Arpeggio

A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes.

A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the
chord and span one or more octaves.

An arpeggio (Italian: [arˈpeddʒo]) is a type of broken chord,

Arpeggios open Beethoven'sMoonlight Sonata and
in which the notes that compose a chord are played or sung
continue as accompaniment. Play
in a rising or descending order. An arpeggio may also span
more than one octave.

The word arpeggio comes from the Italian wordarpeggiare, which means to play on
a harp.

Even though the notes of an arpeggio are not played or sung all together at the same "The Star-Spangled Banner" opens
time, listeners hear the sequence of notes as forming a chord. When an arpeggio also with an arpeggio[1] Play arpeggio
contains passing tones that are not part of the chord, different music theorists may followed by chord
analyze the same musical excerpt differently.

Arpeggios enable composers writing for monophonic instruments that play one note at a time (e.g., flute, saxophone, trumpet), to
voice chords and chord progressions in musical pieces. Arpeggios and broken chords are also used to help create rhythmic interest. A
notable example of which is the Alberti bass figuration which was widely used in piano music from the classical music period. With
an Alberti bass, rather than play the notes of a chord all at once, the pianist plays simple rhythmic figures in which the notes of the
chord are played as a broken chord.

Contents
Explanation
Instruments
Bell chord
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Explanation
An arpeggio is a group of notes which are played one after the other, added either going up or going down. Executing an arpeggio
requires the player to play the sounds of a chord individually to differentiate the notes. The notes all belong to one chord. The chord
may, for example, be a simple chord with the 1st, (major or minor) 3rd, and 5th scale degrees (this is called a "tonic triad"). An
arpeggio for the chord of C major going up two octaves would be the notes (C, E, G, C, E, G, C). An arpeggio is a type of broken
chord. Other types of broken chords play chord notes out of sequence or more than one note but less than the full chord
simultaneously.

Arpeggios can rise or fall for more than one octave. Students of musical instruments and singers learn how to play and sing scales
and arpeggios. Arpeggiated chords are often used inharp and piano music. An arpeggiated chord may be written with a wavy vertical
line in front of the chord.
 0:00

It is spread from the lowest to the highest note. Occasionally, composers have asked for them to be played from top to bottom. This is
shown by adding an arrow pointing down.

Instruments
Any instrument may employ arpeggiation, but the following instruments use arpeggios most often:

String instruments are used to play arpeggios inclassical music. Along with scales, arpeggios are a form of basic
technical exercise that is used to develop students' intonation and technique.
Bass guitarists often use arpeggios or arpeggiated figures to outline the important notes of
chords.
Banjo players use arpeggios, which are especially apparent in theScruggs style three-finger method of playing.
Guitarists use arpeggios extensively in certain genres, such asneo-classical, and often while employing thesweep-
picking technique.
Synthesizers, especially monophonic ones such as theTB-303, are often called upon to play arpeggios, especially in
electronica. Some synths contain automaticarpeggiators especially for this purpose.
Keyboards, such as piano and accordions, are often used to play arpeggios, even though they are polyphonic
instruments that permit all the notes of a chord to be played at the same time.
Arpeggios are an important part of the jazz improvisation vocabulary of horns and keyboards, guitars, and bass. In Western classical
music, a chord that is played first with the lowest note and then with successive higher notes joining in is called arpeggiato.
Sometimes this effect is reversed, with the highest note coming first. In some modern popular music arpeggiato is called a rolled
chord.

In early video game music, arpeggios were often the only way to play a chord since sound hardware usually had a very limited
number of oscillators, or voices. Instead of tying them all up to play one chord, one channel could be used to play an arpeggio,
leaving the rest for drums, bass, or sound effects. A prominent example was the music of games and demos on Commodore 64's SID
chip, which only had three oscillators, see also Chiptune. The technique was highly popular amongst European video game music
composers for systems in the 80's like the NES; with many transferring their knowledge from their days of composing with the
[2]
Commodore 64. However, this technique was rarely used by American and Japanese composers.

Bell chord
A bell chord, also known colloquially as "bells", is a technique used in musical
arrangement in which single notes of a chord are played in sequence by separate
instruments (or multiples of the same instrument) which sustain their individual
notes to allow the chord to be heard.[3] It is, in effect, an arpeggio played by several
instruments sequentially. This is also known as a "pyramid" or "cascade". It is
common in barbershop music.

The technique originated with jazz big bands and is a staple of trad jazz. A good Barbershop bell chord. Play
example can be heard in the introduction to "The Charleston" by The Temperance
Seven. Additionally, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by the rock band Queen contains two
occurrences of this "bell effect" in the middle section.[4]

See also
Bass arpeggiation
Non-harmonic arpeggio
Ostinato
 Style brisé
Tremolo

References
1. Kamien, Roger (2008).Music: An Appreciation, p.43. McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-340134-8
2. "Arpeggio - Nesdev wiki"(https://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Arpeggio). wiki.nesdev.com. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
3. Averill, Gage (2003). Four Parts, No Waiting:A Social History of American Barbershop Quartet, p.205.
ISBN 9780195116724.
4. ovolollo91. "Queen - The Making Of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' 'Greatest V
ideo Hits 1' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=Z85YsUAU6pA)." YouTube, 17 Sep. 2011. Web.

Further reading
Wayne, Chuck; Patt, Ralph (1965). Guitar arpeggio dictionary: A library of over 2000 arpeggios, Including a diagram
projector and viewing screen, Showing 25 types of arpeggios. H. Adler. pp. 1–51.

External links
iBreathemusic.com – Arpeggios by David Bohorquez (July 15, 2009)
Introduction to Jazz Guitar Arpeggios

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