HIMUS 643-644 — Historical Improvisation for Non-Keyboard Players

2 credits per semester
Fall and Spring
Peter Sykes

Combining practical instruction and in-class performance, this yearlong course investigates the historical foundations of improvisation on melody instruments, from Ortiz to Tartini and beyond. Skill-building elements will include a grounding in the rule of the octave, modulation, transposition, the development of memory through the five branches of rhetoric, counterpoint, and rudimentary keyboard skills. Students will study primary-source treatises by Ortiz, Ganassi, Bassano, Mace, Geminiani, Tartini, and Quantz; musical examples by Corelli and Telemann; and types of improvisation ranging from 16^th-century ornamentation to 17^th-century divisions and including playing over ground basses, ornaments and da-capo alterations, cadenzas, and free fantasias in the latter 18^th century. Each subject will be addressed chronologically, from 1533 to 1800, while skill-building components will be organized according to the level of complexity. Final projects include a paper and presentation on a topic specific to the student’s instrument and a class concert of improvised and ornamented music.