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Baroque Improvisation

Watch Nicola improvise:
Improv12. Fughetta in B-flat
01:40

Improv12. Fughetta in B-flat

I found this video while cleaning out a folder. Looks like I improvised it while the camera was running for my eighth episode on sequences. Not sure why I didn't post it then. I must not have been happy with it, but there are no career-ending mistakes. A parallel octave here and there, and the final tenor entrance was missing a note.
Improv11: Prelude and Fugue in F: Postlude at St. John in the Village, NYC, December 12, 2021
03:49

Improv11: Prelude and Fugue in F: Postlude at St. John in the Village, NYC, December 12, 2021

Lessons Applications, Inquiries, Comments for Nicola: nsc@juilliard.edu; ncanzano@umich.edu A short, not particularly fantastic postlude: prelude on the closing chant, fugue on a simple theme invented on the spot. Please pardon the low quality. Thanks to St. John in the Village for use permission.
Improv10. Prelude and Fugue on Themes from the Audience
05:29

Improv10. Prelude and Fugue on Themes from the Audience

Lessons Applications, Inquiries, Comments for Nicola: nsc@juilliard.edu; ncanzano@umich.edu As I walk on stage, I am provided a few themes on paper upon which I'm expected to improvise in this portion of a small mid-morning recital in Juilliard's Morse Hall. I use one theme as a prelude and turn one into a fugue subject. In my nervousness, I forgot to play the themes for the audience, but.I did ask the composer of the snippets to verify afterward that I didn't cheat!
Watch Nicola explain:
Ep9. Improvising Fugue (Part II)
34:54

Ep9. Improvising Fugue (Part II)

Lesson Applications, Inquiries, Comments for Nicola: nsc@juilliard.edu This time around I go back through some fugues I've improvised recently and analyze the subjects, present my thought process as I sit down to improvise, show you some tricks of the trade, and tell some cautionary tales. 00:00 Intro 01:43 Example I (Fughetta in B-flat) 03:22 Nature of the Subject, Simplifying 06:09 The Answer: Cadence Patterns and Continuo 13:31 Explanation of Middle Voice Entry 14:48 "Versetto/Simple Exposition Form" 22:03 Example II (Prelude and Fugue on the Theme from "Pirates of the Caribbean" 25:52 "Pirates" Fugue Debrief 34:41 Outro/Contact
Ep8. Sequences
45:15

Ep8. Sequences

Lessons Applications, Inquiries, Comments for Nicola: nsc@juilliard.edu; ncanzano@umich.edu 00:00 Introduction 01:34 Overview and Pyramid of Sequences 03:15 Circle of Fifths (↓5 ↑4 & ↓3 ↑2) 09:22 CoF 7-7 version 09:45 CoF 53-65 version 10:25 CoF 642-6(5) versions 11:09 CoF position switching 11:46 CoF chromatic alterations 12:37 CoF diminutions ex. 13:00 Romanesca (↓4 ↑2) 16:42 ↓3 ↑4 21:00 ↓4 ↑5 & ↓2 ↑3 27:02 ↓4 ↑3 30:51 ↓3 ↑5 34:56 ↓5 ↑3 38:02 ↓2 ↑4 40:24 ↓2 ↑5 & ↓5 ↑2 44:11 Outro First Book of Partimenti: https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/2/2e/IMSLP636986-PMLP1021805-First_Book_of_Partimento_Preludes_and_Fugues.pdf
Ep7. Improvising Your First Fugue (Part Ia)
20:25

Ep7. Improvising Your First Fugue (Part Ia)

Lessons Applications, Inquiries, Comments for Nicola: nsc@juilliard.edu; ncanzano@umich.edu This is an addendum to Episode 6, where I clarify a few important points, and give an additional exercise for beginning fuguers (fuguists? fuguepersons?). Bonus points to whoever finds the PARALLEL FIFTHS I included in one my examples. Extra bonus points for identifying the two fixes for said fifths that do not change a single note! 00:00 Intro 01:48 Order of Entries (Take 2) 07:46 Real v. Tonal Answers (Take 2) 17:26 Two-voice exercise

Nicola offers lessons for both keyboardists and melodic instruments in historical improvisation.

See the Lessons tab for more information. 

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