Accompaniment

Are chords used in the accompaniment?

• Yes: Chordal Accompaniment

  Number of chords per each note of melody

  < 1 ==> One chord for two or more notes of melody: Sustained-Chord Accompaniment

  = 1 ==> Note-against-note style with all the voice parts in the same rhythm: Block-Chord Accompaniment

  > 1 ==> Two or more repeated chords for each note of melody: Repeated-Chord Accompaniment

• No

  Are the notes in the accompaniment part of a chord?

  • Yes: Broken Chord Accompaniment

    Notes of the chord are played successively one after another: Arpeggio Accompaniment

    • from the lowest to the highest
    • from the highest to the lowest
    • both ways

    Special case: the 1-5-3-5 pattern: Alberti Bass

  • No: A series of low-pitch notes, forming or implying an underlying scale: Walking Bass

    Special case: a pattern of notes repeated over and over again in the same format in one section of music: Ostinato

Hybrid Possibilities:

• The bass of the chord sounded first, followed by one or more soundings of the chord in the upper part: Bass-afterbeat Accompaniment