n.
Lowest musical voice or register.
In vocal music, its range is approximately from the second E below middle C to middle C itself. A basso profundo emphasizes a lower register, a basso cantante a somewhat higher one. Outside of Russia, the solo bass voice has generally been relegated to certain standard operatic character roles. The lowest-pitched member of most instrumental families is usually called the bass (bass clarinet, double bass , etc.). In Western tonal music, the bass part is usually second in importance only to the melody, being the chief determiner of harmonic movement, a tendency that became particularly notable after the appearance of the basso continuo 0441; 1600.