Georg Philipp Telemann
was probably the most famous composer of his time, unlike today. He was a prolific composer, and he composed
for various combinations of instruments that would sound quite foreign to our
modern ears, just as they would have in his time. In addition to these great works, Telemann
has left us with some pieces that are dedicated to teaching the students. The Sonate
Metodiche were designed around teaching the performer how to improvise on
top of a simple, written melody. The
slow movements of each one comes with a suggestion on how to play ornaments on
top of the melody. However, rather than
just giving a few notes here and there, he ornaments every single note. It is difficult to play every single one, but
they do give the performer an idea of what to play whenever she sees certain
patterns in a composition.
Telemann not only
teaches the performers, but he also teaches fellow composers in his Essercizii Musici, a collection of
pieces that show good taste in composition.
Each movement contains room for the performer to improvise, while also
showing mastery of harmonies between the solo and accompanying lines.
In 17th
century Utrecht, there was a blind musician known for his mastery of bell
tuning and recorder playing.
Fortunately, Jacob van Eyck left us with a collection of music that
shows what his astounding technique was like.
In his Fluyten Lust-Hof, he
takes popular melodies of the time and “breaks” them several times over. The interesting detail is that he always has
the notes of the melodies within his divisions, regardless of how many he adds. Also, as he adds notes, he changes the
character of the piece, from a sorrow lament to a raging dance.
No performance of
division music would be complete without Diego Ortiz, who wrote the book on
them. In the beginning of the book, he
describes many ornate ways to get from point A to point B, and, at the end of
his book, he includes several examples of pieces with written out
improvisations, called Recercadas. As a teacher, Ortiz warns the students:
“Peroch’quantunch’ la glosa sia bona se la mano non li serve, il sono
non po parer bono & il difetto non sera de la glosa.”
Johann Sebastian Bach
is quite elusive to us as a teacher.
Although he has left us with a substantial body of pedagogical music,
there is not a treatise by him that survives.
His Clavier-Übung are examples
of music that is meant to educate the keyboardist on how to perform and
compose, with improvisatory sounding melodies in the prelude and dances, in
addition to the counterpoint in the voices.
In Louis XIV’s France,
a peculiarly French style of music arose, which heavily relied on dance and
ease, while also incorporating lots of ornamentation. Most court composers made it a point to teach
all performers of their music how to play such ornaments, or additions,
gracefully and appropriately. Pierre Danican Philidor is a great help for us to learn
how to play in a style that is pleasing to the French ear. Going further in the French style, the music by Claude Balbastre focuses very much on the melodies, but they are much more fleshed out and further detached from dances. However, they do introduce the keyboardists to the newer styles of music to come.
Thomas Morley is
another great in the world of music teaching.
His book, A Plaine and Easie
Introduction to Practicall Musick, walks through every facet of
musicianship for 17th century musicians. He advises, “And in your musicke seeke to please the eare
as much as shew cunning, although it bee greater cunning both to please the
eare and expresse the point, then [sic] to maintaine the point alone with offence
to the eare.” His own
compositions, which are full of both cunning and beauty, reinforce all of his
lessons.
