The Role / Motion / Groove / Interaction Map
Back matter — Integrated Study and Appendices.
A complete quick-reference chart of every vocabulary term in this book, grouped by Part, each with its one-line definition (copied verbatim from docs/vocabulary-v2.md) and chapter number. Use this page the way you’d use a harmonic cheat-sheet: not to learn a term for the first time, but to look one up fast while transcribing a line you’re studying or composing one of your own.
How to use this page
While transcribing: for each bass note or short phrase you’re studying, ask the questions this book keeps returning to — what job is it doing (Role), how is it moving the harmony (Motion), how does it sit in time (Groove), how does it relate to the layer above it (Interaction) — and use the tables below to find the exact term that names your answer. If nothing in a table quite fits, the closest term is usually good enough; this vocabulary is meant to compress judgment, not to replace it.
While composing: work top-down, the way Chapter 35’s Design Algorithm demonstrates — fix the harmonic rhythm first, then assign a Role to each structurally important note, then fill in Motion between them, then Groove in time, then Interaction with the layer above. These tables are ordered to support that: skim Motion and Groove first for the phrase-level terms (Motion Maps, Phrase Rhythm), then use Role for the note-level decisions.
A. Role — What Is the Bass Responsible For? (Chapters 1–8)
| Chapter | Term | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ground | The bass establishes a chord’s root as the harmonic floor. |
| 2 | Definer | The bass exposes chord quality through a characteristic tone such as the third or seventh. |
| 3 | Inverter | A chord tone other than the root becomes the lowest pitch and reorganizes the sonority. |
| 4 | Pedal | One sustained or repeated bass pitch persists while upper harmony changes. |
| 5 | Reframer | The bass gives an upper structure a different harmonic interpretation. |
| 6 | Driver | The bass’s primary responsibility is propulsion through repeated attacks, articulation, register, or directional insistence. |
| 7 | Supporter | The bass deliberately simplifies its material to stabilize active harmony or another busy voice. |
| 8 | Conversationalist | The bass participates in a perceivable exchange with another voice by shadowing, answering, contradicting, or leaving room. |
B. Motion — How Does the Bass Travel? (Chapters 9–17)
| Chapter | Term | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Staying | The bass deliberately does not travel across a span, functioning as a motion choice (the zero case), not an absence of one. |
| 10 | Stepping | A series of adjacent (second-interval) motions creates a smooth melodic contour. |
| 11 | Approaching | A nearby note aims directly at a target from a half or whole step away. |
| 12 | Enclosing | Upper and lower neighbours surround a target before it arrives. |
| 13 | Arpeggiating | Two or more chord tones of the current harmony become a directed melodic phrase, outlining the chord’s own structure. |
| 14 | Leaping | A large interval creates emphasis and requires recovery, whether or not the leap outlines a chord tone. |
| 15 | Connecting Chords | A route links two structural harmonic destinations while preserving directional logic. |
| 16 | Contrary Motion | The bass and an upper voice travel in exactly opposite directions. |
| 17 | Motion Maps | An entire phrase reduced to and read as a labeled sequence of this Part’s motion decisions — a representation, not a new device. |
C. Groove — How Is Motion Organized in Time? (Chapters 18–27)
| Chapter | Term | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Subdivision | A shared temporal grid (eighths, sixteenths, triplets) makes rhythmic locations countable at all. |
| 19 | Attack Placement | A note begins at a specific, written grid position — a notational fact. |
| 20 | Duration | The time between a note’s attack and release. |
| 21 | Space | Intentional bass silence changes what the continuing texture communicates. |
| 22 | Syncopation | A weak-position attack, tie, or emphasis creates tension against a clear stronger metrical expectation. |
| 23 | Anticipation | An upcoming structural note attacks before its formal chord or bar boundary. |
| 24 | Repeated Cells | A short pattern of recurring attacks, rests, durations, and contour establishes a groove’s identity. |
| 25 | Variation Without Collapse | Exactly one parameter of a Repeated Cell changes while enough of the cell remains for it to still read as the same identity. |
| 26 | Phrase Rhythm | Groove behavior — density, placement, cell identity, variation — is organized deliberately across two-, four-, and eight-bar spans, not just within one bar. |
| 27 | Performed Feel | The closing recognition that notated rhythm (Subdivision through Phrase Rhythm) and human microtiming/Pocket are related but not identical — a boundary chapter, not a new device. |
Two supplementary terms recur across this Part without a chapter of their own, both bounded formally in Chapter 27:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Microtiming | Small performed timing deviations within or around the notated grid. |
| The stable, coordinated performed relationship among pulse, subdivision, articulation, microtiming, and ensemble response. |
D. Interaction — What Happens Between Bass and Harmony? (Chapters 28–34)
| Chapter | Term | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Doubling | The bass reinforces a pitch or line actually stated in the upper voice (unison or octave). |
| 29 | Independence | The bass maintains its own contour or rhythm, distinct from the upper voice, without being locked to it. |
| 30 | Interlock | Bass and upper voice alternate attacks so tightly that neither line alone carries the full rhythm — together they form one composite groove. |
| 31 | Call and Response | One staff makes a complete statement, then the other answers it in the space the first vacated. |
| 32 | Density Balance | The relative note-count and activity level between the bass and harmony layers is a deliberate, relational choice. |
| 33 | Register and Separation | The vertical pitch-space gap between the bass and harmony layers controls clarity, weight, and muddiness. |
| 34 | Harmonic Rhythm | The rate at which the upper harmony changes chords constrains which bass strategies from every earlier Part are viable. |
E. Design — Building Complete Bass Lines (Chapters 35–40)
Part V introduces no new vocabulary terms — it applies every term above to complete compositions instead.
| Chapter | Chapter title | What it demonstrates |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | The Bass-Line Design Algorithm | A repeatable sequence turns harmony into a tested bass line. |
| 36 | Static Funk Vamp | Repetition, space, and controlled mutation sustain static harmony. |
| 37 | Functional Jazz Progression | Destinations and voice leading organize moving harmony. |
| 38 | Fusion Ostinato | A repeated bass cell can remain stable beneath upper change. |
| 39 | Ballad and Inversion Study | Sparse inversions create slow emotional direction. |
| 40 | Complete Capstone | One sixteen-bar composition demonstrates the entire method. |
Quick lookup by question
If you’re not sure which category your question falls into, start here:
- “What is this note for?” → Role (A)
- “Where is this note going, harmonically?” → Motion (B)
- “When, exactly, does this note land?” → Groove (C)
- “How does this note relate to the layer above it right now?” → Interaction (D)
- “How do all of these choices come together in a finished piece?” → Design (E)