Baroque Improvisation

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

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

Lessons Applications, Inquiries, Comments for Nicola: nsc@juilliard.edu; ncanzano@umich.edu 00:00 Intro 01:29 Pre-requisites 05:15 Preparing for your first improvised fugue exposition 10:14 A smorgasbord of harmonization practice on a subject in F 11:24 Order of subject entries 17:41 Order of subjects example 1 (subj. head 5-4 real in IV) 18:11 Order of subjects example 2 18:32 Real vs. tonal answers 31:12 Subject w/ scale degrees 1-2 head example 31:40 Subject w/ scale degrees 5-4 head example tonal ans. (in V) 32:04 Subject w/ scale degrees 5-3 head example 32:45 My improvised first fugue structure/roadmap 35:37 A simple improvised fugue example 37:36 Topics for further study & Outro See my comment below for an addendum. For any questions, you can always reach me (Nicola Canzano) on Facebook.