Leaping

Chapter 14 — Part II, Motion: How Does the Bass Travel?

The Question

Why does a big leap in a bass line seem to demand something afterward, and what happens if it doesn’t get it?

The Mental Model

Leaping is motion by a large interval, used deliberately for emphasis. Unlike Arpeggiating (Chapter 13), a leap doesn’t have to land on a chord tone or continue outlining the harmony — a leap to a color tone, or an octave displacement, is still Leaping even with nothing following it. What Leaping does require is an honest reckoning with what comes next: a leap creates a registral gap, and that gap asks to be recovered, usually by stepping back toward where the line came from.

A leap that isn’t followed by any recovery — another leap somewhere unrelated, with no settling — tends to read as disjointed rather than emphatic. The emphasis only lands cleanly when the ear can hear the leap and its resolution as one gesture.

Why does a step work as recovery when another leap doesn’t? Chapter 10 established that adjacent motion asks the least possible recalibration of anywhere a line could go next; a leap spends a large amount of registral “energy” all at once, and a step is the cheapest, most legible way to spend the rest of it back down to a stable footing. A second leap doesn’t resolve anything — it just opens a new gap before the first one closed, which is exactly why Panel A reads as unsettled rather than doubly emphatic. The common error is assuming that any motion after a leap counts as a recovery; the Vary exercise below tests this directly by continuing in the same direction instead of stepping back, which is worth predicting before you try it.

The Microscope

Both versions leap the same distance, from the same note. Only what happens immediately afterward changes.

A — Leaping without recovery. A second, unrelated leap follows instead of a settle.

A root leaps up a sixth, then leaps again to an unrelated note.

X:1
T:Leaping — without recovery
C:Alessandro Bessi
R:Concept study
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=92
%%score { RH LH }
V:RH clef=treble name="Harmony"
V:LH clef=bass name="Bass"
K:C
[V:RH] "Cmaj7"[CEGB]8 |]
[V:LH] "^leap"C,4 A,2 D2 |]

Listen

Play Bass only on both. A’s second leap keeps the line unsettled — the ear never gets confirmation that the first leap meant anything in particular. B’s step back down closes the gesture: leap, then land nearby, exactly like a held breath being released.

See

In B, the final note (G) is directly adjacent to the leap’s landing note (A) — a visible step, immediately after a visible leap. In A, the second interval is itself another leap of similar size. The notation makes the contrast obvious: one gesture closes with a step, the other keeps opening with more leaps.

Play

Reach and Settle. Four leaps, each recovered by a step in the opposite direction.

Four bars, each a root leaping up roughly a sixth before stepping back down.

X:1
T:Reach and Settle
C:Alessandro Bessi
R:Exercise
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=92
%%score { RH LH }
V:RH clef=treble name="Harmony"
V:LH clef=bass name="Bass"
K:C
[V:RH] "Cmaj7"[CEGB]8 | "Am7"[ACEG]8 | "Dm7"[DFAC]8 | "G7"[DFGB]8 |]
[V:LH] "^leap"C,4 A,2 G,2 | "^leap"A,4 F2 E2 | "^leap"D,4 B,2 A,2 | "^leap"G,4 E2 D2 |]

Play the leap boldly and the recovery quietly — the dynamic contrast itself helps the ear hear the gesture as one shape rather than two unrelated events.

Vary

Replace each bar’s step-down recovery with a step up instead (in the same direction as the leap). Does the gesture still feel resolved, or does continuing in the same direction start to feel like the beginning of a second leap rather than a recovery?

The Music

“Reach and Return” is an original eight-bar fusion study in A major, in 7/8, alternating leaps with held recoveries across four chords.

Reach and Return. Each leap is followed by a settled, held recovery before the next chord.

An eight-bar fusion study in A major, in 7/8: four leap-and-settle gestures across Amaj7, F#m7, Bm7, and E7.

X:1
T:Reach and Return
C:Alessandro Bessi
R:Fusion study
M:7/8
L:1/8
Q:1/8=192
%%score { RH LH }
V:RH clef=treble name="Harmony"
V:LH clef=bass name="Bass"
K:C
[V:RH] "Amaj7"[A^ce^g]7 | "Amaj7"[A^ce^g]7 | "F#m7"[A^ce^f]7 | "F#m7"[A^ce^f]7 |
"Bm7"[ABd^f]7 | "Bm7"[ABd^f]7 | "E7"[Bde^g]7 | "E7"[Bde^g]7 |]
[V:LH] "^leap"A,3 ^F2 E2 | "^stay"E4 z3 | "^leap"^F3 d2 ^c2 | "^stay"^c2 z1 B2 z2 |
"^leap"B,3 ^G2 ^F2 | "^stay"^F4 z3 | "^leap"E3 ^c2 B2 | "^settle"E7 |]

Reflection

Every leap in “Reach and Return” is followed immediately by a settle, then held stillness (Staying, Chapter 9) before the next leap. What would the piece lose if the recoveries were removed and the leaps simply followed one another directly?