Re: Figured bass

[Tom Cloyd]

North,

I'm a guitar player, and so am also a bit out of my element here, but my
ancestors came from Scotland, so maybe I can still speak about this, to
you, with some success :).

My own understanding is that figured bass (for which, I'll bet, there
are different traditions, as there are with fretted instrument tablature
- and tablature systems for other instruments as well) is not a
monolithic concept. Its meaning will vary a bit across time and country.
You need to dig into some scholarship to get a better grip on this.
Better yet, go grab a working harpsichord player!

THEN, my understanding is that figured bass is merely an indication of
the desired harmony, although in some cases it may be rather specific in
its indication. The plays need to make some decisions about how they are
going to manifest the indicated harmonic structures.

As a score producer, you will have the same problem. You could, at a
minimum, convert some figured bass indications in a piece to simple
block chords, but that probably wouldn't really reflect the composer's
intentions. It's better than silence, though, and a fairly quick
stop-gap measure.

My thoughts, for what they're worth.

Tom

northofscotland wrote:
> I am not a keyboard player but transcribe recorder music with the bc
> accompaniment from time to time.  One of the objectives is to give myself a
> midi bass accompaniment.
>
> Is there a (reasonably) simple way of converting the figured bass either
> directly to midi (which I think is not the case) or to convert it into a
> more conventional chorded notation and hence to a midi.
>
> My understanding of figured bass in practice is fairly minimal and it would
> take me for ever to convert it manually (I would probably understand it more
> afterwards, though!).
>
> Any advice would be welcome, Thanks.
>   


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Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
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