Friday, April 17, 2015

Learn the Rules so You Can Break Them Part II: Deconstructing Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach is often considered the father of Western music and his compositions form the backbone of our understanding and analysis of music. (Yes, you can blame him for music theory...)
We have been talking about learning the rules before you break the rules. We have even taken some Bach melodies and created variations of our own design.
Today, we will take this excerpt from Bach (which closely aligns to the "rules" of composition) and see what sounds we get when we experiment. We will come back to this example later and consider the analysis of what Bach has written, but for now let's have fun with it.
This piece is written in 4-part texture.

Soprano-top line, Alto-second line, Tenor-top line in bass clef, Bass- bottom line in bass clef.

See what happens when you alter any or all of the lines to create something new from Bach.


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