Sunday, December 4, 2016

"Nothing Left to Lose"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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Last night I learned the bass part in "Nothing Left to Lose," up until the tempo change, at least.  There's a minor difference in rhythm during the second chorus, but my recording doesn't encompass that; it's just the first two verses and the first chorus.

After eight measures of Bb notes in alternating octaves, there's a section in the verses that descends diatonically, skipping octaves after every pair of notes and then going back to single note octave-skipping:


I'm not sure if it's intended as a sort of reference or homage to it, but Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 has this same feature in the second movement (the Air):


(notation found here)

I've found that same feature in some other pieces too (like Grieg's Holberg Suite, Op. 40), but because I first encountered it in that Bach piece, that's what I thought of first.