Ok, although I would say that stringed instruments playing multiple lines goes back much farther than 500 years.
> > I think you're grasping at something here but it's lost in the
> > way you are trying to communicate it.
>
> There's been tradition going for 500 years or so of stringed
> instruments being used to play music with two
> of more melodic lines. My original point was merely to remind of this.
Now I understand this part as in reference to playing a Stick.
> Per points out that with two hands it's possible to
> play 2 independent music statements.
>
> So I'm saying that it's possible to accomplish that
> same split in terms of the music , but without having to assign
> different parts of the body to different tasks.
I agree that you might hear a bassline as having melodic elements, but is it a melody? In my opinion, it dosen't function as a melody so it isn't intended to be one.
> > In the Bourree there is still a melody in the upper voice with a bass line
> > to accompany it.
>
> To me the bassline sounds like a melody.
Granted, but again, it's hard to see a baseline functioning as a melody. As the great master himself once said, " If you can't whistle it when you leave, it's not a melody. "
> Maybe that's because I play that piece myself.
Statement, yes, melody........?
> Isn't a bass-line a musical statement?
Having listened to that piece on many ocassions, I have never heard the bassline as a melody. Thjis would not require a perceptual change, it would require a melody there to be heard.
> > Perception doesn't really have anything to do with it.
>
> If you listened to just the bass line in the Bouree you'd
> hear it as a melody. (and it even has some nice twiddles in it).
>
> That would be perceptual shift.
>
> Try it, it's fun.
Compare to say the Bach Gmaj fugue with the opening statement/subject/melody started in the bass on the pedals, now that is a melody.
A simple fugue might be that, although Bach had written fugues with up to 14 subjects, if you mean "parts" to be subjects. If you just mean 'parts", then no, a fugue would start out with a statement of the subject, usually followed by the introduction of a counter-subject, a re-statement of the subject & on from there to any number of "parts" sounding at once.
> > If you are intending to get across two melodies,
> > a Fugue or Invention would be a much better choice since the
> > listener can discern two melodies ( in the case of a fugue,
> > subjects ) at once.
>
> Actually a within a fugue there is likely to be four simultaneous parts,
Sorry, but I don't know what "that" you are referring to. I think I lost what we were discussing at this point.
> ...but the terms 'subject' (and 'countersubject') don't refer to
> that.
In a fugue a 'subject' is a theme which may appear in a number
> of the parts. You're right though, the two part invention might be
> a clearer example.
> > Still not sure what the overall point is though.
>
> Per's was that the Stick naturally helps the playerUnderstand this part & yes, I completely agree. The guitar was in a long line of instruments that allowed a single played to play some very complicated arrangements.
> to play 2 independent lines, and that this was for him
> a big advantage of moving from guitar to stick.
> I was commenting that the guitar has historically been a
> multi-part instrument, designed to play arrangements of music that
> would equally suit an ensemble.
Yes, Andy, this point is clear & I certainly agree with it.
> I hope I've explained, ...what point are you trying to make?
Mark Showalter
Minden Jot!
myspace.com/folkstone57
http://www.last.fm/music/Mark+Showalter
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