When I first heard this technique applied over 15 years ago, I couldn't believe my ears. How could so much music be coming out of one piano? Turns out, what I was hearing was something called an "ostinato." Ostinato simply means repeating pattern and is used frequently in all kinds of music. But it really shines for the New Age piano genre. Just listen to George Winston's piece "Rain" to get an idea of what can be done with this technique. He uses a very large chunk of the keyboard to create a beautiful left-hand ostinato pattern while the right hand improvises. And what music! You'd swear it couldn't be just one piano but it is! Now, ostinatos can be used to create a staccato sound (as in the Winston piece Rain) or they can be used gently as in the lesson piece "Winter Scene." Here we use 2 chords to create a nice harmonic background. Once the left hand is set, so to speak, the right hand enters in with an improvised melody. And that's all that is required to create a full piece of music! An ostinato pattern can use as much or as little of the keyboard as the player desires. In fact, if you just play a repeating bass note you've created an ostinato pattern. The lesson "Winter Scene" uses suspended chords that are broken up. Winston's piece Rain actually uses a left-hand arpeggio pattern - yes, an arpeggio can be turned into an ostinato too! Once we have the ostinato pattern, we can create a harmonic loop. We can chart out the chord changes on a piece of paper and notate our pattern for future use. Ostinatos are great because they quickly give you the entire background and mood of the piece. We then "paint" our melodies on top of this background to create our aural canvas! |
