Le 1er juillet 2017
de 9h00 à 9h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3203
Séance - Teaching and Pedagogy (II)
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Job IJzerman
This paper presents a new method of harmony teaching at an undergraduate conservatory level, entitled “Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento” (HCP). The method falls in line with recent initiatives concerning partimento training worldwide. Despite these courses, a thorough approach starting at an elementary level does not exist yet. HCP aims to fill this educational gap, and offers an alternative for currently used harmony textbooks. The following comparison between HCP and these traditional harmony textbooks can be made.
First, HCP takes a primarily contrapuntal perspective. HCP treats the bass (represented by circled numerals) as the actual foundation of the harmonic-contrapuntal texture, rather than the progression of chord roots. HCP introduces the Rule of the Octave, sequences, cadence formulas, and schemata such as the Romanesca, the Monte and the Quiescenza.
Second, HCP deals with the relation between consonance and dissonance from the very beginning. The resolutions of the seventh and the second, as well as the augmented fourth and the diminished fifth, determine the harmonic progressions to a considerable degree.
Third, in HCP aural and aesthetic experience go hand in hand with theoretical knowledge. Therefore most exercises can be sung or played on melody instruments. Students do not need to be skilled in keyboard playing.
HCP contains many (authentic and arranged) partimenti by eighteenth-century Neapolitan masters like Francesco Durante and Fedele Fenaroli, as well as exercises derived from real compositions. Each exercise challenges the student’s musical imagination in harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic respect: each exercise aims to be a short compositional sketch.
