May 19, 2020
Returning to the program is Professor Robert Gjerdingen, Professor Emeritus of Music at Northwestern University’s School of Music. He is well known for his research in Music Schemata Theory, Partimento and is an expert in music of the 18th century.
His previous book was the influential 2007 book “Music in the Galant Style” and he has a new book out entitled,”Child Composers in the Old Conservatories: How Orphans Became Elite Musicians”. He is also very actively updating his new website partimenti.org
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0:48 How did you come to write Child Composers?
2:43 Do you still conduct research in Music Schema Theory?
3:20 How long did you work with Alma Deutscher and what did you
work on?
5:56 How do the elite child classical performers of today compare
with the elite child musicians of these old conservatories?
8:22 What was the typical job description of a graduate of the
Neapolitan conservatories?
9:44 Was fugal training overkill with regard to the work that the
graduates would use in their professional lives in the 18th
century?
11:24 What are the problems with Move-able Do in Solfeggio?
16:19 How were intavolature, beginning keyboard pieces, used at the
conservatories?
18:12 What are some good, easy keyboard pieces that children today
could use?
18:54 If I was a violinist, would I still need to sing and play the
keyboard?
19:26 Even if I played guitar, cello, trumpet or any instrument I’d
still be expected to sing and play keyboard?
19:37 Why did the Neapolitans place so much importance on
singing?
20:23 How many hours a day did one of these child composers
dedicate to music at the conservatories?
21:21 How many times a week would a class like partimento be taken
a week?
22:04 Did Debussy study partimenti at the Paris Conservatory?
23:42 What is the difference between the Bologna and Naples
traditions?
25:28 Henri Busser’s blackballing at his harmony entrance exam by
Theodore Dubois
28:30 Did Rameau and his theories of fundamental bass have any
influence on the Paris Conservatory?
29:46 If the Paris Conservatory was so emulated around the world
and Walter Piston studied with Nadia Boulanger, why didn’t the old
italian methods continue on in America in the 20th century?
32:58 Do things like submediants, supertonics then exist?
33:49 Are there modern theories of music with levels of harmony or
is it just a serious study of counterpoint?
35:08 Are these 20th century college books of harmony just for
learning “about” music and instead of real study of music would
entail a serious multi-year course of counterpoint?
36:19 What is your opinion about classical music performance
competitions?
39:14 How do these old Italian methods work with regular,
non-prodigy children and people?
41:40 Have you seen a change in perception in music analysis with
regard to music schema, partimento, figured bass over the
years?
45:00 What about Heinrich Schenker’s popularity in music
conservatories, didn’t he believe in counterpoint?
45:55 What’s your plan with partimenti.org?
46:11 Do you have new books and articles planned for the
future?
46:28 Were you friends with Daniel Heartz who recently passed
away?
47:33 Commenting on Music Schema with regard to form-functional
analysis
48:46 How should a child start learning music?