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Melody, Texture & Counterpoint

Ostinato

Pronounced os-tih-NAH-toh

Definition

An ostinato is a short musical pattern, a rhythm, melody or chord figure, repeated persistently throughout a passage or a whole piece, usually while other parts change above it.

An ostinato (Italian for "stubborn") is a short pattern that repeats over and over while the music around it changes. It can be a rhythm, a melodic figure, a bass line or a chord pattern. The repetition gives the music a steady floor to stand on, and it can create anything from calm and hypnotic to tense and driving.

A grand staff in A minor (no key signature), 4/4, three bars. In every bar the left hand plays eighth notes A2, A2, C3, E3 and quarter notes G3 and E3. The right hand rests for two beats, then plays A4 and C5; then a dotted half note E5 and a quarter D5; then quarter notes C5 and B4 and a half note A4.
The left hand plays the same bar, A A C E G E, three times without change. Above it, the right hand plays a melody that enters halfway through bar 1 and moves freely from bar to bar.

Kinds of ostinato

  • Bass ostinato or ground bass (basso ostinato): a repeating bass line with changing music above it. Baroque composers wrote many pieces on a ground bass. Pachelbel's Canon in D is built over one, and Purcell's "When I am laid in earth" from Dido and Aeneas is a famous example.
  • Rhythmic ostinato: a repeated rhythm, such as the snare-drum pattern that runs through the whole of Ravel's Boléro.
  • Melodic or chordal ostinato: a repeated figure in the middle or top of the texture, very common in film music and minimalism.
  • In popular music the same idea is usually called a riff or a loop.

How to play over an ostinato

When you play the ostinato, lock it into a steady tempo and keep it even: everything else depends on it. When you play over it, listen to how your melody fits each repetition. Because the pattern does not change, the melody can wander freely and still sound connected. That is why ostinatos are a favorite tool for beginners learning to improvise.

Ostinato, pedal point and drone

A pedal point holds or repeats a single note; a drone sustains one or two notes throughout. An ostinato repeats a pattern of several notes or rhythms.

Learn and play one with The Ostinato, and find more left-hand patterns in Accompaniment patterns.

Common questions

What is the difference between an ostinato and a riff?

They are the same idea in different styles. Ostinato is the classical term for any persistently repeated pattern; riff is the usual word in rock, blues, jazz and pop, often for a catchy instrumental figure.

What is a ground bass?

A ground bass is a repeating bass line, usually a few bars long, over which the upper parts change with each repetition. It was especially popular in the Baroque period.

Practice it: free worksheets