HMA Podcast

Counterpoint is the "huge topic" that crowns the Neapolitan method and the Paris Conservatoire tradition—and yet it's often taught today in ways that leave students confused, discouraged, and musically disconnected.
In this Counterpoint Panel, I'm joined by:
• Robert O. Gjerdingen (Author of "Music in the Galant Style", "Child Composers")
• Peter van Tour (Author of "Counterpoint and Partimento")
• Job IJzerman (Author of "Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento")
We talk about how counterpoint was introduced to each of them, why modern harmony courses often set students up for failure, and why "rules on paper" don't work without singing, playing, and real stylistic vocabulary.
We also tackle:
• Why counterpoint matters (and what it actually trains)
• The truth about Fux and why the "species-only" pipeline so often collapses
• Why asking students to "write like Bach" can be a disaster—and what to use instead
• Whether everyone needs to write a fugue
• What "written counterpoint" training should look like when students already have practical skills
• Counterpoint's future: horizontality, melody-making, and creative freedom
• If you teach, study, or care about the old training paths (solfeggio → partimento → counterpoint), this episode completes the trilogy. Subscribe for more interviews & deep dives into partimento, improvisation, historical pedagogy, and musicianship.

Today I speak to cellist and viola da gamba player Giovanna Barbati, whose repertoire extends from early to contemporary music and who has a special interest in improvisation. She appears frequently as a soloist, she plays her own music and has given the first performance of a number of works for solo cello. She has recently recorded the complete works for cello by Francesco Supriani (Da Vinci CD) with the ensemble Les amies Partimentistes. We discuss improvisation upon a ground, Francesco Supriani's diminution technique works, partimento and the cello, music theory/composition, and more!

Professor Sietze de Vries, famed for his mastery in classical improvisation, joins the show to talk about his education, training, approach to music, music education, and demonstrates classical improvisation in multiple styles, and time periods.

Professor Nicholas Baragwanath, author of the groundbreaking "Solfeggio Tradition" (published by Oxford University Press), returns to the show to talk about Hexachordal Italian Solfeggio. This was the method of solfege instruction that was employed at the famed 18th-century Neapolitan Conservatories, using 6-note overlapping hexachords, instead of the usual 7-note systems we use today. Professor Baragwanath answers popular questions and demonstrates solfeggio in numerous settings, from beginner lessons to more advanced examples.

Professor Ewald Demeyere returns on the show to discuss his critical edition of Fenaroli's partimenti collection and discusses Fenaroli's approach to pedagogy and partimento realization.