Improvisation
I am currently working on a YouTube video series that will be available for Patrons who contribute $30/month or more on my Patreon page. The series will provide practical monthly video lessons in Baroque improvisation techniques, covering a variety of topics from basics of chorale harmonizations, improvised counterpoint, cadences and more advanced techniques of Chorale Fugues and Chorale Fantasias. I will update this page when the first video is available, so stay in tuned for more details!
My doctoral thesis, Schemata and Rhetoric: Improvising the Chorale Prelude in the 18th-century Lutheran Tradition investigates the pedagogical, cultural and methodological role of the Lutheran Chorales in teaching improvisation in the eighteenth century. The study examines the role of memorization in composition treatises, and draws comparison between structural layers in composition and memorized patterns in improvisation. These structural layers correspond to terms used in classical rhetoric to distinguish long-range improvisational goals (dispositio), generic voice-leading progressions that accomplish these goals (elaboratio), and diminution techniques that apply motives to these progressions to yield unique musical surface (decoratio). It can be read here.
Free resources:
Spiridion di Monte Carmelo: Nova Instructio Volume I (1670)
Eduardo Belotti: Counterpoint and Improvisation in Italian Sources From Gabrieli to Pasquini
Check out Derek Remeš’ website for more free resources
