The Brain and Music

A fascinating study was reported today in an online publication called openculture.com.  The title of the study is ”

“The Neuroscience of Bass: New Study Explains Why Bass Instruments Are Fundamental to Music”  For musicians and music-lovers, we know we love a great bass line.  How many Bach fugues begin with a powerful state of the fugue subject in a powerful bass instrument, like the pipe organ.  The fugue then dances through other registers, instruments and transformations of all kinds.  Then there’s the ostinato bass line, like the famous Pachelbel Canon, where the bass line or specific chord progression, repeats over and over in the bottom-most register of the orchestra or organ, or even piano.  Sometimes called a “ground-bass,”  it creates a sense of grounding in the listener and as it becomes more and more predictable, the listener relaxes into the rhythms, melodies and harmonies, knowing that as the bass remains the same, all the other voices and instruments morph around it.

This new study points out that “Bass instruments don’t only keep time; they also play a key role in a song’s harmonic and melodic structure. In 1880, an academic music textbook informed its readers that “the bass part… is, in fact, the foundation upon which the melody rests and without which there could be no melody.” As true as this was at the time—-when acoustic precursors to electric bass, synthesizers, and sub-bass amplification provided the low end—it’s just as true now. And bass parts often define the root note of a chord, regardless of what other instruments are doing. As a bass player, notes Sting, “you control the harmony,” as well as anchoring the melody. It seems the importance of rhythm players, though overlooked in much popular appreciation of music, cannot be overstated.”

If you find this as interesting as I do, I strongly suggest that you read the entire study, which I’ve linked to in the title above!  Enjoy!