At 01:50 PM 5/3/2007 -0400, stuart wrote:

I was surprised to learn recently that my son-in-law, who plays bass 
trombone in a Navy Band, learned figured bass in third semester music 
theory, and uses it as a pedagogical tool in coaching young recruits.

That might be consistent with what Stuart says here, but it surprised me 
nonetheless--I didn't realize it was still out there, in what appears to be 
"main stream" music, if you count wind music (military band, concert band, 
jazz, rock, Dixie, etc.).

JB


>Post-Baroque figured basses usually
>involve conservative or retrospective forms or institutions
>(recitatives, church music, conservatory curricula). These
>were not integral to the mainstream of musical thought -
>that is to say, post-Baroque figured bass was peripheral to
>most musical texture.
>