The passamezzo moderno ("modern half step"; also quadran, quadrant, or quadro pavan), or Gregory Walker was "one of the most popular
harmonic formulae in the
Renaissance period, divid[ing] into two complementary
strains thus:"[1]
1)
I
IV
I
V
2)
I
IV
I–V
I
For example, in
C major the progression is as follows:
C
F
C
G
C
F
C–G
C
The progression or
ground bass, the
major mode variation of the
passamezzo antico, originated in Italian and French dance music during the first half of the 16th century, where it was often used with a contrasting progression or section known as ripresa. Though one of
Thomas Morley's characters in Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke denigrates the Gregory Walker, comparing unskilled singing to its sound,[2] it was popular in both pop/popular/folk and classical musics through 1700. Its popularity was revived in the mid 19th century, and the
American variant (below) evolved into the
twelve bar blues.[3]
"Oxstedter Mühle" (folk dance from
Lower Saxony) (B section)
Diego Ortiz' Recercada Prima / Segunda / Tercera sobre el Passamezzo Moderno (three-part didactic composition in Tratado de Glosas sobre cláusulas y Otros Generos de Puntos en la Música de Violones, 1553). (Readers of Spanish may benefit from the Spanish-language Wikipedia's more extensive treatment of
Diego Ortiz and of the Tratado de Glosas.)
Others:
Iron & Wine's "A History of Lovers"[4] (verses; chorus and interludes follow ripresi IV–I–IV–V progression)
Second strain's first I becomes I–I7 (for a stronger "lead-in" to the upcoming IV):
"Gathering Flowers From the Hillside":[6] The Bluegrass variation frequently occurs in conjunction with the I–I7 "lead-in" and/or the direct IV-to-V transition listed above. The resulting progression is ||| I | I | I | V || I(–I7) | IV | (I–)V | I ||| ; examples include:
^Caution: Keeping all chords in root position without using a stepwise melody produces
parallel fifths (see
parallel harmony), which are prohibited by classical (rather than popular)
voice-leading rules. The following files may or may not be more suitable for use in strict counterpoint, though they lack the ground bass.
Helms, Anna, Otto Ilmbrecht, and Heinrich Dieckelmann (1954). Die Tanzkette, Frankfurt am Main: Hoffmeister Verlag.
Holt, David, Doc Watson, and Merle Watson. 2009. "
Free Little Bird". Piney Grove Ramblers: Bluegrass for the People website (archive from 1 March 2012, accessed 21 April 2020)
Iron e Wine [2005].
A History of LoversCifrasFX website (accessed 22 May 2010).
van der Merwe, Peter. 1989. Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISBN0-19-316121-4.