniment role (since these instruments obscure the sense of a "melodic line" or a "part" the most, for a variety of reasons) but music includes a whole lot more than that.
I think this might be missing the point a little bit - the bassline in figured bass has more primacy than any of the sonorities above it. The most relevant feature of "chord"-based approaches to music (as found historically, e.g. in performance methods for the Baroque guitar, and to a far lesser extent in repertoire for the lute) is that the vertical sonority (such as "Cmaj7") is all that matters; individual "voices" or "parts" are of secondary importance at best. This maps well enough to how lute- or guitar-like instruments might be played in an accompaniment role (since these instruments obscure the sense of a "melodic line" or a "part" the most, for a variety of reasons) but music includes a whole lot more than that.