Writing interesting accompaniment rhythms

Question

I've noticed a lot of music by New York composers use very interesting and varied, unpredictable accompaniment patterns (syncopation, rests, variation, counter-melodies etc) for their songs (like in Broadway songs and some Jazz etc). This doesn't seem very prevalent in the classical school of thought where often the left hand just matches the rhythm of the right-hand or else, plays a relatively repetitive structure.

Here's a specific example: You'll Be Back (piano accompaniment) This song pretty much inspired my interest in jazzy, broadway-ish music and I think it's my favourite and most interesting to my ears. The sheet music can be found on the internet

Some basic observations I've made about this song: a mixture of straight and swing eighths, and triplets, progression of simple to complex, answer-and-call things/countermelodies, chromatic passing notes but no passing chords per se, highly melodic bassline and sometimes even upper and inner-lines, constantly changing rhythm and inversions with a fair number of gaps/rests with no accompaniment at all, The last section ("da-da-da") had a kind of polyrhythm pattern (straight upbeat groove in right-hand over a swing downbeat groove in the left) which represents a peak in complexity, balance- busy, dense sections are followed up by quieter ones, unpredictability

As for specific questions I have about this song, what is the motivation or theory behind the I, I7 chord progression (G to Gdominant7)? And what is the purpose in using the note D quickly (eighth note) to often transition to the next chord?

I̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶o̶u̶r̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶m̶p̶a̶n̶i̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶n̶s̶/̶r̶h̶y̶t̶h̶m̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶p̶r̶e̶d̶i̶c̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶N̶e̶w̶ ̶Y̶o̶r̶k̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶t̶y̶l̶e̶?̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶m̶p̶a̶n̶i̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶I̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶a̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶s̶s̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶i̶n̶g̶.̶

Could I have any general (or specific) advice on how to train/study to be able to write accompaniments like this?

Answer 1

It sounds to me like you're asking to be trained to be creative. You're going after something 'interesting and varied, unpredictable'. Nobody can really train you to be those things. Training is for learning the established knowledge. In order to be interesting, varied and unpredictable you have to take the established knowledge and go beyond it, extend it or add your own flair.

I'd say continue to study the basics - theory, critical listening, playing your instrument, etc. You need that base to stand on and draw from. Then take a leap and write down what you hear in your mind or better yet, what you feel in your gut. You can trust yourself. Delight yourself and you will delight your listeners, or at least some of them.

Answer 2

Many years ago, I asked the same thing and the suggestion was to look at many scores and see what has been done. I took the International Encyclopedia of Music (it has several hundred piano scores from easy to Beethoven Sonatas and Lizst Etudes.) I found only a few basic styles, block chord, arpeggios (Alberti bass), countermelody (imitative or else), boom-chick style (root and fifth on the beats and chords off the beat like typical country bass and guitar).

The trick is to vary each style; classical piano music always makes (usually small) changes with every repeat with big changes to signal important section transitions. A good source of how to vary accompaniment for the same dance styles is available on Todotango.com. There is lots of sheet music from the 1800s to the 2000s with tangos, milongas, and waltzes.

The Library of Congress and some college libraries have lots of sheet music online (all fairly old as it's before copyright.) IMSL and others have some classical stuff. All the stuff there is adaptable to any style. The only thing I've noticed is that even repetitive music rarely has exact repeats; the idea seems to be to allow the listener to know that changes are happening.