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Accompaniment figuration (arpeggios, broken-chord patterns, rhythmic grounding) provides harmonic and rhythmic stability beneath a melody. Well-designed accompaniments are neither too simple (monotonous) nor too complex (distracting from the melody).
Take a simple harmonic progression and create 3–4 different accompaniment patterns: block chords, broken-chord patterns, rhythmic figures. Pair each with a melody to feel how different figurations change the overall character.
From your work with harmonic progressions and voice leading, you know that a chord is a vertical stack of pitches — but in real music, chords rarely appear as frozen blocks. Figuration is the process of animating a harmonic progression in time, distributing the chord tones across beats and sub-beats in a pattern that creates rhythmic and textural interest while keeping the harmony clear. The accompanimental pattern you choose shapes the character of a piece as decisively as the harmony itself.
The most historically pervasive type is the Alberti bass, common in Classical-period keyboard music (Haydn, Mozart, early Beethoven): a three-note pattern low–high–middle–high, cycling through the notes of a chord. A C-major chord in Alberti bass becomes C–G–E–G, repeated in the left hand while the melody flows above. The Alberti bass solves a real compositional problem: it keeps the bass register active and rhythmically alive without drawing attention away from the melody, because the ear groups the cycling tones back into a chord. Other broken-chord patterns work similarly — instead of arpeggios ascending or descending through the full chord, you can distribute the notes in any order that creates the desired rhythmic feel and register coverage.
The choice of figuration pattern serves three simultaneous functions: harmonic (making the chord audible by cycling through its notes), rhythmic (establishing or reinforcing the meter and pulse), and textural (defining the density and register of the musical fabric). A Waltz needs a bass-note–chord–chord left-hand pattern in 3/4 to establish the lilt. A barcarolle uses a rocking 6/8 pattern suggesting the motion of a boat. A hymn uses block chords — full harmonic statements on every beat — creating solemnity and equal weight. The pattern is never neutral; it encodes genre, mood, and motion.
When designing accompaniment, consider how the figuration interacts with the melody's rhythm. If the melody is rhythmically active (many notes, syncopation), a simpler, steadier accompaniment provides contrast and support. If the melody is slow and sustained, a more active figuration keeps the energy moving. Register matters too: low-register figuration adds weight and resonance; high-register figuration can feel delicate or transparent. From voice-leading principles you already know, the inner voices of a broken-chord pattern should move smoothly between chords — avoid large leaps in the middle voices of the figuration, and be careful about parallel fifths or octaves that can emerge when patterns repeat across chord changes. Well-crafted figuration is invisible in the best sense: the listener hears the melody and feels the groove, without noticing the machinery underneath.
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