Improving Pianists
Title: Partimento: A Beginner Method for Classical Improvisation Author: Connor Gaydon Release Date: February 2023 (eBook) Price: £12 (or £2 per stage) Purpose: Provide beginner musicians a practical book to learn classical improvisation using the Partimento method. For over a century, classical improvisation has been a lost skill, until now. During the 17th-19th centuries, improvisation […]
Technique in focus:“On the diminished 5th that goes to the 3rd” Regola 30 – Partimento Regola 30 from Durante emphasises the realisation of diminished 5/3 chords resolving onto major or minor 5/3 chords. This can be found throughout the partimento where Durante adds the figure ‘5’ followed by ‘3’ on the ascent of the bass […]
“If I have one regret about my traditional education, it’s that it wasn’t traditional enough. We have forgotten that in the eighteenth century – those hundred years that form the bedrock of classical music – improvisation was a foundation of music training. Oddly, our discipline has discarded a practice that helped bring it into being. […]
Charting the continual progress of my studies with the great Partimento master Ewald Demeyere. No. 3 is a beautiful partimento! Songbird Music Academy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCttPuALmPS-8O4l_cfa144ghttps://www.songbirdmusicacademy.com/ Ewald Demeyere: https://www.youtube.com/user/ewalddemeyere1https://www.ewalddemeyere.be/ John Mortensen: https://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Guide-Historic-Improvisation/dp/0190920408https://www.patreon.com/ImprovPlanethttps://www.youtube.com/user/cedarvillemusichttp://www.johnmortensen.com/ Art of Partimento (Giorgio Sanguinetti): https://www.amazon.com/Art-Partimento-History-Theory-Practice/dp/0195394208 Art of Partimento (Facebook Group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/195221033967849 Peter van Tour: https://www.amazon.com/Counterpoint-Partimento-Eighteenth-Century-Universitatis-Musicologica/dp/9155491979http://www.vantour.se/ The Solfeggio Tradition (Nicholas Baragwanath): https://www.amazon.com/Solfeggio-Tradition-Forgotten-Eighteenth-Century/dp/0197514081
The partimenti of Nicola Sala (1713-1801) focus more on counterpoint than pedagogues from the Durante schools of Partimento. Sala teaches invertible counterpoint through presenting themes in the bass followed by their countersubject (which he sometimes marks with a Signa Congruentia ‘:S’ or ‘S:’ (Van Tour, 2017, Introduction)). The theme (interesting) must be played over the […]
Technique in Focus: “On the preparation of the 9th, which stems from the 3rd” This partimento demonstrates the “Up 2nd, Down 3rd” ‘Fonte’ sequence with suspended 9ths. The purpose of this rule prescribed by Durante, is to practise the prepation of a 9th suspension using the 3rd of the preparatory chord. The third of the […]
Technique in Focus: “On the use of (sequences of) 6/5s” Regola 34 by Durante focuses on the Down 3rd, Up 2nd sequence (this schema is also an example of an inverted Cycle of Fifths). I have used the term ‘Fonte’ to apply to this sequence rather than just the Fonte as prescribed by Riepel (Gjerdingen, […]
The Benefits of Improvisation A linguistic parallel may be applied to outline the relationship of different musical fields of study. When learning a foreign language, a student may be taught grammar, aural, literacy, pronunciation, and translation skills. But a language may only be said to have been learnt if the student can speak it. Subsequently, […]
Reform needs to occur in musical theory and improvisation pedagogies. I posit that Partimento can be used as a method in which to holistically integrate compartmentalised aspects of music education. Partimento can act as a scaffold to train improvisation (Callahan, 2017, p. 196). Improvisation is an admirable goal in and of itself and produces valuable […]
Technique in focus:“On the (tie of a 2nd and an) augmented 4th” Partimento and Example Realisations Below are my simple realisations of Durante’s regola 28 “On the tie of a 2nd and an augmented 4th”. This partimento is to train the musician to resolve the tie of a 2nd (where the bass resolves by descending […]
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