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ostinato
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Ostinato
Musical pattern that is continuously repeated during a section or throughout a complete piece of music. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody.
Ostinati play an important role in Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (1913), Maurice Ravel's Boléro (1928), and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (1937). Ostinato-like structures are also important in Balinese gamelan (percussion ensemble). In the 1960s, tape-loop recycling of fragments of melody and sound was a starting point for the minimalism of Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams.
© RM 2009. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.
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arpeggio
atonality
cadence
canon (music)
chord (music)
chromatic scale
consonance
continuo
counterpoint
dissonance
dominant
drone (music)
dynamics (music)
flat
harmonic minor scale
harmonics
harmony
interval
key (music)
key signature
major
major interval
melodic minor scale
melody
metre (music)
natural
ornamentation
ostinato
pedal point
pentatonic scale
phrase (music)
pitch (music)
polyphony
rhythm (music)
scale (music)
sharp
syncopation
temperament
tempo
timbre
tonality
triad
atonality
cadence
canon (music)
chord (music)
chromatic scale
consonance
continuo
counterpoint
dissonance
dominant
drone (music)
dynamics (music)
flat
harmonic minor scale
harmonics
harmony
interval
key (music)
key signature
major
major interval
melodic minor scale
melody
metre (music)
natural
ornamentation
ostinato
pedal point
pentatonic scale
phrase (music)
pitch (music)
polyphony
rhythm (music)
scale (music)
sharp
syncopation
temperament
tempo
timbre
tonality
triad
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