Passamezzo moderno

The Gregory Walker or passamezzo moderno ("modern half step"; also quadran, quadrant, or quadro pavan) was "one of the most popular harmonic formulae in the Renaissance period, divid[ing] into two complementary strains thus:"

1)	I	IV	I	V
2)	I	IV	I-V	I

Richard Middleton, Studying Popular Music, Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1990, p. 117

For example, in C major the progression is as follows:

C

F

C

G

C

F

C-G

C

(Caution: This file is for reference only and not for practical use: Its sole purpose is to clearly illustrate which chords the progression uses and in what order it uses them; it should not be used as a foundation for composition or for the harmonization of an existing melody. Keeping all chords in root position produces parallel fifths, with the effect that traditional voice-leading rules prohibit the harmonization illustrated in this file. The files following this one are more suitable for use in composition.)

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 1500s, where it was often used with a contrasting progression or section known as ripresi. 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, it was popular in both pop/popular/folk and classical musics through 1700. Its popularity was revived in the mid nineteenth century, and the American variant (below) evolved into the twelve bar blues. (van der Merwe 1989, p.198-201)

Examples

Listed in Peter van der Merwe, Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, pp. 198-201:

• several in The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
• "Up and Ware Them A Willie"
• "Jimmie Rose"
• "Darling Nelly Gray"
• "Wreck of the Old 97"
• Woody Guthrie's "There is a House in This Old Town"
• Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
• The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" (1969)
• Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" (1971)

Listed in Anna Helms, Otto Ilmbrecht, and Heinrich Dieckelmann, Die Tanzkette, Frankfurt am Main: Hoffmeister Verlag, 1954:

• Hans Neusidler's "Gassenhawer" (Nuremberg, 1536)
• "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)

Others:

• "Bile Them Cabbage Down", American folk-song
• Stephen Foster's "Swanee River" (verses)
• "Home on the Range" (verses)
• Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" (1972) (verses and A chorus)
• Iron & Wine's "A History of Lovers" (2005) (verses; chorus and interludes follow ripresi IV-I-IV-V progression)

American Gregory Walker

The American Gregory Walker, popular in parlour music, is a variation in which the subdominant (IV) chords become the progression IV-I.

1)	I	I-IV	I	V
2)	I	I-IV	I-V	I

Richard Middleton, Studying Popular Music, Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1990, p. 117

For example, in C major this variation is as follows:

C

F-C

C

G

C

F-C

C-G

C

Examples

Listed in Peter van der Merwe, Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, pp. 201-202:

• "Jesse James"
• "The Titanic"
• "My Little Old Sod Shanty"
• "Cottonfields"
• "Gus Cannon's "Walk Right In" (1929)

Others:

• "New Britain," best-known melody for "Amazing Grace" (first attestation 1829) (basic setting; many variations a) replace I at start of one or each strain with I-I7 and/or b) replace I at start of one or each strain's second half with vi)

Other variations

On original progression:

• Second strain's first I becomes I-I⁷ (for a stronger "lead-in" to the upcoming IV):

• "Gathering Flowers From the Hillside" (Carter Family, 1935 or earlier)

• Second strain progresses from IV directly to a full measure of V, displacing its second (half-measure) I:

• "Kiss The Girl" (Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, 1989) from Disney's The Little Mermaid  (chorus; verses follow standard twelve-bar pattern)
• "Three Little Speckled Frogs" (traditional children's song)

• Bluegrass variation: First strain's change from I to IV and back is omitted:

• "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" (traditional)

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:

• "Free Little Bird" (David Holt and Doc and Merle Watson; not to be confused with Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird")
• "Yakety Sax" (The Benny Hill Show  theme) by Boots Randolph and James Q. "Spider" Rich

• Vamp/ostinato of first strain until closing line of song:

• "Mbube" (Solomon Linda, 1939), imported into English as "Wimoweh [uyimbube]"/"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

On American variant:

• IV-I is reversed, becoming I-IV or I⁷-IV:

• "Tennessee Waltz" (Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King, 1947) (verse and second strain of chorus)

• Second I in second strain becomes II⁷, yielding second-strain progression of  || I | IV-II⁷ | I-V | I ||| :

• "Truck Drivin' Song" ("Weird Al" Yankovic, released 1999) (A section; also shifts rhythm of two final bars from | I-V | I |||   to  | I | V-I ||| )

External links

• Musica Viva: The Encyclopedia of music: Passamezzo

Sources

• Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
• van der Merwe, Peter (1989). Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-316121-4.
• Anna Helms, Otto Ilmbrecht, and Heinrich Dieckelmann (1954). Die Tanzkette, Frankfurt am Main: Hoffmeister Verlag.