90: Robert Gjerdingen

Nikhil Hogan Show

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

-----

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?