Jan. 10, 2017
Two other compositional tools used by composers to help generate new material for their next composition and help develop all of the musical potential inherent in a melodic line are retrograde and retrograde inversion [See blog, Inversion].
When a melody is written or played backwards, note for note, value for value, starting with the last note, we have it in reverse; this is called retrograde (photo).
When the inversion of a melody is played backwards the same way we have it in reverse as well, and it's called retrograde-inversion.
These are among several time-honored compositional tools that can be applied to virtually any style of music.