This paper discusses the generative principles of dance music for eight-bass diatonic button accordion in Central Tyrrhenian Calabria, in southern Italy, and offers insight into the concepts of modularity and micro-variation. It describes a highly formalized real-time process of melodic recombination and variation. Through corpus-based analyses supported by extensive ethnographic and auto-ethnographic data, this article discusses the music in relation to the emic conceptual framework in which it is generated.

In the first part of this article, I introduce the object of research, the methodology and the theoretical framework. Then, I briefly present the instrument and introduce the melodic materials of dance music as conceptualized by the tradition bearers. Next I analyze two pieces of dance music: fina and quattrubassi. The analysis of fina provides insight into modular processes that revolve around a single melodic shape. This section also describes the processes of real-time manipulation of the musical materials. The analysis of quattrubassi describes modularity in more complex tunes, in which different orders of melodic fragments and musical elements are recombined into more extended melodic constructions. This section compares performances from different players and illustrates how the shared tunes vary considerably among the musicians of the area. A final part discusses the significance of the musical materials in defining the identity of the tunes. I identify the defining factors of the tunes’ identities in some elements which appear to be more important than the musical constructions of which they are part.

My article brings modularity and micro-variation to the attention of the international scientific community; it also contributes to Italian studies on modularity by looking into the generative principles of an under-studied repertoire.