HMA Podcast

Professor Peter Schubert, musicology Ph.D. holder, discusses diverse music experiences, importance of playing piano and choir, harmony vs. counterpoint, Joscan Dupree's music, Mozart and Renaissance comparisons, simplicity of cannons, parallels between Renaissance and later eras, and the value of improvisation in music education.

Professor David Mesquita discusses his background and teaching solfege methods. He explores the concept of contrapponto alamente and the differences between Spanish and Italian music in the Renaissance. The podcast also touches on temperaments and tunings in music.

Derek Remeš, Music Theorist, Organist and Composer, talks about Bach's method of composition and improvisation. They discuss topics like teaching chorales, differences between Italian and German traditions in dealing with unfigured bases, and the need for reform in music education.

Professor Rosa Cafiero, Professor of History, Archaeology, and Art History at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, discusses her latest book La didattica del partimento and the history of Partimento research. They explore the differences in training between the 18th and 19th centuries, the concept of 'sola fortuna,' and the process of revising essays and accessing manuscripts. They also discuss the music scene in 18th-century Naples, the practical nature of music practice, and express gratitude and admiration for Professor Cafiero.

Professor Mark Farraguto discusses his book 'Beethoven 1806' and the misconceptions surrounding Beethoven. The podcast explores Beethoven's music education, influences, and his relationship with his contemporaries. It also delves into the Italian influence on Beethoven's music and the virtuosity in his fourth piano concerto and violin concerto. The chapter highlights the impact of Russian themes in Beethoven's string quartets and his exploration of counterpoint. Additionally, it discusses the complexities of Beethoven's hearing loss and recommends notable sections of his music.

Guest Ludwig Holtmeier, music theorist and pianist, discusses his musical background, discovery of partimento, and the integration of partimento theory into the modern music curriculum. They also talk about misconceptions surrounding Rameau and different approaches to learning counterpoint. Professor Holtmeier's influence on codifying Italian music methods is highlighted, as well as the complexity and relevance of 18th century music theory.

In this episode, Dr. Elam Rotem, a real expert on early music, discusses the music scene in the 16th century and the famous musicians of that time. They explore the origins of madrigals, the role of Italy in music, and the contrasting styles of Renaissance classical music. The impact of Basso Continuo on composition and improvisation is also discussed, along with the historical use of temperaments in composition. The chapter ends with a discussion about studying at Skola Contorum in Basel.

My guest today is Professor John Mortensen, a leading performer, scholar and teacher in classical or historic improvisation, Steinway Artist, Fulbright Scholar, and is a professor of Music at Cedarville University. His new book is "The Pianist's guide to Historic Improvisation", published by Oxford University Press. Kate Boyd, Professor of Music at Butler University reviewed the book by saying, "This book fills an important niche in the world of piano and keyboard pedagogy. In each of the chapters Mortensen encourages the reader's creativity, simultaneously exposing the musical building blocks used by some of the great composers and allowing the reader to apply those same compositional techniques to improvising in a stylistically-appropriate way." Noam Sivan, Professor of Piano Improvisation, Hochschule of Music and Performing Arts, Stuttgart reviewed the book saying, "Any language study based solely on reading without speaking, would be incomplete. Similarly, the study of improvisation is indispensable for learning music. In this important book John Mortensen wonderfully demystifies the creative process and presents a clear and gradual method for learning to speak the language of J. S. Bach and his contemporaries. Highly recommended!" It debuted at #1 on Amazon's Piano and Music Instruction category. ------- 1:41 What was the landscape for books on classical improvisation before the publishing of his book 3:35 How long did it take you to write the book, and did you have to revise the book as new information kept coming out? 4:22 Who is the book written for? 5:37 Does the book lean Italian or German in it's approach? 7:12 What prerequisites do you need to create a figuration prelude? 8:12 What harmonies do you need to know to start your figuration prelude? 10:01 How do you break up the chord and how many types of figurations that you can come up with? 10:46 The effectiveness of figuration preludes in getting newcomers to creating music right away 11:29 Why is Toccata chapter 2? 12:56 What's the amount of harmonic knowledge you need to improvise Toccatas? 13:37 Do you teach cadences in the book? 13:57 The Rule of the Octave and how important it is? 16:08 Which version of the Rule of the Octave do you want students to start with? 17:50 CPE Bach's multitude of Rule of Octave versions 18:51 Diminutions 21:19 What about 16th notes? 22:14 How do you avoid contrapuntal mistakes in improvisation? 23:37 Do you encourage students look at the piano literature and steal ideas? 24:23 Variations 27:48 What's the way to develop melodic lyricism? 31:42 How do I finger all these examples in the book? 32:36 Friedrich Erhard Niedt and the suite 35:52 Imitation 38:30 Counterpoint 39:57 Is Counterpoint not being taught correctly? 40:57 Partimento 42:27 The benefits of partimento with regular music students 45:09 The overwhelming positive feedback to classical improvisation 46:00 How does the scene compare to 10 years ago? 48:17 Schemata 50:00 Interest in traditional Irish music? 50:51 The parallels between Celtic improvisation and Classical improvisation 52:28 On being denied visiting a University because the top professor could not improvise 53:44 Is a classical improvisation renaissance happening? 54:20 Publishing with Oxford University Press? 55:52 What are your thoughts on hexachordal solfeggio practiced by the Neapolitans as researched by Nicholas Baragwanath? 58:57 Wrapping Up

So privileged to introduced my guest today one of the greats, pianist, musicologist and educator Professor Tibor Szasz. He has given over 1000 solo, concerto, and chamber music performances all over the world. His recordings of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Bartók have been issued in the United States and Germany. Tibor Szász holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Michigan, and is a Tenured professor of piano at the Hoshschule fur Music Freiburg in Germany. ----- 0:48 How old were you when you started playing the piano 1:42 Was it a weekly lesson or multiple times a week? 2:18 How many hours a day did you practice? 3:08 What kind of music did you play growing up? 4:25 Do you have Absolute or Perfect Pitch? 6:20 Did you get rid of your perfect pitch? 6:59 What do you make of different tunings? 10:31 Is there a difference between 440Hz and 432Hz? 11:31 What is your perspective of equal temperament vs other tunings? 16:57 Did you improvise as a child growing up? 19:49 Was there a prejudice against improvisation in your career? 23:04 Touring with Béla Bartók's son in 1977 28:22 Was his son much older than you at the time? 34:11 Carnegie Hall debut in 1977 35:57 Did you meet Vladimir Horowitz? 37:49 What did Horowitz think about your performance of the Liszt Sonata? 40:09 Enraging Horowitz at a Q&A 41:07 Does being Hungarian give you greater insight into Liszt's music? 42:32 Beethoven article about basso continuo in the Emperor Concerto 47:25 Did Beethoven abolish improvising cadenzas in concertos? 49:25 The disappearance of continuo in the Romantic concerto 51:55 Robert Levin's reaction to your Continuo article and your relationship with him 52:20 Were there other concert pianists who could read figure bass? 55:31 CPE Bach who said that the Harpsichord's absence could be felt if it didn't play continuo 56:31 Do find that most pianists do not realize continuo notation in concertos in the modern age? 57:27 Isn't Urtext supposed to be THE authentic musical text of the composition? 1:00:57 What is the definition of Il Filo? 1:02:49 What are these building blocks in Il Filo? 1:03:43 How do you get better at developing Il Filo? 1:05:27 How does a student learn basso continuo? 1:07:06 How would you reform music education? 1:10:07 Wrapping Up 1:10:47 Where can people find you?

We're joined today by a great guest, Dorico Product Marketing Manager Daniel Spreadbury, to talk about the new release of Dorico, version 3.5 and the new Figured Bass feature. ------- 0:22 The new feature: figured bass in Dorico 3.5 1:05 How is Dorico figured bass different in implementation compared to Sibelius, Finale, and other notation software? 4:38 On the greatness of the letter G being reserved for figured bass 6:14 Was figured bass a feature that was greatly requested? 9:30 F.T. Arnold as a reference for research for the Dorico team 9:46 Will the smart figured bass system work with other theoretical systems that don't relate to fundamental bass 11:30 Can a jazz musician's chords be converted into figured bass? 12:46 Do higher intervals like a 13th be shown? 13:39 Can you customize how the accidentals appear? 14:12 Would you be able to spell out voicings? 14:34 Is that a feature that might come out in a later version? 15:23 Are the French, Italian and German traditions of figured bass represented in Dorico? 17:10 When is the next release of Dorico? 19:34 Have you heard about Professor Nicholas Baragwanath's upcoming book,"The Solfeggio Tradition"? 20:10 Wrapping Up