What is Ostinato?
Ostinato is a musical phrase that repeats in the whole music or part of the song. Modern musicians usually do not use the term Ostinato and are more likely to refer to the recurring section such as RIFF or Pattern. Many different genres of music use Ostinatos, but it is most evident in classic pieces, such as Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and early loops of minimalists like Terry Riley. Recurrent melodies, bass lines or percussion rhythmic parts can be classified as Ostinato types, and they are also useful techniques when it comes to writing music.
Most music could be classified so that it has a repetitive section. Many modern music is built in some way on recurring samples that are used for acquaintances and a clear sense of rhythm. For example, most drumming patterns are made up of recurring elements, sometimes with other blows and larger patterns themselves often repeat all over the song. Continuous repetition of any part of music can be described as ostinATO.
All different tools are able to produce ostinato, whether percussion or melodic. For example, many piano players playing "Boogie Woogie" style play with the left hand with a recurring bass line and playing a melody across the top. This recurring bass line of the left hand can be described as ostinato. Many guitarists and bassists use recurring "riffs" in rock or pop songs and often continue throughout the introduction and verse. Although the repeating sections are changing slightly every time, if the nucleus is the same, Ostinato still plays.
Looping is a music movement strongly dependent on repetition. Musicians originally used tape deck to record small phrases of music and the settings are to play a loop. Whatever Ostinato the original phrase, and the musician then plays over this work as if it were an accompanying track. This happens today through digitalH equipment called looper pedals that can be considered as Ostinato machines.
Writing new songs using Ostinato can make this process easier. After deciding on the basic repetition of the rhythm skeleton, the musician can then emphasize and add to it rather than working on a completely different section to follow it. Like the piano player improvising with his right hand above the recurring bass that holds the left, the musician uses a recurring phrase to hold the song together.