Inspiring Creativity

Beginning Classical Improvisation for Piano Students

(and their Teachers!)

John Mortensen, DMA, NCTM

Steinway Artist

Professor of Piano, Cedarville University

Download the notes for this presentation at www.johnmortensen.com

Why Improvise?

• An essential aspect of musicianship, except for the last 100 years.

• It’s coming back! College music programs are scrambling to figure out how to teach it.

• Students today disregard boundaries between musical styles.

• Composers are beginning to include improv sections in “art music.”

• fMRI research suggests a powerful connection between improvisation and creativity.

Handel Prelude HWV 467

Handel Preludes HWV 478-469

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Duet Improvisation

Further Resources

Erhardt, Martin. Upon a Ground - Improvisation on Ostinato Basses from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries. Magdeburg: Verlag Franz Biersack, 2013.

Gjerdingen, Robert O. Music in the Galant Style. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Mortensen, John. The Pianist’s Guide to Classical Improvisation. Forthcoming in 2017.

Sanguinetti, Giorgio. The Art of Partimento: History, Theory, and Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

www.johnmortensen.com