0:00 Intro 0:36 Start 1:46 What has been the response to the "Pianist's Guide to Historic Improvisation"? 3:41 What was the state of historic improvisation pedagogy prior to the first book? 5:28 How did you come to write "Improvising Fugue"? 8:16 Acknowledgments to "Improvising Fugue" 9:34 A brief history on fugues 12:32 Will it help to play a lot of fugues from the repertoire when learning to improvise one? 14:24 Do you play fugues in the repertoire differently now that you know to improvise one? 17:22 Talking about the cover of "Improvising Fugue" 20:18 Why did you dedicate four chapters to partimento in your book on improvising fugue? 22:20 What about the German tradition of thoroughbass like CPE Bach? 24:08 As a conservatory professor, what's it like looking at conservatories in history (Neapolitan/Paris) and how they taught, has it influenced you? 27:09 What are the prerequisites for tackling the book? 29:11 How do you get better at sightreading? 34:02 Were there no repertoires in the past? 35:56 What's a partimento fugue? 39:52 Can you spot imitative cues in the partimento and learn to play them on the spot? 42:00 Is practicing these imitations in partimento going to help with improvising fugues? 43:28 How long would it take to improvise a fugue? 44:54 How long did it take you to start improvising a fugue? 46:04 Ex. 6.20 Leonardo Leo partimento fugue Gj1800 51:45 What is it about a fugue that is exciting? 53:52 Ex. 6.21 Zingarelli's partimento in C major 57:45 What about modern fugues like the ones by Shostakovich? 59:38 Is partimento useful for the 19th century? 1:01:10 Bicinium patterns 1:04:29 Durante's Esercizio 1:06:49 Are thinking in terms of scale degrees important in fugal improvisation? 1:10:17 Where do you get musical ideas from? 1:11:46 Chapter 9 - Introduction to Improvised Fugue 1:13:05 Ex. 10.1 Handel's fugue subject 1:14:22 Does partimento relate with Handel? 1:15:01 What's the difference between the German Generalbass tradition and Italian Partimento? 1:16:28 Ex. 10.12 Ideas for episodes 1:18:36 Chapter 11 - Exposition 1:21:19 Vocal fugues vs Keyboard fugues? 1:22:40 Chapter 12 - Episode 1:23:26 Chapter 13 - Presentation 1:24:10 Chapter 14 - Stretto 1:26:32 Chapter 15 - Pedal Point 1:27:14 Chapter 15 - Cadenza 1:28:07 Chapter 15 - Ending 1:28:57 Chapter 16 - Improvising Fugue 1:30:15 What do you think of the historical treatises on fugue? Which was the most useful? 1:32:49 What are your plans for a 3rd book? 1:33:59 There's no 19th-century Romantic equivalent to 18th-century partimento 1:39:14 What's the future for Historic Improvisation in the Conservatory system? 1:43:09 Wrapping Up 1:43:52 Outro
Nikhil, here’s a question you might put out to your channel as a poll: “Would you be willing to accept a minor decrease in piano virtuosity (amongst pianists as a class) in return for a higher level of creativity and improvisational ability?” I know I would.
Professor Mortensen, I've been following you for a couple years. Deciding how far I need to get in the preluding book before I can justify buying this one. Thank you for sharing and teaching all of us!
"The partimento system gets you playing real music quicker" 100%. I remember feeling so frustrated trying to teach myself from Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony, going through pages and pages on connecting together arbitrary progressions of root position chords, and none of it sounded like music. Compare that to learning rule of the octave in a few major and minor keys and suddenly my star trek universal translator is working, I feel like a native speaker.
i also came from this book to another approach when i arrived in Austria. BUt his book is good as well, but for other goals, more philosophical. The start and the end are the best parts
I've read that Bach's chorale or cantata were performed in church with the organist-assistant transposing up while the singers were transposing down to match the instrumentalist playing in a tuning in a third registration between....with Bach leading from the harpsichord sitting with the instrumentalists. Madness!
1:10:00 absolutely! exact how i teach.. The difference is that i focus on the simplest and average of GREAT composers. Don´t need to low the standards so much.
I am his subscriber from the time when he started focusing on improvisation. I agree with so many things in his mindset. For example the memory "humiliation" all this i saw at the university and sufferedd this. I had also a wrong mindset about reading. I changedd this after i noticed that reading orq. scores on piano prima vista radically improved my musical vision and muscles. But notice: it is also CRUCIAL as composer that you memorize music as well. There is a very especial thing that happens when you have the music in your mind, not eyes.
How Long? To what end? Witness the revival of Greek, circa 1500. How many learned to read or speak it fluently? Yet the attempt changed Europe forever. Those able to perform Partimenti flawlessly will never be legion; the legions who might give it a go will never be the same. The dissonances and resolutions of the RO and their more complex relatives, set free from canonical score, are both a baseline and an inspiration to anyone fond of "chords". The process is reward, since it is play. Shout this! I'm ordering book shortly, Thanks to you both!!
What I would deem the most challenging part when improvising a sonata is the ability to memorize created thematic material. I don't know whether there are any techniques to enhance that kind of memorization (apart from preparing themes in advance, or using schemata).
yes, this is why it is important to practice memorization when improvising. ANd is possible to improvise sonatas memorizing themes on the fly, just start simple and take advantage of the variations. I did improvisations with repetitions, you can find in my channel. But they are the hardest, because you can´t ust repeat wrongly
I wonder about this too. My hypothesis is that learning diminutions will be useful, because it's easier to remember a framework + what kind of diminution you used, rather than a string of separate notes. Really, any way you can learn *chunks* of melodic material that will collapse many objects into one will help I think
i managed to teach this hier in Austria, and can understand how hard it is for him to open the way. I wish this book gives a strong authoritty to open more jobs in field improvisaiton/composition. I guess what makes hard for his case is that he sees this too much as a "tool" for the concert pianist. I see it as a tool for the composers, without which they will struggle too much as composers. This means, when this teacher talks to another piano teacher about inserting this content in the curriculum, he will face all the conservatism of obssessed pianists who think they are the climax and limit of beauty and classical music and they know how do you become the next Chopin (as if you should...) So i would suggest hitting more in composition/theory departments, as i did. Another thing is the internet presence, and opening something more independent from yes and no of clueless people ; one can see he is not totally "in" as online educator. And this teacher has FAR more teachiing experience and also the books behind him to help, i wish it goes well.
You mention how jazz education just throws you into the solos. Are you familiar with Bradley Sowash's work? He is putting out books for pre-collegiate classical teachers to use with students. The format is stepwise and extremely approachable.
48:00 from bar 228 is way too hard, because of the two voices above. THe bass has to fit to this quickly and still findd its way to subject. Hard prima vista
0:00 Intro
0:36 Start
1:46 What has been the response to the "Pianist's Guide to Historic Improvisation"?
3:41 What was the state of historic improvisation pedagogy prior to the first book?
5:28 How did you come to write "Improvising Fugue"?
8:16 Acknowledgments to "Improvising Fugue"
9:34 A brief history on fugues
12:32 Will it help to play a lot of fugues from the repertoire when learning to improvise one?
14:24 Do you play fugues in the repertoire differently now that you know to improvise one?
17:22 Talking about the cover of "Improvising Fugue"
20:18 Why did you dedicate four chapters to partimento in your book on improvising fugue?
22:20 What about the German tradition of thoroughbass like CPE Bach?
24:08 As a conservatory professor, what's it like looking at conservatories in history (Neapolitan/Paris) and how they taught, has it influenced you?
27:09 What are the prerequisites for tackling the book?
29:11 How do you get better at sightreading?
34:02 Were there no repertoires in the past?
35:56 What's a partimento fugue?
39:52 Can you spot imitative cues in the partimento and learn to play them on the spot?
42:00 Is practicing these imitations in partimento going to help with improvising fugues?
43:28 How long would it take to improvise a fugue?
44:54 How long did it take you to start improvising a fugue?
46:04 Ex. 6.20 Leonardo Leo partimento fugue Gj1800
51:45 What is it about a fugue that is exciting?
53:52 Ex. 6.21 Zingarelli's partimento in C major
57:45 What about modern fugues like the ones by Shostakovich?
59:38 Is partimento useful for the 19th century?
1:01:10 Bicinium patterns
1:04:29 Durante's Esercizio
1:06:49 Are thinking in terms of scale degrees important in fugal improvisation?
1:10:17 Where do you get musical ideas from?
1:11:46 Chapter 9 - Introduction to Improvised Fugue
1:13:05 Ex. 10.1 Handel's fugue subject
1:14:22 Does partimento relate with Handel?
1:15:01 What's the difference between the German Generalbass tradition and Italian Partimento?
1:16:28 Ex. 10.12 Ideas for episodes
1:18:36 Chapter 11 - Exposition
1:21:19 Vocal fugues vs Keyboard fugues?
1:22:40 Chapter 12 - Episode
1:23:26 Chapter 13 - Presentation
1:24:10 Chapter 14 - Stretto
1:26:32 Chapter 15 - Pedal Point
1:27:14 Chapter 15 - Cadenza
1:28:07 Chapter 15 - Ending
1:28:57 Chapter 16 - Improvising Fugue
1:30:15 What do you think of the historical treatises on fugue? Which was the most useful?
1:32:49 What are your plans for a 3rd book?
1:33:59 There's no 19th-century Romantic equivalent to 18th-century partimento
1:39:14 What's the future for Historic Improvisation in the Conservatory system?
1:43:09 Wrapping Up
1:43:52 Outro
Nikhil, here’s a question you might put out to your channel as a poll:
“Would you be willing to accept a minor decrease in piano virtuosity (amongst pianists as a class) in return for a higher level of creativity and improvisational ability?”
I know I would.
@@rilesbronson7990 great question!
This is such an underrated channel. There are hundreds of hours of unique and incredible music content and almost no one knows about it
Really appreciate your kind words!
Be patient, friend. This is the future of classical music.
Except for the cool people. The cool people know about it. ;-)
Nice sight reading tips and gold channel in general 😊
Thank you!
This is indeed a great channel. The interview with dr Mortensen is the best I heard so far
1:01:10 Bicinium patterns - Two voice patterns. Will be very useful for Guitarists!
Professor Mortensen, I've been following you for a couple years. Deciding how far I need to get in the preluding book before I can justify buying this one. Thank you for sharing and teaching all of us!
Another fun and very informative interview!
"The partimento system gets you playing real music quicker" 100%. I remember feeling so frustrated trying to teach myself from Schoenberg's Theory of Harmony, going through pages and pages on connecting together arbitrary progressions of root position chords, and none of it sounded like music. Compare that to learning rule of the octave in a few major and minor keys and suddenly my star trek universal translator is working, I feel like a native speaker.
I remember Schoenberg trashing figured bass in the early portion of the book too.
i also came from this book to another approach when i arrived in Austria. BUt his book is good as well, but for other goals, more philosophical. The start and the end are the best parts
I've read that Bach's chorale or cantata were performed in church with the organist-assistant transposing up while the singers were transposing down to match the instrumentalist playing in a tuning in a third registration between....with Bach leading from the harpsichord sitting with the instrumentalists. Madness!
This is great!!!
Thanks, Rubén! 🙏
If anyone does what it takes, whatever hairstyle or age, is worthy! Thanks for expanding our musical universe John! And Nikhil! :)
1:10:00 absolutely! exact how i teach.. The difference is that i focus on the simplest and average of GREAT composers. Don´t need to low the standards so much.
I am his subscriber from the time when he started focusing on improvisation. I agree with so many things in his mindset. For example the memory "humiliation" all this i saw at the university and sufferedd this. I had also a wrong mindset about reading. I changedd this after i noticed that reading orq. scores on piano prima vista radically improved my musical vision and muscles. But notice: it is also CRUCIAL as composer that you memorize music as well. There is a very especial thing that happens when you have the music in your mind, not eyes.
39:00 cadenza doppia no?
How Long? To what end? Witness the revival of Greek, circa 1500. How many learned to read or speak it fluently? Yet the attempt changed Europe forever. Those able to perform Partimenti flawlessly will never be legion; the legions who might give it a go will never be the same. The dissonances and resolutions of the RO and their more complex relatives, set free from canonical score, are both a baseline and an inspiration to anyone fond of "chords". The process is reward, since it is play. Shout this! I'm ordering book shortly, Thanks to you both!!
"Those able to perform Partimenti flawlessly will never be legion; the legions who might give it a go will never be the same." Love this line!
This is poetic
What I would deem the most challenging part when improvising a sonata is the ability to memorize created thematic material. I don't know whether there are any techniques to enhance that kind of memorization (apart from preparing themes in advance, or using schemata).
yes, this is why it is important to practice memorization when improvising. ANd is possible to improvise sonatas memorizing themes on the fly, just start simple and take advantage of the variations. I did improvisations with repetitions, you can find in my channel. But they are the hardest, because you can´t ust repeat wrongly
I wonder about this too. My hypothesis is that learning diminutions will be useful, because it's easier to remember a framework + what kind of diminution you used, rather than a string of separate notes. Really, any way you can learn *chunks* of melodic material that will collapse many objects into one will help I think
i managed to teach this hier in Austria, and can understand how hard it is for him to open the way. I wish this book gives a strong authoritty to open more jobs in field improvisaiton/composition. I guess what makes hard for his case is that he sees this too much as a "tool" for the concert pianist. I see it as a tool for the composers, without which they will struggle too much as composers. This means, when this teacher talks to another piano teacher about inserting this content in the curriculum, he will face all the conservatism of obssessed pianists who think they are the climax and limit of beauty and classical music and they know how do you become the next Chopin (as if you should...) So i would suggest hitting more in composition/theory departments, as i did. Another thing is the internet presence, and opening something more independent from yes and no of clueless people ; one can see he is not totally "in" as online educator. And this teacher has FAR more teachiing experience and also the books behind him to help, i wish it goes well.
unprepared suspensions will immediately move you to modern times. Dissonance are always prepared in baroque.
what is preparation for you?
What is C5?
Circle of 5ths progression, buy the book
circle of fifths sequence. up a 4th down a 5th
Link to guardian article?
www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/06/why-classical-musicians-need-to-learn-how-to-improvise
The Josef Lhevinne story is gold. I love the Golden Age of the Piano, but it’s pedagogy left much to be desired.
You mention how jazz education just throws you into the solos. Are you familiar with Bradley Sowash's work? He is putting out books for pre-collegiate classical teachers to use with students. The format is stepwise and extremely approachable.
Thank you, sounds very interesting!
48:00 from bar 228 is way too hard, because of the two voices above. THe bass has to fit to this quickly and still findd its way to subject. Hard prima vista
Doesn't he say you literally just have to read those measures and not add anything?
you pronounce bicinium like in portuguese.