Someone at the repair shop changed my car radio station shortly before Christmas one year. I did not notice at first that I was not listening to the local Classical Music channel, because I was hearing traditional carols. But it was not quite right. The choir consisted of three female voices singing tenor, alto, and soprano. As a reflex I began singing or humming the missing bass line to each carol. I had for years sung those bass lines, played them in my feet as an organist, and in my left hand on the piano. The simple fact is, without the bass lines the music is not worth listening to. When an announcer’s voice took over, I realized that it was some religious radio station of the sort that fosters bad taste as if it were superior to art. Somebody had decided that this trio sounded wonderful for want of a bass voice; but it only proved to any discerning listener the very opposite, that is, that four-part harmony should be left intact. The bottom line to all of this is that the bass carries the music. Let us look at different uses of the bass line in music (we will start in Church and wind up at a concert by the Who).
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