The Nikhil Hogan Show

Today I speak to cellist and viola da gamba player Giovanna Barbati, whose repertoire extends from early to contemporary music and who has a special interest in improvisation. She appears frequently as a soloist, she plays her own music and has given the first performance of a number of works for solo cello. She has recently recorded the complete works for cello by Francesco Supriani (Da Vinci CD) with the ensemble Les amies Partimentistes. We discuss improvisation upon a ground, Francesco Supriani's diminution technique works, partimento and the cello, music theory/composition, and more!

Professor Sietze de Vries, famed for his mastery in classical improvisation, joins the show to talk about his education, training, approach to music, music education, and demonstrates classical improvisation in multiple styles, and time periods.

Professor Nicholas Baragwanath, author of the groundbreaking "Solfeggio Tradition" (published by Oxford University Press), returns to the show to talk about Hexachordal Italian Solfeggio. This was the method of solfege instruction that was employed at the famed 18th-century Neapolitan Conservatories, using 6-note overlapping hexachords, instead of the usual 7-note systems we use today. Professor Baragwanath answers popular questions and demonstrates solfeggio in numerous settings, from beginner lessons to more advanced examples.

Professor Ewald Demeyere returns on the show to discuss his critical edition of Fenaroli's partimenti collection and discusses Fenaroli's approach to pedagogy and partimento realization.

In this episode, I am joined by eminent professors Robert O. Gjerdingen, Giorgio Sanguinetti, Peter van Tour, and Rosa Cafiero, in a special panel session about the subject of partimento. We discuss the history of its modern research, the definition of partimento, why partimento died out, the problem with modern harmony instruction in conservatories today, the practical applicability of partimento in modern times, the future of partimento, and more.

I talk to Professor Niels Berentsen about the beginnings of improvised counterpoint, the reconstruction of incomplete music by Johannes Ciconia, computational analysis of counterpoint, teaching 15th/16th century canon, improvisation in the classroom at the Haute école de musique, the long history of improvisation models, and more.   Niels has taught the theory and performance of medieval and Renaissance music at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague since 2011. He received his PhD from Leiden University in 2016. Since 2018 he is professor of improvised counterpoint at the Haute École de Musique de Genève (Switzerland). As a researcher, Niels has investigated techniques of polyphonic improvisation in the 1300-1500 period.

Today we have a special episode dedicated to Solfeggio, featuring Professors Nicholas Baragwanath, Job IJzerman, Robert O. Gjerdingen, and Peter van Tour. The famed students of the 18th-century Neapolitan conservatories undertook an extensive 3-year course of hexachordal solmisation using guidonian syllables before they were allowed to touch an instrument. This excellent training preceded partimento and written counterpoint studies. We discuss all aspects of this pedagogy, whether it is worth learning today, its benefits, and answer numerous audience questions.

I'm delighted to share this interview recorded yesterday with the great Professor Robert O. Gjerdingen, focusing greatly on Music Schema Theory as revealed in his groundbreaking 2007 monograph "Music in the Galant Style". In addition, we discuss Roman Numeral Analysis, Harmonic Function Theory, Hugo Riemann, Tonality, Dahlhaus, and Schenker, and he answers numerous audience questions, enjoy!

0:00 Intro 0:36 Start 1:59 St. Pius X's Motu Proprio "Tra Le Sollecitudini" 5:16 How did the Council of Trent affect Gregorian chant? 5:54 What do you think of Organum and composers like Léonin and Pérotin? 6:45 Johann Joseph Fux 14:53 Knud Jeppesen 26:54 Did Palestrina improvise or play the organ? 28:39 Bach played on the accordion 30:36 The Lute 31:44 Exultate iusti by Viadana, sung by the Sistine Chapel in 1925 36:34 Historically Informed Performance Practice 39:33 Has improvised counterpoint pedagogy become more prevalent in today's university music curriculums? 41:29 Professor Schubert's YouTube Channel/s 43:07 19th century counterpoint 47:03 Nadia Boulanger 50:07 Counterpoint for modern composition 52:59 Wrapping Up 53:20 Outro

0:00 Intro 0:36 Start 1:29 Refinements in approach to teaching with "Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento" since last interview 6:21 Understanding the patterns in the book as "pure sounds" 9:59 Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata K. 82 10:25 Thinking of cadences as schema and things that are polyphonic rather than modern terminology like PAC or IAC 16:58 Joseph Haydn: "Surprise" Symphony No. 94 18:41 Thinking of 3-part harmony as complete instead of 4-part harmony missing a voice? 26:52 Antonio Vivaldi: La Primavera 39:32 Where do you typically take your musical examples from in the book? 41:08 Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 43 ("Mercury"), 4th mvt 47:09 How does someone learn the different ways to accompany a melody line? 50:16 Francesco Durante partimento 52:28 Francesco Durante partimento realized as a duo live example 55:35 Arcangelo Corelli: tempo di gavotta 56:41 Arcangelo Corelli: tempo di gavotta, live example 1:01:16 In the early 18th-century, nobody spoke of "half cadences", which was a term that didn't exist 1:03:39 Did they think in terms of modes in the early 18th-century for composition? 1:04:43 The Discant Cadence 1:06:43 Job plays Bach BWV928 excerpt live 1:10:47 On the fluidity of voices dropping in and out versus strictly having 4-voices SATB "chorale-style" 1:13:13 Richard Wagner: Tristan Vorspiel 1:18:58 Richard Wagner was a musical great-grandchild of Padre Martini 1:24:13 Robert Schumann 1:25:29 Johannes Brahms  1:26:47 Tchaikovsky 1:29:52 How do new conservatory students react to your method? 1:32:29 How have other colleagues and professors reacted to your method? 1:34:20 Some conservatories have taken HCP as a compulsory book for 1st and 2nd year students 1:36:55 EXCLUSIVE: New Renaissance Counterpoint Book announced! 1:39:07 Wrapping Up 1:39:35 Outro

0:00 Intro 0:36 Start 1:26 When did you start your YouTube channel, and when did you shift from recording performances to research into Whole Beat? 6:22 Which composers used the clavichord? 9:01 Did playing the Clavichord change the way you played Organ? 11:06 What is the Clavichord's touch like? 12:55 Piano vs Clavichord 18:21 What if we had to reconstruct jazz without having access to any sound recordings but rely only on written transcriptions 30:21 Weren't there musical mechanical clocks during Haydn's time that captured authentic 18th-century musical performance practice? 34:22 What is the Whole Beat Metronome Principle (WBMP)? 36:45 Wim responds to people playing Czerny at single beat tempo 47:18 If Whole Beat is true, why do students and eye-witnesses of the great composers play so fast? 54:31 Was Beethoven's metronome broken? 57:56 Don't the flyers and concert bills that advertise the concerts of these composers invalidate Whole Beat because the concerts would be too long as opposed to their actual advertised length? 1:03:11 What has been the general response to your research overall? 1:08:57 Injuries: The unspoken dark side of performance careers in Classical music 1:14:55 Beethoven recording gets canned because the musicians' careers got threatened  1:15:48 The most powerful classical music agent Ronald Wilford wouldn't allow Cyprien Katsaris to record/perform piano transcriptions if under contract 1:16:22 What does Wim think of partimento and classical improvisation? 1:20:46 Wim's favorite composers 1:23:13 Great compositions sound great slowed down, maybe even better than how they are typically played fast today 1:30:46 Whole Beat can't work because vocal music is impossible if singers have to hold notes that long 1:38:42 Carl Czerny: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:38:46 Beethoven: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:38:50 Mozart: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:39:04 Franz Liszt: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:39:14 Did Paris Conservatory graduates historically think in terms of Whole Beat? 1:39:28 Alkan: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:39:39 Tchaikovsky: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:39:49 Rachmaninoff: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:40:54 Debussy and Ravel: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:43:50 Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky: Whole Beat or Single Beat? 1:44:13 What tempo should people play Bach? 1:45:23 Wrapping Up 1:47:10 Outro

PETER SEIVEWRIGHT has received a Special Judges' Citation in The American Prize Ernst Bacon Award for the Performance of American Music competition, in the professional solo artist division. Peter Seivewright, honored for “Championing American Piano Music,” was selected from applications reviewed recently from all across the United States and the United Kingdom, and the citation awarded for his Divine Art album ‘American Piano Sonatas‘. Peter Seivewright has performed extensively as a recitalist and as Piano Concerto soloist with leading professional Orchestras throughout Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Austria, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Denmark (eight recital tours), Latvia, Estonia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Australia (four recital tours), China, India, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States of America, Russia, and the Donetsk People's Republic. Peter Seivewright's CD discography is extensive and includes: The Complete Piano Music of Carl Nielsen (2CDs – Naxos), Contemporary Scottish Piano Music, (Merlin), the major piano works by the Danish Romantic composer Victor Bendix (1851-1926) (Rondo Records, Copenhagen), and several CDs issued by The Divine Art Recordings Group, for whom he now records exclusively. Peter is working through a series of CDs for Divine Art featuring the complete Piano Sonatas of Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785), the last great composer of the independent Venetian Republic. In 2007 Divine Art released a double CD comprising the major piano works of the Danish composer Louis Glass (1864-1936).Other Divine Art recordings include a disc of J.S.Bach Piano Concertos and a CD featuring American Piano Sonatas, which was exceptionally critically well-received, and which is currently a finalist for the Ernst Bacon Award in THE AMERICAN PRIZE 2018. Future recording plans include several more sets of American Piano Sonatas, more J.S.Bach and music by Reger, Cyril Scott, and Olivier Messiaen.

0:00 Start  1:34 How has the book, "The Solfeggio Tradition", been received? 6:43 Italian solfeggio explained in 4 minutes  11:41 Should children delay singing solfeggio until their voice has broken?  14:15 Did 18th-century plainsong sound more like galant music rather than medieval music?  16:10 What about Palestrina?  19:35 An example of a lesson in Italian solfeggio  22:33 How do you learn to accompany a melody line by sight with the correct harmony?  28:00 How do you follow the rules of counterpoint when switching between hexachords?  32:33 How do you know when there is a change of syllable vs a continuation of a melisma?  34:57 Does the appoggiatura take the target note's syllable or have its own?  36:20 Up 4th Down 5th Bass Motion in Italian Solfeggio  37:19 Mozart improvisation solfeggio lesson (K. 545)  41:19 Notation is the curse of the modern musician  48:02 Did Mozart know Italian solfeggio?  51:10 Why did the Germans complain about the Italians keeping solfeggio as a trade secret?  53:11 Were violinists like Paganini, Corelli and Vivaldi familiar with Italian solfeggio?  57:11 Did the Italian Maestros abandon teaching solfeggio syllables if the students struggled with pitch?  59:11 Did Italian solfeggio completely die out in the 19th-century?  1:00:49 Did Italian musicians think of the bass in terms of solfeggio syllables?  1:05:56 What was the 18th-century Italian understanding of Keys and Tonality?  1:09:02 What are good solfeggio manuscripts to practice to with and how much proportion of time is spent worrying about syllable placement vs actual singing?  1:12:10 Do we have access to 18th-century plainchant that doesn't sound like medieval music?  1:17:19 Is there any value to practicing solfeggi exercises with "Ah" even if we don't know which syllables to use?  1:18:45 What are your favorite solfeggi collections?  1:19:46 What's your opinion on Johann Fux and his method of teaching counterpoint?  1:21:19 What do you think of Nicola Sala's counterpoint treatise?  1:22:39 How does your solfeggio expertise inform the way you would teach partimento?  1:25:08 Are those manuals of singing by maestros who changed to Fixed Do still useful for learning diminution?  1:25:57 What's the state of Italian solfeggio research today?

0:00 Intro 0:36 Start 1:58 What made you want to analyze Bach's 48 preludes? 4:26 Every prelude in the book has been transposed to C or Am 6:22 Is there one perfect analysis of Bach's compositions? 8:30 "The Walled Park of Closely Related Keys" 12:11 Would Bach go from C major directly to E minor? 12:42 Bach's use of closely related keys in the preludes 14:35 Looking at an example from the book 17:23 Talking about the nature of modulations in the 18th-century 22:02 Is Bach a galant musician, old school, or a transitional figure? 25:30 Do Heinichen and CPE Bach share any similarities in their systems of thoroughbass? 35:42 What is Bach's typical behavior in employing satzmodelle (schema theory)? 40:31 Is there anything controversial about your analysis of these preludes? 42:57 What would you say to someone who analyzes music with roman numerals and harmonic function theory about your book? 47:23 Which of the 48 preludes was the hardest to analyze? 58:23 What's the best way to realizing figures correctly? 1:04:40 How do you memorize all these rules of thoroughbass? 1:09:54 Reading Furno and learning that music is composed of consonances and dissonances 1:11:53 Does your interpretation of repertoire change from knowing thoroughbass? 1:16:24 What is the state of music theory in music education, how has it changed? 1:22:17 What future research would be good for thoroughbass?

Professor Peter Schubert from McGill University returns to the show to discuss the republication of a new edition of his book, "Baroque Counterpoint."

I'm very excited to welcome two very special guests to the program, Professor Robert Gjerdingen and Professor Giorgio Sanguinetti. Professor Gjerdingen is the author of Music in the Galant Style and Child Composers, while Professor Sanguinetti is the author of The Art of Partimento”. They join me today for a group table discussion on partimento, music education, music history, and much more.

My guest today is conductor, harpsichordist, and organist, Professor Patrick Ayrton. He currently teaches thoroughbass, chamber music, and improvisation at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague.

Harpsichordist and Composer, Jonathan Salamon, joins the show to discuss his article on the Leo Schema.

Professor Johannes Menke joins the podcast to discuss the French Baroque Style, Satzmodelle in 17th-century French music, and more.

I'm extremely thrilled to introduce my guest today, Jazz pianist, educator, composer and arranger, Rossano Sportiello! He is one of the world's leading jazz piano players on the scene today, specializing in styles from Harlem Stride Piano to Bebop to Contemporary Jazz. Jazz piano legend Barry Harris said of Rossano, “Rossano is the most fabulous piano player I ever heard in my life; indeed, a master of his craft. Hear him once and you'll know what I mean”. 0:00 Start 0:53 Background 5:18 Did you improvise or compose when young? 7:00 How did you learn jazz in your teenage years? 9:02 You started out as a dixie land pianist 10:45 Did you study harmony and counterpoint in the conservatory? 14:25 How do you think about chord symbols as your theoretical framework in jazz? 17:34 Classical improvisation 20:17 The great classical composers were like jazz musicians 21:40 What's your opinion of modern jazz theory? 23:21 Jazz as the continuation of classical music 28:22 Barry Harris saying we should study figured bass 31:48 Can you technically explain your horizontal thought process of chords in jazz 34:10 How do you teach jazz that is different from modern jazz theory? 36:49 Do you think of chord to chord, or key area to key area? 38:16 The “A” section of Rhythm changes 40:56 Do you think of superimposed chord structures on top of other chords or purely in intervals? 44:54 What is your conception of right hand improvisation? 50:19 Do you transcribe entire solos, or parts of solos that you like? 58:03 What's your advice on playing fast, up-tempo tunes? 1:00:59 Walking with the left hand and improvising with the right hand at the same time 1:07:38 Do you hum or sing, externally or internally as you improvise? 1:08:35 If you play with any 3 jazz musicians in history, who would they be? 1:09:37 What is your proudest musical moment? 1:11:44 Hardest tune for you to play? 1:13:04 What 3 albums would you recommend for a brand new listener of yours? 1:15:28 Wrapping Up

I'm very happy to introduce my guest today, Pianist, Composer, Teacher, and Music Scholar, Nicole DiPaolo! She is an online Adjunct Lecturer in Music at Indiana University, a faculty member at a Cleveland-area multi-teacher music studio, the Principal Theory Teacher at Liberty Park Music, an online-only video subscription-based music school, and a sought-after online instructor of piano, music theory, and composition.

My guest today is Musicologist and Music Theorist, Professor Adem Merter Birson! He is an adjunct assistant professor of music at Hofstra University. His primary research deals with the relationship between chromaticism and form in the string quartets of Joseph Haydn. We will talk about Haydn, partimento, sonata form and even get a little into some classical Turkish music.

I'm extremely thrilled to introduce my guest today, Grammy-nominated master fingerstyle guitarist Alex de Grassi. He has recorded 19 albums and in 1998, he was nominated for a Grammy for his album “The Water Garden”. The Wall Street Journal has called his playing “flawless” and Billboard hails his “intricate finger-picking technique with an uncanny gift for melodic invention.” His most recent album is 2020's The Bridge, with Tropo Records. The Bridge is Alex's first solo guitar recording in 17 years since Now and Then: Folk Songs for the 21st Century. 0:00 Start 0:49 Grandfather's advice 2:10 Did your grandfather improvise and compose? 4:41 Did you have a musical childhood? 6:40 How did you transcribe fingerstyle arrangements by ear? 8:11 Did your grandfather's technique inspire you to translate that philosophy to the guitar? 10:07 When did you write your first compositions? 11:23 How did you find yourself performing in London as a street musician? 13:27 Did you meet any famous future folk stars back then? 15:29 When did you decide to be a solo fingerstyle guitarist? 19:04 How do you create your sound? 20:06 What specific examples of guitar pieces steered your direction? 23:14 When you are composing, which comes first, rhythmic ideas, melodic ideas or harmonic ideas? 24:23 How long does it take to compose a piece? 24:52 What's an example of a song you've written very quickly? 28:13 What's your opinion of the metronome? 30:35 What are the easiest and hardest songs for you to play in concert? 33:11 Do you use music theory when you compose? 34:00 Did you study formal counterpoint? 35:51 Does your music require physical aids like acrylic nails to play? 38:04 Did you ever meet Leo Kottke and has he heard your music? 39:28 What about Bert Jansch? 41:15 Top 3 acoustic guitarists? 42:41 Top 3 jazz improvisers? 44:03 Top 3 classical composers? 44:34 What is your proudest musical moment? 47:11 What is your biggest musical regret? 48:04 When did your grandfather pass away? Did he get to hear your music? 48:24 What about your father? 49:38 What would surprise your fans about your music? 50:51 Which album or tracks would you give to a new listener to introduce them to your music? 51:42 Wrapping Up

I have the huge honor to welcome back to the program, the esteemed Professor Robert Gjerdingen, he is the author of the groundbreaking 2007 “Music in the Galant Style” which won the Wallace Berry award from the Society of Music Theory in 2009. He followed up that book with the excellent 2020 book “Child Composers in the Old Conservatories” and he frequently updates the great website partimenti.org which if you are interested in partimento, need to have that website bookmarked because it has a ton of great material and is constantly being updated.

I'm so happy to introduce my guest today, Musicologist and musician, Riccardo Castagnetti. We are going to be talking about his research in 18th-century music education pedagogy, focusing on the methods of Andrea Basili.

I'm delighted to introduce my guest today, Professor Massimiliano Guido, he is an expert in the fields of historical performance practice and improvisation. He is the editor of the book "Studies in Historical Improvisation: From Cantare Super Librum to Partimento" and he is going to talk to me today about a wide range of topics including counterpoint, partimento, music theory, music history, and much more! 0:43 What is your background? 2:46 Did you improvise at the beginning? 6:06 Did you learn any theory on the way to being a performer? 7:36 When did you switch to more historically informed methods? 9:01 What was the theoretical basis to Professor Bellotti's approach? 10:51 Girolamo Diruta 15:04 Claudio Merulo 18:46 How did think about keys, modes and tonality back then? 23:17 Is it fixed that certain modes fit to certain points in the Catholic Mass? 28:20 The massive amount of melodies in the Liber Usualis 29:46 What is a vesper? 30:48 What do you mean by Seicento? 33:17 How have these older, historical methods of counterpoint instructed affected your students? 38:20 How difficult did the counterpoint go in terms of singing? 39:40 What skills do you get out of learning these older methods that can be applied to today? 41:48 H.A.B. Crawford's trenchant quote 44:23 How would free composition been taught historically? 48:26 What are steps someone should take toward learning to improvise canons and fugues? 52:34 Do I have to know the terms like Tenorizans and Cantizans? 53:24 Bernardo Pasquini 54:22 What do you mean by Frescobaldi pushing the system to it's limits 57:41 William Porter 1:00:34 Giorgio Sanguinetti and Partimento 1:02:17 Do these traditional methods stem out of the Catholic Church rather than Nationalism? 1:04:26 How did the Reformation and Counter-reformation affect the music of the period? 1:08:23 Who are your favorite composers for keyboard and organ from the late Renaissance? 1:12:25 Are there any composers that have been unjustly ignored but should be really known better? 1:16:41 Who are some historically informed performers that you like? 1:19:36 What tuning and temperaments do you feel are appropriate for the late Renaissance? 1:22:17 What do you make of Tonal Harmony, Chordal invertibility, Roman Numerals and function theory? 1:26:10 Future Projects 1:27:59 Wrapping Up

It's a real thrill to introduce my guest today, the great jazz master of the vibraphone, Terry Gibbs! At 96 years old, Terry has worked with all the greats like Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich.. just too many to mention! We discuss his excellent autobiography "Good Vibes", deep dive into Bebop and talk about a wide range of fascinating topics over his amazing career.

I'm very thrilled to speak to my guest today, guitarist, Nicola Pignatiello. He teaches at the Liceo Giordano Bruno in Rome and also at CESMI. This is the episode that all my guitarist audience members have been waiting for, and we will be diving deep into the topic of partimento on the guitar. He has recorded some really beautiful partimento realizations on the guitar that have received very positive responses from the partimento community and we will talk further about realizing partimenti on the guitar. 0:46 Background 1:41 Did you start with Classical Guitar? 2:07 Joining the conservatory at 15 3:08 What were your musical influences while growing up? 4:10 Was it 10 years of Conservatory? 4:25 Did you see yourself as a concert artist? 5:04 When did you discover Partimento? 5:50 Why did you take lessons with Enrico Baiano? 6:39 What recordings of Baiano did you like? 7:13 What happened in the lessons with Enrico Baiano? 8:01 What year was it when you discovered Partimento? 8:52 What made you think about combining partimento with the guitar? 10:53 How did you begin your development in partimento in 2005-2012? 13:47 When did people start playing 6-string guitars? 15:15 When in the 18th century did the 6-string guitar appear? 15:56 Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani and Ferdinando Carulli as representative of the 18th century style 17:35 What are the similarities between the Lute and the Guitar? 19:31 Were people realizing basso continuo on the baroque guitar or lute with strumming? 20:37 Why did you pick Giuliani and Carulli as models for partimento? 22:25 Solfeggi 22:48 What was in Giuliani's style that had traces of the partimento lineage? 24:38 Mauro Giuliani outselling Beethoven's piano sonatas 26:57 Does counterpoint easy to realize on the guitar? 28:41 Do you have to compensate when doing the Rule of the Octave on guitar? 30:15 How should someone start learning partimento on the guitar? 31:24 How similar are the different Rule of Octave versions among the 18th century guitar treatises 32:12 On having to transpose partimenti into more guitaristic keys 33:29 How do you prevent bad counterpoint on the guitar? 34:25 Cadences on the guitar? 36:14 When realizing figured bass, did the baroque guitar strum or using 3 voice textures? 36:51 Is that the same on the Classical guitar? 37:15 Learning with chord symbols on the guitar 39:00 Where Chord symbols originated from 40:26 Did they tolerate parallelism in guitar-type instruments because of the way they are constructed? 42:04 Did Fernando Sor have a method book? 42:52 What about dissonances on the guitar in partimento? 43:58 Bass Motions on the guitar 45:29 Nicola plays more Bass Motion examples 46:19 Bass Motions - Up a 4th down a 5th 47:06 Why is the guitar notated in treble clef? 48:00 What are some good treatises and manuscripts that would be relevant for partimento on the guitar? 48:43 Should we keep it to 2 voices on the guitar? 50:27 Is it heresy to try all these things on a non-classical guitar? 51:14 Can partimento be improvised on the guitar? 52:46 Free improvisation and composition on the guitar 53:52 How would you teach a young kid in the partimento-style of music education on guitar? 55:23 What about reading chords on the guitar in terms of Figured bass? 56:35 What about improvising on a very simple bass, how does that sound on the guitar? 59:24 How many ways can I color a simple progression on the guitar? 1:00:40 How do you development diminution on the guitar? 1:02:58 On the partimento bass lines being too difficult to realize on the guitar 1:04:41 How have your classical guitar colleagues reacted to your partimento realizations on the guitar? 1:05:51 What do you make of the rise in popularity in partimento over the last 2 years? 1:06:52 What do you think about South American classical guitar? 1:09:20 How do you analyze classical guitar literature? 1:10:59 Do you write figures or arabic numerals in circles when analyzing? 1:11:16 On the lack of historic models in realizing partimento on the guitar unlike the keyboard and the general difficulty 1:13:21 Felix Horetzky 1:13:57 Can you recommend any historically-informed classical guitarists? 1:15:47 On the passing of Julian Bream 1:17:06 Flamenco Guitar 1:18:21 Discussing Chord symbols and their related hand shapes 1:25:03 Wrapping Up

My guest today is jazz pianist, Jon Raney, he is the son of the jazz guitar great Jimmy Raney, and brother to Doug Raney. I am very excited to talk about his father's approach to jazz improvisation, opinions on music, music education pedagogy, and much more!

Davey Yarborough is a native of The District of Columbia who has been performing, and teaching for over 30 years. He is a flautist and saxophonist as well as a distinguished composer, arranger, bandleader, and teacher. He studied saxophone with the great Sonny Stitt for 2 years, and is the co-founder and Artistic director of the Washington Jazz Arts Institute.   0:49 How did you meet Sonny Stitt? 2:05 Why did Sonny ask those intimidating questions? 2:58 How old were you when you met him? 5:25 Do you remember your first lesson with him? 6:40 Are you supposed to learn the melody from a record or sheet music? 7:51 What did Sonny Stitt think of the Real book? 10:06 The lessons that Sonny would write down for Davey 12:06 Did he explain how he navigated through chord changes? 13:36 Were you supposed to memorize solos off solos? 14:45 How does he play so many notes? 16:52 How do we embellish the melody with more notes? 18:26 What does it mean to transcend the octave? 19:49 Did his curriculum evolve over the 2 years? 21:57 What do you think of the different modern jazz education methods? 23:38 What was Sonny Stitt's system? 24:42 On not thinking about theory when playing 24:56 Thinking in terms of chords and 2-5s 26:04 Did he ever talk about his relationship with Charlie Parker or Bud Powell? 26:51 Did he know a lot of solos himself? 28:35 How would Sonny Stitt have discussed chords and harmony? 29:27 How do you play chord changes in jazz? 32:11 What is your definition of the basics? 33:29 What do you emphasize when teaching theory? 34:36 Billy Taylor 36:07 Do you remember your last lesson with Sonny Stitt? 36:46 Was Sonny Stitt a mean guy? 39:28 What did he respond to positively in lessons? 40:12 Did he have any rules in improvisation? 40:42 Did he identify himself as a bebop musician or jazz musician? 41:37 On Sonny giving him the freedom to develop his style 42:06 Who did Sonny Stitt like? 42:50 What could educators learn from your lessons with Sonny Stitt? 43:44 What were the most challenging parts of the lessons with Sonny? 44:08 Was there classical music influences? 45:23 Was he an opiniated person on music and did he share any opinions? 45:42 Did he teach composition? 46:21 Did he play the piano? 46:33 On teaching lessons without accompaniment 46:56 Washington Jazz Arts Institute 52:48 What is your proudest musical moment? 55:47 If you could go back in time and meet any musician who would it be? 56:38 Scariest or most nervewracking performance? 58:03 Final reflections on Sonny Stitt 59:53 Wrapping Up

My guest today is Pianist, Improviser, and Composer, Professor Noam Sivan! He is Professor of Piano Improvisation at the HMDK Stuttgart, and we will talk about his remarkable journey, his method to his improvisational craft, his new exciting Master's degree programme in classical piano improvisation that he has created, and much more! 0:35 What's your musical background? 1:21 Did you naturally improvise as a child? 1:56 Mother's influence on creativity 3:25 Tell me about your formal music training in university 4:10 The influence of formal composition study in your undergraduate studies 6:16 Examples of apply a compositional technique in different musical languages 8:26 Did you face any pressure to become a modernist composer 10:00 What was your dream, to be a composer or performing pianist? 13:00 Masters degree 15:27 Studying with Carl Schachter 16:39 An example of Carl Schacter's lessons in improvisation 17:42 What did your professors and peers think of improvisation during your student years? 20:25 Improvising cadenzas 21:06 Meeting Robert Levin 21:31 What did Robert Levin say about your improvising at the time? 23:17 What were the technical things that you worked on to take your improvisation to the next level? 26:30 What is your operating system behind your method of improvisation? 28:18 How did you choose the notes for your right hand improvisation? 30:03 How do you make sure your right hand is not creating contrapuntal mistakes when improvising? 32:55 What's a good way to learn figured bass? 34:35 Do you need to study modern harmony to do what you are doing? 37:24 Studying with Milton Babbitt 40:34 Was the culture at Juilliard supportive of improvisation in Classical music? 41:24 Were the students you taught at the time completely new to classical improvisation? 42:33 What did Milton Babbitt think of improvisation and what you were doing? 43:37 Anecdotes of responses to your improvisations and classes in the early days 45:33 Did you receive negative feedback to improvisation? 48:17 Does being a composer and improviser give you an additional insight into interpretation of repertoire 50:03 Do you any comment on academic or competition style interpretations of repertoire? 52:47 When you have change your system of improvisation to accomodate more modern or contemporary styles of improvisation? 54:34 Do you still maintain the consonance/dissonance framework in a contemporary setting? 56:52 What is anchoring your contemporary improvisations, is it keys or the progression? 58:00 Are you thinking of intervals? 58:19 What tips can you give to more traditional improvisers to broaden their tonal palette into modern music? 1:01:43 Vincent Persichetti's 20th Century Harmony textbook 1:03:44 How does a music educator grade student musical improvisations? 1:08:43 Professor Sivan's new Masters degree programme on classical piano improvisation 1:11:19 How's the reception to the Masters programme? 1:13:07 Do you require incoming students to have a background in improvisation? 1:14:38 How has the culture around classical improvisation now changed compared to when you began? 1:17:49 Professor's Sivan album “Ambiro's Journey” 1:18:48 What's a good ratio for a modern performer's recital pieces for improvised music, original compositions and traditional repertoire? 1:21:30 A memorable experience from your solo improvised piano recitals 1:24:21 Up to this point, what has been your proudest musical moment? 1:27:11 How are you different as an improviser today vs 10 years ago and how do you see yourself grow in the next 10 years? 1:31:31 Wrapping Up

My guest today is Music Scholar and Pianist, Professor Gaetano Stella! An expert on the subject of partimento, particularly partimento in the 19th century. We talk about the partimento tradition in the 19th century and his methods for teaching partimento in the classroom today.

What an honor to speak with my guest today, Harpsichordist, Organist, Keyboardist, Conductor, Composer and Improviser, Matteo Messori! He is the founder of the Cappella Augustana Ensemble and His latest recording is the complete harpsichord and organ works by Johann Kaspar Kerll, a new 3CD Box. We discuss the Bologna tradition, basso continuo, partimento, Padre Martini and Mattei, counterpoint, his partimento teaching method and much more!

I'm so pleased to introduce my guest today, composer, improviser, harpsichordist, and organist Nicola Canzano! He is the composer of his “First Book of Partimenti: Preludes, Fugues, Rondeaus, and Puzzles, Twenty Four in total through all key signatures”. He is also the founder of the upcoming NEw York and Montreal based group Nuova Practica, which focuses on composing and improvising in baroque and early adjacent music.

I am very thrilled to speak with my guest today, Academy and Emmy Award winning Film Composer and Conductor, Bill Conti! He is best known for his film scores including Rocky, The Karate Kid, For Your Eyes Only, Dynasty and the Right Stuff which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score. He was music director at the Academy Awards a record nineteen times. It was announced in June 2020 that Conti had donated his original scores to Louisiana State University.

My guest today is Professor Job IJzerman! He teaches at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He is known for his popular book, “Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento” Published by Oxford University Press in 2018. 0:38 Background 1:50 Did you improvise or compose growing up? 2:12 Did you have any experience with thoroughbass or basso continuo? 2:36 Two anecdotes that highlighted the need for harmony pedagogy reform at the conservatory for IJzerman 7:07 Being introduced to Robert Gjerdingen's work and partimento in 2007 9:09 What steps did you take to put the partimento theory into practice 10:31 Can Partimento be applied to other styles than the Galant style? 12:33 How was the reception to your new method among students? 16:55 Where did you take your partimenti and solfeggi exercises from? 19:57 What duration is the course of study in your book designed to encompass? 20:43 From your observation, how does your new method compare with the standard conservatory method instruction in harmony? 24:27 Do you examples of students who studied harmony in a different but have converted to your new method? 25:57 How have your peers in the faculty responded to the method? 28:10 Do you receive emails from professors around the world about the book and what has been the reception? 30:23 Karst de Jong 31:22 Peter van Tour 32:16 Do you separate the study of Harmony and Counterpoint? 34:57 Should musicians who are learning music of the Common Practice Era study Renaissance music? 35:54 What are the differences and overlap among the Italian Partimento, and German and French Thoroughbass traditions? 38:01 German Thoroughbass and Italian Partimento 39:19 Music Schemata Theory and Partimento 44:46 Hexachordal 18th century Italian Solfeggio 48:30 How did you jump from the 16th century hexachordal solfeggio method to the updated 18th century version? 49:33 Mutating up vs down being different 50:10 Differences and overlap with Move-able Do and 18th century Italian Solfeggio 51:36 How should someone start learning 18th century Italian Solfeggio 54:30 What's the way to learn how to mutate between Hexachords correctly? 55:43 Understanding which syllables are part of a melisma and long diminutions 57:32 When accidentals appear in the bass and the Solfeggio changes key, do you have to change all the notes of the hexachords on the spot? 59:14 Do you use the original names of the keys like C-solfaut? 59:34 Can you navigate through a Solfeggio with the correct syllables on a first read through? 1:01:58 What is the best way to learn Partimento? 1:05:53 Job IJzerman demonstrating some patterns at the piano 1:07:40 What's the best way to learn Counterpoint? 1:08:26 Should you sing and play music extensively first before embarking on written counterpoint? 1:09:40 IJzerman's method of teaching Counterpoint 1:11:29 Does this lead into 18th century and 19th century Counterpoint? 1:12:21 Should we learn music at the beginning with 2 voices or 4 voices? 1:16:38 Is Partimento practice and theory useful for learning and analysing the music of later styles? 1:19:42 Wrapping Up

I am so honored to be speaking to a great guest today, Professor Thomas Christensen. Professor Christensen is the Avalon Foundation Professor of Music and Humanities at the University of Chicago. His scholarly research focuses on the history of music theory and his most recent book is “Tonality in the Age of François-Joseph Fetis” published by the University of Chicago Press in 2019. 0:39 What's your background? 1:41 What was the state of research in the history of music theory when you began? 2:52 How did you come to focus on Thoroughbass in your research? 4:30 What was the perception of Thoroughbass in the 70s-90s? 5:36 The different schools of Thoroughbass 7:01 What key differences are there among the French, German or Italian Thoroughbass traditions? 8:57 JS Bach and his views on Thoroughbass' importance 10:17 When Thoroughbass first appeared on the scene, was the initial criticism of it justified? 12:40 Did Thoroughbass having nothing to say about melody like Mattheson says? 13:44 How should we view Rameau beyond his cartoonish image as the Fundamental Bass guy? 15:49 Did he separate his scientific, theoretical views on music with his practical side? 17:59 Rameau's pedagogical heuristic to help students simply the total mass of chords into fundamental types 20:03 Fundamental chords being slower to mental analyze than simply reading from the given bass 21:27 Rameau's practical nature as a musician 22:32 Why were CPE Bach and Kirnberger so hostile to Rameau? 24:56 Did chord invertibility originate with Rameau or earlier? 27:03 Was the rise of lots of new harmonies and chords naturally yield to a need to categorize chords into fundamental types? 29:20 Did Rameau speak of counterpoint in his treatises? 31:17 Rameau trying to reconcile his theories with the Rule of the Octave 33:07 The chord on the 6th scale degree connecting to the 7th scale degree being a problem for Rameau 34:15 Rameau's influence in Italy 35:44 Were Rameau's theories appealing because they were considered more scientific than counterpoint? 38:20 Why did you select François-Joseph Fetis as a subject of study? 40:24 Did Fetis teach according to Catel's methods? 42:13 Fetis vs Berlioz 43:56 Did they have valid opinions in their dispute? 46:31 Fetis' influence on later theorists and his key contributions 49:02 Some people say thinking in terms of Roman Numerals is vertically oriented but isn't Thoroughbass practice the same? 51:07 Are Rimsky-Korsakov and Schoenberg correct when they say that the study of Thoroughbass is no longer needed? 53:37 Did Nadia Boulanger bring out modern tonality despite teaching older methods like partimenti and thoroughbass? 55:28 What do you think of your important research being influential for future partimento and thoroughbass enthusiasts? 59:10 Can we apply Thoroughbass to music like jazz and popular music without any issue? 1:01:13 On Letters and Chord Symbols being harder to calculate vs reading figures 1:04:39 What's the best way to learn Thoroughbass? 1:06:05 Are there any Thoroughbass treatises that you recommend? 1:08:43 Wrapping Up

It's a huge honor to have the great Professor Giorgio Sanguinetti return to the program for his 2nd appearance. He is the author of the award-winning book “The Art of Partimento” which was published in 2012 which won the Wallace Berry Award from the Society of Music Theory and today we will talk his new book “Le Sonate per pianoforte di Beethoven. Genere, forma, espressione” published by Libreria Musicale Italiana. 0:51 Why did you pick the subject of the piano sonatas of Beethoven for this book? 2:26 Did you play many of the piano sonatas yourself over your career? 3:38 Introduction to Beethoven's piano sonatas 7:03 Did Beethoven play the sonatas live for audiences? or was it more for sale for private use? 11:35 What is the paradigm shift that took place? 15:29 How were the pianos in Beethoven time? 18:42 What should someone do to get better at sight-reading? 19:46 How did Beethoven play his own sonatas? 22:29 Did the Italians ever talk about form, how did they teach it? 23:38 How would Beethoven have thought about the form of his piano sonatas? 28:04 Beethoven and Adolph Bernhard Marx 31:01 Marx's radical view of music theory 32:09 What were Beethoven's politics? 33:52 The rise and decline of Formenlehre 37:36 What was the criticism of Formenlehre? 39:34 Edward T. Cone and the Sonata Principle 40:32 What were the essential differences between William Caplin and Hepokoski/Darcy's theories? 42:45 What about Hepokoski and Darcy's theory? 45:59 Hermeneutics 49:38 Religion and Hermeneutics 51:20 Topic Theory 54:13 Did Beethoven ever write introductory explanations about his sonatas? 55:50 Schemas 1:00:10 Beethoven's metronome markings 1:02:26 Werktreue 1:05:22 Should performers today play the score of these piano sonatas with complete faithfulness to the intention of the composer? 1:07:01 How do you feel about the great surge in interest in partimento recently? 1:08:33 What's the best way to learn partimento? 1:10:11 Is there a best starting collection of partimenti that beginners should start with? 1:12:12 How should someone learn written counterpoint? 1:13:31 Is partimento useful in the modern age with newer contemporary styles? 1:16:55 How should partimento be integrated into music education? Can it complement other theories or should it be taught on it's own? 1:18:38 On Partimento not having to be an opposing method to other methods of analysis and music education 1:19:56 Wrapping up and upcoming events/projects

I am extremely thrilled to introduce my guest today, Professor of Music L. Poundie Burstein. He is a Professor at Hunter College College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and he is here today to talk to me about his excellent new book which has been getting rave reviews, “Journeys Through Galant Expositions”. 0:40 Background 6:38 Why was Form not a big area of interest in the 1st half of the 18 century? 7:50 When did the shift happen towards an interest in Form in history? 9:21 Do discussions of Form refer to all types of compositions? 9:50 Is there a lot difference in Form between types of instrumental music? 11:04 Who else influenced you in the study of Form? 12:02 What made you decide on the Galant period? 13:03 Joseph Riepel 17:08 Did Riepel's work influence composers in the 18th century? 18:27 Would modern analysts of Form find mistakes in Riepel's work? 20:49 Did the Italians talk about Form? 21:44 What reasons brought about the change in interest in Form in the 18th century? 23:03 Was Form influenced by Rhetoric? 24:00 How did improvisers in the 18th century think of Form? 28:38 Did the 18th century conception of Form relate more to Resting Points rather than formal containers or key areas? 32:31 How did musicians in the 18th century think about key areas vs today? 34:23 Does melody influence Form? 37:16 Heinrich Christoph Koch 40:16 What was the difference between Koch and Riepel? 41:11 Was Koch representative of a typical 18th century music theorist? 41:58 What other differences are there between the 18th century and today? 43:37 Koch changing his mind on punctuated V chords 46:13 How do Harmony and Counterpoint influence Form? 47:01 What is the trimodular block in Sonata theory and can you elaborate on your commentary of it? 51:12 Haydn's Symphony No. 14 Mvt 1 53:24 How does your theoretical work help approach challenges in other styles of music? 56:43 Top 3 Galant Composers 57:32 What's the weirdest Galant composition you've ever encountered? 58:45 If you could sit down with any theorist or composer in history, who would it be and what would you talk about? 1:00:13 Name 3 Galant compositions that you talk about in your book that you find really interesting 1:02:07 Upcoming projects 1:03:24 Wrapping Up

I'm extremely pleased to introduce my guest today, Emmy Award Winning TV and Film Composer, Bruce Broughton. He is the composer for films such as Silverado, Tombstone, The Rescuers Down Under, and written memorable TV themes including The Orville, JAG, Spielberg's Tiny Toon adventures and Dinosaurs. He has been nominated 24 times for the Emmy and has won a record 10 times. His score to the movie Silverado was nominated for an Academy Award and his score to Young Sherlock Holmes was nominated for a Grammy.

My guest today is Harpsichordist and Fortepianist Professor Enrico Baiano. An award-winning international performer, Baiano has extensively recorded works by JS Bach, Johann Jakob Froberger, and Domenico Scarlatti to name a few. He has published a method for the Harpsichord in 2010 and with Marco Moiraghi, published a book called “The sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti” in 2014. 00:48 Beginnings 2:25 When did you start playing keyboard instruments? 2:53 What made you decide to make music your career? 3:41 Did you get a teacher to learn the harpsichord? 6:57 How long did you study the harpsichord at the beginning? 7:37 What age were you while studying composition? 7:51 How did you learn composition? Was it the old tradition or new? 11:26 Did you listen to other styles of music growing up? 12:41 How you learned contrasted with the partimento approach 14:30 How extensively did you study with this older teacher? 14:53 Were these private lessons or at the conservatory? 15:43 Did you learn the modern methods of analysis like function theory and roman numerals? 17:09 Were you one of the few students improvising? 18:10 When did you get acquainted with partimento? 19:39 Italians not feeling proud of their heritage 20:36 Learn Fenaroli in 1982 21:49 Was there anything new in the partimento that you didn't already know? 22:59 Are you able to distill music in the repertoire down to their basic forms? 24:24 Did you work on written counterpoint in your studies? 27:20 What is the difference between harmony and counterpoint? 28:46 What's the difference between learning composition today vs back in the 18th century? 33:15 On the concern about the listen-ability of modern, contemporary music 36:35 the link between older music like Domenico Scarlatti and later composers like Brahms 38:56 Beethoven being very familiar with Scarlatti 43:35 What do you think about hexachordal Italian solfeggio system? 45:33 How should someone learn partimento? 46:33 On Durante, Zingarelli and others, having more difficult partimenti than Fenaroli 47:37 How should someone learn counterpoint? 48:34 What do you mean by Fux being “too late”? 51:17 Do you need a teacher to learn counterpoint? 51:42 Is figured bass still relevant in the modern age? 54:03 Chord Invertibility/Fundamental bass vs Counterpoint 57:45 On the question of certain chordal inversions not being equal 59:02 What do you think of Glenn Gould's interpretations? 1:03:42 What's the balance between learning repertoire and improvisation/composition? 1:05:50 What do you make of the amazing surge of interest in partimento and other older methods of learning music? 1:09:29 Do you use these older methods when looking at music like Ravel or Debussy? 1:13:07 Top 3 Pianists 1:13:32 Top 3 Partimenti composers 1:14:00 Top 3 Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas 1:16:59 Top 3 Pieces from Bach's WTC 1:19:59 If you could meet any musician from history, who would it be and what would you talk about? 1:20:38 Do you play non-classical music for fun? 1:21:58 Upcoming projects and Wrapping up

My guest today is the famed virtuoso concert pianist and composer, Cyprien Katsaris. One of the most renowned concert pianists of both the 20th and 21st centuries, Katsaris has performed with the world's greatest orchestras and recorded extensively over his storied career. We talk about his transcriptions, compositions, playing the Cziffra Flight of Bumblee live in front of Cziffra on TV, being told by the world's most powerful classical music agent not to play transcriptions, his famed sightreading prowess, and much more! 0:41 Did you always improvise, even when you were young? 2:32 Are you saying anyone can learn to improvise? 4:05 Chick Corea finding it harder to play his written music vs improvising 4:56 Studying at the Paris Conservatory 7:09 His teacher Monique de la Bruchollerie being the first western female to play Rach 3 in 1945 8:56 Would you consider yourself a musical great-grandchild of Alkan and Liszt? 11:26 Did you study with György Cziffra? 11:59 Cziffra being a great jazz improviser 16:22 Did you meet Cziffra personally? 19:45 Recording Cziffra's transcription of the Flight of the Bumblebee 24:05 What did Cziffra think of your playing? 26:06 What motivated you to become a concert pianist who created your own transcriptions? 28:17 Did you ever face any pushback from attempting to play transcriptions? 32:13 The most powerful classical music agent in the world telling you not to play transcriptions 34:17 Why was there such a negative attitude towards transcriptions in the 20th century? 35:59 What is the difference between the modern, academic way of playing vs the traditional, older way? 39:39 Why do you dislike piano competitions? 44:19 Koji Attwood's anecdote of your incredible sight-reading feat 48:23 How important is the metronome in practice? 49:47 How do you think about music theory? 52:04 What is your compositional process? 54:43 Does your ability to play any style come from absorbing it from playing repertoire? 55:50 What is your proudest musical moment? 56:22 If you could step into a time machine and meet any great composer from history, who would it be? 56:46 What are the 3 hardest things you've ever had to play? 57:03 What are the hardest concertos for you to play? 57:18 Do you play any other instruments apart from the piano? 57:33 Have you ever dabbled on the harpsichord, organ or electric keyboard? 57:57 If you could have done it all over again, what would you have changed about your career? 58:31 At what age did you feel that you had your mature conception as an artist? 59:25 Who are the top 3 greatest composers? 59:36 Name me your top 3 recordings that you feel most proud of 59:48 If someone wanted to hear your music, which 3 albums would you recommend? 1:01:32 Name me your 3 most important compositions 1:02:57 Do you listen to or play jazz? 1:03:47 How does Scientology influence your music or life? 1:05:15 Who are the top 3 pianists of the 20th century? 1:05:28 Wrapping Up

I'm so pleased to introduce my guest today, musician, vocalist and bandleader Emily Miller. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, She is the Creative Director for Boston Common Entertainment and Her debut album, "Stronger Every Day" was released in August 2020. 0:37 What are your earliest musical memories? 2:39 How young were you when you started formal lessons? 3:50 Were these classical piano lessons? 6:48 Describe your first voice lessons 8:58 What kind of music were you listening to growing up? 10:42 Were you always singing all the time? 11:39 What is your vocal range? 12:54 What does it mean when a singer is said to to have a multi-octave range? 14:23 Middle School Gospel choir experience 15:18 Did you do much sight singing? 18:50 How did you get introduced into jazz? 20:57 What sort of repertoire did you do? 23:57 How much can vocal training in a day can the human body take? 27:57 High school to Berklee College of Music 30:17 Berklee College of Music 34:52 Development at Berklee 38:27 The competitive nature of singers 43:38 Private instruction while doing choral training 44:24 What do you make of all these different singing methods out there? 47:34 How about your private instruction in Berklee? 48:56 What reforms would you suggest to make the department enrollment stricter? 49:30 What should you look out for in a good teacher? 52:10 Can adults learn to develop a nice singing voice? 53:32 New Album - Stronger Every Day 59:00 How do you feel, having completed your debut album? 59:57 Where can you listen to the album? 1:00:19 HOT SEAT - React to famous singer names 1:01:44 Top 3 Jazz Standards 1:02:16 Top 3 Male and Female Singers 1:03:46 What do you make of singers taking bebop melodies and adding words to them? 1:04:25 Top 3 Albums 1:04:54 What are the 3 hardest songs you've ever sung? 1:06:19 If you could collaborate with anyone in history, who would you work with? 1:07:51 What advice would you give to 20-year old Emily Miller? 1:08:51 Wrapping Up  

It's my pleasure to introduce my guest today, pianist, composer, educator, and researcher, Philipp Teriete. Today we will explore the improvisation and partimento in the 19th century, the great French music teacher Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmerman, Frederic Chopin's music education, the influence of German music theory in early ragtime and jazz composers and so much more! 0:38 What is your background and how did you come to your present areas of research? 4:40 Who was Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmerman? 5:55 Did he have any famous pupils? 7:27 What was Zimmerman's training? 9:17 Was he a victim of the cult of genius? 10:41 Was Zimmerman consigned to historical oblivion before your research? 12:55 Partimento and Zimmerman 14:21 Zimmerman's holistic approach to teaching music 17:00 How was Zimmerman different from someone like Fenaroli? 18:10 Zimmerman's recommendation of solfege 19:23 Needing to read 7 clefs right at the beginning with Zimmerman 20:33 How long does it take to be acquainted with 7 clefs? 21:23 Zimmerman calling pianists who have no knowledge of harmony, “schoolboys” 22:37 Cherubini giving Liszt and Berlioz a hard time 23:05 Zimmerman rejecting Louis Moreau Gottschalk from entering the Paris Conservatory 24:09 Did Zimmerman teach the Rule of the Octave and Moti del basso? 24:35 Were these 19th century versions of these things? 26:23 Zimmerman's method leading to free composition and counterpoint 29:00 Are Zimmerman's technical piano teachings comparable to someone like Hanon? 30:56 Frederic Chopin, how did he learn music? 32:19 What's the evidence for the claim that Josef Elsner's curriculum was modeled after the Paris Conservatory? 33:27 Chopin studying 6 hours a week of counterpoint with Elsner 34:06 Chopin and the cult of the genius 34:51 Could he be considered a formally trained musician instead of self-taught? 35:47 Were these all treatises that Elsner used to teach Chopin? 36:14 Did Chopin know the Rule of the Octave? 36:43 What about Chopin and Partimento? 39:05 What was Henri Reber's lineage of teaching music theory? 39:46 Were Henri Reber and Chopin good friends? 40:27 Chopin's plan to write his own piano method 41:35 Why would Chopin ask a music theorist/composer to help him with his piano method 42:33 Was Chopin 100% focused on completing his method? 43:14 Chopin being very musically opinionated and yet asking several friends to finish his piano method 44:42 Friedrich Kalkbrenner's negative image 47:33 People dismissing great composers as “inferior” 48:57 How would Chopin analyze his own music? 52:10 Francis Plante's video recordings of Chopin Etudes at age 90 53:26 Ragtime - Do we have any evidence that Scott Joplin and Tom Turpin had any formal music training? 55:06 Do we know for sure that Scott Joplin had a counterpoint treatise in his possession? 58:32 The Leipzig Conservatory and Generalbass 59:13 Roman Numerals, Harmonic Function Theory, Generalbass and Counterpoint - a Nuanced take 1:01:34 Were Leipzig Conservatory students learning Stufentheorie and Generalbass at the same time? 1:02:45 Joplin's counterpoint treatise containing many notes and annotations 1:03:56 On counterpoint being something that takes years to study 1:05:34 If you study counterpoint already, what's the need for Stufentheorie or Roman Numerals? 1:07:30 Is Wagner influenced by the German theories of music? 1:10:33 Counterpoint vs chord invertibility 1:14:17 Wrapping Up

My guest today is one of the masters of jazz guitar and jazz education, Richie Hart. He has performed with some of the biggest names in jazz including Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Don Patterson, Jack McDuff, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Houston Person, Etta Jones, just to name a few and is a professor of jazz guitar at Berklee College of Music. 0:37 Beginnings 4:41 Where was George Benson's career at the time you met him? 6:08 Do you remember the first tune you played together? 6:47 George Benson asking you for the names of chords he was playing 7:47 Abandoning the Berklee method 9:34 How often were you taking lessons with George Benson? 9:57 What kind of things would George ask you to work on? 11:08 Does George Benson's approach follow a lineage that goes back to Charlie Christian? 12:11 Is his concept simple or sophisticated? 13:24 What is the problem with the chord-scale theory? 17:08 What should you do if you want to get good at the Blues? 19:11 How many transcriptions should one know? 20:17 How would you analyze a solo by a master to help you create your own lines? 21:45 Do you standardize the chords of a blues form when learning the blues? 23:36 What about Blues forms that have extra chords like played by Charlie Parker? 25:47 Playing Cherokee at 400bpm, how do you think so fast? 28:09 How do you improve your sight-reading? 31:25 Why should we listen to players like Grant Green or Jim Hall? 33:54 Do you tap your foot when improvising? 35:11 Do you practice with a metronome? 36:36 Do you hum or sing when you improvise? 37:34 What do you think about using real books? 38:43 Jazz education drifting away from the original source 41:22 Should you practice a tune in all 12 keys or focus on sounding good in a single key first? 42:05 How about Cherokee in all 12 keys? 42:58 How are you different as an improviser today vs 20 years ago? 43:46 Do you find a commonality with jazz and classical music? 45:46 Reacting to Barry Harris' statement that jazz is a continuation of classical music 46:32 What is your theory/pedagogy of teaching jazz improvisation? 52:42 Chords and Upper extension question 54:47 Top 3 Saxophonists 55:05 Top 3 Trumpet players 55:12 Top 3 Piano players 55:37 Top 3 Drummers 56:02 Top 3 Bassists 56:12 Top 3 Guitarists 56:19 If you could time travel and play with anyone in history, who would it be? 56:37 Top 3 classical composers 56:48 What's the first album people should check out if they want to dive into your music? 56:55 Wrapping Up

My guest today is Concert Pianist, Composer, and Music Educator Rami Bar-Niv. Rami Bar-Niv made history by being the first, and so far the only, Israeli artist to perform in Egypt following the Begin/Sadat Peace Treaty. Praised as “Effective and Flamboyant” by the New York Times and “An Original major talent” by the Boston Globe, Bar-Niv is an international concert performer who has written two books, the first is the “Art of Piano Fingering” and the second his autobiography “Blood, Sweat, and Tours: Notes from the Diary of a Concert Pianist”. 0:55 Playing by ear, Improvising, and composing from age 5 3:38 What music did you listen to growing up? 5:46 Parents teaching their own children vs having a stranger 6:43 Were you a good practicer? 7:47 Studying harmony, counterpoint and theory at the conservatory 8:37 What is your theoretical approach to composition? 9:55 What was your education in counterpoint? 10:21 Did you use Hindemith's textbook? 11:14 Did you take ideas from repertoire and absorb them into your compositional process? 12:22 Theoretical studies with Carl Schachter 13:06 How long did you study with Schachter and what's your perspective on Schenkerian analysis? 14:11 Do you think of theory when composing? 16:05 Does your pianistic ability inform your composing? 18:27 What was your personal relationship with Carl Schachter? 19:04 Did you always improvise? 21:31 Improvisation vs Interpretation 23:59 Do hum when you play? 24:56 Do you have an interested in Jazz? 25:48 What the names of jazz pianists that you enjoy? 26:06 How would you teach improvisation to someone? 30:04 What is your method of teaching composition? 32:57 What do you mean by “knowing” a piece of music? 33:28 Did you face any professional or cultural pressure not to improvise in your career? 35:45 What is your position on cadenzas in piano concertos? 38:54 How did you come to creating your compositional voice? 40:40 The Art of Piano Fingering 43:12 Do you distinguishing between old fingering and new modern fingering systems? 45:06 Do some great composers like Beethoven write bad, non-idiomatic piano music despite being great composers? 47:38 Why is Opera the height of everything? 48:26 Would you consider yourself a self-taught composer? 49:44 How important is family to you? 50:45 Wrapping Up

A personal hero of mine is on the show today: 2-time Grammy nominee, Guitar Virtuoso, Tommy Emmanuel CGP (Certified Guitar Player)! His latest album is 2020's The Best of Tommysongs, a double CD that features some of Tommy's best original works with 5 brand new songs. 1:03 Nikhil's personal musical journey starting with Tommy Emmanuel 5:01 How many solo's did you learn off records? 6:38 Tommy's advice for young musicians, “Get to Work!” 7:36 What do you mean by working 3hrs on a song? 8:53 Is it important to get the exact voicing when transcribing things off records? 10:58 Did you learn the complete solos of all these artists you mentioned? 12:00 What is your system for making sure what you improvise fits correctly on top of the chord? 13:06 Did your improvisational skill experience a general increase over the years or were there intense periods of practice at it? 14:37 Is it important to listen to singers? 16:43 Do you compose music like writing a song rather than guitar music 18:10 Do you play the piano? 18:46 Composing in a piano-like manner 19:24 Dixie McGuire 19:52 How long does it take to write a song? 21:20 Does the melody come first or the harmony? 22:07 What is your definition for a musical idea? 22:35 Does the melody dictate the form of the song? 23:58 Composing a song in 20mins and talking about inspiration 27:08 Do you have many sketches of incomplete songs in your archive? 28:37 The horizontal thought process of composing melody with chords/bass underneath 30:39 Tommy attempting to take lessons to learn how to sightread in the past 32:57 Economy in songwriting 34:25 What should someone look for when listening to a great song? 36:09 Chet Atkins, his influence and why he's so special 38:01 Django Reinhardt 41:23 The Grammys 43:08 Do you have interest in arranging/orchestrating your songs? 44:05 What is your hardest song to play? 44:37 Performing live at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Singapore for billions of viewers 45:50 Do you find inspiration to compose music from physical things in life 47:49 Top 3 Jazz Guitarists 47:56 Top 3 Country Guitarists 48:03 Top 3 Blues Guitarists 48:11 Top 3 Pop Songwriters 48:21 Top 3 Film Composers 48:41 Top 3 Classical Composers 48:59 Top 3 Drummers 49:08 Top 3 Billy Joel songs 49:27 Top 3 Beatles Songs 49:40 Do you get musically inspired by books, movies, non-musical things? 50:54 The Endless Road Documentary, substance abuse past 53:04 The mystique around drugs to improve your creativity 54:24 The importance of good male role models in life 55:56 I Still Can't Say Goodbye and the connection to the father 58:38 Are you religious or spiritual person? And does it affect your life? 1:00:11 Upcoming projects, albums and events 1:02:22 Wrapping Up

My guest today is Professor Peter Schubert. He holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Columbia University and is currently an Associate Professor at the McGill University Faculty of Music. He is the author of the textbook, “Modal Counterpoint: Renaissance Style” (Oxford University Press, 1999). and with colleague Christoph Neidhoefer he also co-authored “Baroque Counterpoint” (Prentice-Hall, 2005). He is known for teaching improvised vocal counterpoint in his classes.

My Guest today is Professor David Mesquita, he teaches ear training, sightsinging, Historical satzlehre Renaissance through to the Romantic at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. His research focuses on Spanish Music and music theory, as well as improvised counterpoint. 0:30 What is your background? 1:31 On learning both Fixed Do and Moveable Do growing up at the same time 2:19 Do you have Absolute or Perfect Pitch? 2:49 What repertoire did you use when studying solfege? 4:05 Students who have to solmize but were raised on Fixed Do? 4:32 Can you comment on the Kodaly method? 5:20 What do you think about Hexachordal solfeggio solmization? 6:54 Do you have a preference for a type of solmization? 8:31 How do you teach ear training? 11:36 Is all all aural or is sight singing involved as well? 13:19 How does someone develop their vocabulary in order to improvise counterpoint? 15:54 Does this take years to master? 17:01 How long are the example that you use in the classroom? 17:41 How would you teach a student who begins with zero knowledge? 19:43 What does Contrappunto alla mente mean? 21:48 Was Lusitano a theorist from Spain? 22:34 The Spanish Golden Age - Siglo de Oro 23:53 Is the Spanish Style very different from the Italian style? 25:37 What are the stylistic differences between the Spanish Style and others? 27:33 Were the writers like Soriano Fuertes writing from a perspective of Nationalism? 29:19 Did the Spanish Style go extinct like the partimento tradition? 30:51 Is Renaissance counterpoint useful or applicable for more modern styles of music? 32:01 What commonalities exist between Renaissance counterpoint and later styles? 33:02 Using Renaissance counterpoint as a good base for studying all tonal music 35:28 What are the different levels of expertise in improvised counterpoint and ear training? 36:50 What are the 6 levels of expertise? 38:07 Is improvised counterpoint a separate subject from written counterpoint? 38:39 What's your opinion on Harmony and Counterpoint, are they two separate subjects? 41:33 Are Harmony and Counterpoint merging in some way today? 41:58 Is there any difficulty applying your process to later Romantic music? 43:58 Do you use different temperaments for different styles of music? 45:48 Do you have a particular frequency that you favor? 46:46 Do you get a physical sensation or awareness of playing in different tunings? 47:48 Does a keyboard in equal temperament sound out of tune for you? 49:04 talking about contrapunto.ch, a website to help practicing improvised counterpoint? 52:08 How do you use the website? 53:28 What's the best way to learn counterpoint? 54:01 Is there more than 2 voices? 55:35 Available resources, links and teachers to learn counterpoint 57:29 How would you reform music education? 1:00:08 What remaining mysteries about the Spanish style remain for you? 1:02:17 Wrapping Up

My guest today is Music Theorist, Organist and Composer, Derek Remeš. He is known for his research into the pedagogy behind Johann Sebastian's Bach method of composition and improvisation. He also is the admin for Facebook group that he started,”Composition and Improvisation in J.S. Bach's Germany”. ----- 0:36 What is your musical background? 2:37 Has anyone in Bach research looked at his craft of improvisation? 4:47 Do all organists have to improvise? 5:47 Did you have a background in improvisation before learning the organ? 6:45 The terminology of thoroughbass 7:49 Would Bach have used the term thoroughbass? 7:58 What do we know of Bach the teacher? Did he have many students and how long did he teach in his career? 10:09 How does thoroughbass relate to Counterpoint and did they talk about Counterpoint much? 15:18 CPE Bach mentioning that JS Bach avoided the “dry” exercises of species counterpoint 16:43 LM 4665, the anonymous manuscript that contained thoroughbass fugues 19:04 How did Bach begin teaching new students? 19:53 Did Bach expect strict counterpoint in thoroughbass? 21:06 How about parallel movement in the middle voices? 22:40 Did he stay with 4 voices or did he eventually shrink down to 3 or 2 voices? 25:17 Was there any instruction in how to write melodies? Like how the Italians practiced Solfeggio. 26:49 The Italian partimenti eventually had no figures, was that the same for Bach? 28:27 Did Heinichen, Niedt and Bach share the same conception of thoroughbass? 31:51 Heinichen updated treatise, after his trip to Italy and the connection to Bach 33:07 What are the differences between Heinichen's first treatise and his later updated version? 39:35 Is Heinichen an innovator? 42:03 After thoroughbass, the student moves on to chorales 43:40 The same melody in chorales but multiple, different basses with figures 45:37 Did they use solfeggio syllables like Do, Re Mi, Fa Sol, La? 49:01 Modes vs Major/Minor 49:35 What temperament are we supposed to play Bach's music in? 50:44 Going from chorales to fugues, when does the study of imitation happen? 53:56 Does being good at thoroughbass prepare you well for fugues? 54:51 Do you find that the study of thoroughbass has helped you in understanding tonal music of other eras? 56:09 What's the best way in your opinion, to learn counterpoint? 57:46 How would you reform music education? 1:02:22 On the modern use of “tonal” as a flippant, pejorative 1:03:43 Wrapping Up

What a great thrill to be joined by a very special guest, Professor Rosa Cafiero of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, the department of History, Archaeology and Art History. She is here to talk about her latest book La didattica del partimento (a collection of nine essays, revisited and adjourned for the digital era). She is one of the great, early pioneers of Partimento research! ----- 0:55 The word for department in Italian is dipartimento 1:23 On being a graduate of the San Pietro a Majella, Naples 1:56 Was the training there similar to the 18th century version of the conservatory? 3:16 Was partimento extinct? 3:59 Did you still get to learn partimenti in any way? 4:48 When did you get interested in exploring the Neapolitan methods? 5:46 Describe the history of Partimento research in the 20th century 8:39 How many documents and manuscripts were there in the library? 9:54 Have all the manuscripts been researched? 10:51 Are these expensive paper manuscripts free from mistakes? 12:44 What does sulla fortuna mean? 13:11 How did you revise your 1993 Carlo Cotumacci article? 14:30 Who was Carlo Cotumacci and why is he important? 16:48 How is Cotumacci's “3rd Way” different from Leo and Durante? 17:31 The regole del contrappunto by Nicola Sala 19:37 On Nicola's legacy and his reputation in counterpoint but also some criticism about his melodic ability 20:22 Francesco Durante's harmonic theories 21:35 How did you revise the essay? 21:55 How hard was it to get these manuscripts today vs previous years 23:37 “Music of a new kind, music composed without rules” - Fenaroli 25:40 Did Fenaroli complain about mistakes in his publications 26:17 Was Naples aware of musical developments in other continents, such as the popularity of Haydn 27:56 Do we full biographies of these Neapolitans or do we just have scraps of information 29:35 How about letters? 31:04 Emmanuele Imbimbo in Paris 33:27 What does Practica mean? 35:10 But wasn't Zarlino a theorist? How does that relate to practica? 36:32 Bianchi's treatise on harmony 38:45 Was his treatise like Fenaroli's regole? 40:45 How did Bianchi teach young children? 41:17 The criticisms of the Neapolitan school in the 19th century 43:49 The Neapolitan method vs the 20th century vertical approach to harmony 47:40 Are Harmony and Counterpoint two separate subjects? 48:30 Is the Neapolitan method only for the 18th century, or can the principles be applied to modern settings? 49:33 What mysteries still remain that interest you about this field of research? 51:10 Do you have a favorite composer from this period? 52:48 What's your reaction to surge in interest in partimento today? 53:30 How about among your colleagues and peers? 55:04 Wrapping Up 55:52 When is the english version of your book coming out?