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Dear new friends of historically informed improvisation!<div><br></div><div>All the research that has been done so far points in one direction: the practice of improvised counterpoint (homophonic or polyphonic), also called sortisatio or contrapunctus mente was the main method to acquire practical musical competence, as singer, instrumentalist as well as composer. As far as I see, this was the case from the Middle Ages up to the late 19th century ( there are plenty of models for every style) in what is now generally called "classical" music, and throughout the 20th up until now in Jazz and Pop music. Whoever was (is) familiar enough with models, was (is) able to sing, play <b>and write.</b> It goes without saying that also analysis profits enormousely. Students who were taught by this method and became skillful will immediately recognize models, patterns and tricks in compositions. They will, however, also immediately recognize whatever is special, new, extra norm, and perhaps only possible through "elaboratio" with time and pencil at the desk, let alone by a specially gifted mind. In my close to 40 years of teaching at the Schola Cantorum in Basle I often was confronted with a slight resistance among my students. They were afraid of having their beloved music demystified. Nowadays a similar resistance can be observed among theory teachers all over. I can only say: <b>Fear not! Go on! You are on the good track! </b> And there is help in case you need it. Peter Schubert deserves several gold stars for all he provides. And there are plenty of research articles coming out almost every month, on historic sources as well as nowadays teaching methods. </div><div><br></div><div>Hakunamatata!</div><div>Markus Jans</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>Am 12.10.2012 um 10:37 schrieb Daniel Roca:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">Dear Dimitar<div><br></div><div>I agree with the need of written theory and its application, above or for composers (conductors, musicologists..) etc. As I am more concerned with education for performers and teachers, I think that more practical and simple aproaches can be valuable there. My comments imply that, at least in my country, there tends to be no(t enouth) diferentiation between both goals.</div><div><br></div><div>I understand from you answer that Pr. Schubert as replied to you privately. I would love to see more information about this on the list. I hope others would as well.</div><div><br><div><div><div>El 11/10/2012, a las 21:09, Ninov, Dimitar N escribió:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Dear Daniel,<br><br>Thank you. I completely understand and I admire Prof. Schubert's practical method. I was wondering about the extent Prof. Schubert has arrived at, and he was so kind as to reply to me. Actually, the achievements of those students exceeded my expectations for which Prof. Schubert deserves a praise!<br><br>On another note, involving written theory of counterpoint. Yes, I agree that rules are a burden, and I am all for as much simplification as one can apply. However, we know that the inverted counterpoint at the octave, 10th and 12th is the core of canon techniques, including canonic sequences that transpose the material up or down once the initial imitation has taken place. Without these rules Bach would not have been able to masterfully work out his inventions and fugues. Virtually every invention (and fugue) contains wonderful application of invertible counterpoint in a canonic sequence fashion. For Bach this is the alphabet of canonic technique. If we want to understand this alphabet (and why we marvel at it) we must study it as written theory in the classroom, and I am sure teachers of counterpoint do that.<br><br>With best regards,<br><br>Dimitar<br><br>Dr. Dimitar Ninov, Lecturer<br>School of Music<br>Texas State University<br>601 University Drive<br>San Marcos, Texas 78666<br>_______________________________________________<br>Smt-talk mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org">http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org</a><br></div></blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; ">_________</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Mark Twain: Haz siempre lo correcto. Esto gratificará a algunos, dejará atónitos al resto.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Daniel Roca</div><div>Músico</div><div><a href="mailto:drocacan@gmail.com">drocacan@gmail.com</a></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div> <br></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Smt-talk mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org">http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org</a></div> </blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>