HMA Podcast

Counterpoint is the "huge topic" that crowns the Neapolitan method and the Paris Conservatoire tradition—and yet it's often taught today in ways that leave students confused, discouraged, and musically disconnected. In this Counterpoint Panel, I'm joined by: • Robert O. Gjerdingen (Author of "Music in the Galant Style", "Child Composers") • Peter van Tour (Author of "Counterpoint and Partimento") • Job IJzerman (Author of "Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento") We talk about how counterpoint was introduced to each of them, why modern harmony courses often set students up for failure, and why "rules on paper" don't work without singing, playing, and real stylistic vocabulary. We also tackle: • Why counterpoint matters (and what it actually trains) • The truth about Fux and why the "species-only" pipeline so often collapses • Why asking students to "write like Bach" can be a disaster—and what to use instead • Whether everyone needs to write a fugue • What "written counterpoint" training should look like when students already have practical skills • Counterpoint's future: horizontality, melody-making, and creative freedom • If you teach, study, or care about the old training paths (solfeggio → partimento → counterpoint), this episode completes the trilogy. Subscribe for more interviews & deep dives into partimento, improvisation, historical pedagogy, and musicianship.

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