Abstract

            The two musical cultures that will be compared in the Music Links Investigation are blue grass and classical genres of music. The two works are Dueling Banjos composed by Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith and Invention Number 8 composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. I have chosen these two works because present musical traits that link them to one another. One of these links is the use of homorhythm. Homorhythm is the use of the same rhythm between two or more melodic lines. In Bach’s Invention Number 8, this is apparent throughout the piece as the treble and bass clef notes vary in a pattern of simultaneously playing eighth and sixteenth notes. In Smith’s Dueling Banjos, homorhythms occur in areas where change or emphasis is apparent. The second musical link in this investigation is the use of polyphony in both Bach’s Invention and Smith’s Dueling Banjos. The polyphonic textures of these two pieces are created through the use of imitation and sequences. Invention Number 8, the melodic line of one of the piano clefs is always one measure behind the other clef at any given point in the song. This is a noticeable change in the music as the rhythms and intervals between the two hands are repeated one after another through the use of sequences and imitation. In Dueling Banjos, the banjos (or guitars, based on the recording used) mimic the melody of one another throughout some parts of the song in the same way. However, as the song progresses, the two banjos develop their own melodies that are played with one another but could still be independent melodic lines if they were separated. These two musical links connect the genre of blue-grass to the classical music genre.