What do you call this alternating melodic pattern?
I hear the following in string parts a lot in intense movie scenes or certain styles of music. I don't think that this falls under the categorization of Alberti Bass since it's functioning as a melodic part and not a bass part. You can assume that the main chord for this example is A minor, but of course, it doesn't have to be, but that's the chord I intend when I show this. Basically, on beats and the "+" and of beats chord notes and non-chord notes are played interrupted by the 5th of the chord. This note that alternates on the e and a if one was counting 1e+a can also be the root of the chord from what I've observed. Any ideas on how to categorize this?
Update: the pattern is not repeating.
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The word that immediately jumps to mind is ostinano.
Here's the relevant quote, in case Wiki drops off the internet. Can't be too cautious.
[An ostinato is] a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the
same musical voice, usually at the same pitch.
This answer is obviously not specific to that particular pattern. However, if I were discussing the part with another musician, I'd refer to it as the 'string ostinato'. There may be a more specific term for that musical phrase; I'm not aware of it.
It's a compound melody, i.e., one that implies two or more voices by means of a broken figuration (by which I mean that a note implying one voice breaks off and leaps to a note that implies another voice, which breaks off in its turn and leaps to a note implying the first voice, and so forth). Kilian Foth has called it "latent polyphony" in the comments, which is a good description, but compound melody is the term I have normally seen used. You will find plentiful examples in Bach: the subject of the Fugue in E minor BWV 548 ("The Wedge") comes to mind.
I don't know if it is a universal term, but I would call that a pedal point, as it is commonly referenced in guitar literature (I have also seen pedal tone).
You can see an example in this video on Eric Johnson's style, showing many variations of the position of the repeated note; Cliffs of Dover has lots of that.
If the entire figure repeated exactly, then it would be an ostinato, the term that endorph used.
But the extract in the OP does not show such a repeat. What we have is a pedal (in the repeating lower notes) with a tune above. A pedal is sometimes called an interior pedal or internal pedal if it is not in the lowest or highest voice.
That musical figure has two voices: a melody in the upper voice and a pedal tone in the lower voice. Bowed strings do not permit sustained chordal tones, so to play multiple voices they must be alternated or arpeggiated. Typically, the music alternates between melody on the beat and the pedal tone between beats. A particularly famous example appears in Cello Suite no. 1: Prelude by J.S. Bach, where the entire second half of the piece is a melody like this over a D pedal.
While this technique is especially common in bowed music, you do also see it in other stringed instruments like guitar and piano. For example, the B section of Für Elise ends with a similar figure in 32nd notes around a G pedal. In that case, the pedal point is an upper voice rather than the bass.
The general term for breaking multiple voices into sequences of notes is arpeggiation and the term for the sustained harmonic voice is a pedal point (which is usually but not always in the bass voice). Note that some musicians use pedal specifically for tones sustained through harmonic changes, while others use it for any “bass note that is held for a long period,” and still others for any long-sustained tonic or dominant tone.
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