What I Learned by Transcribing a Methodical Fugue by L. Schick
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ค. 2024
- Video by Michael Koch.
Leonard Schick's TH-cam Channel: / @leonardschick5257
Follow me on Patreon to get your hands on video related videos: scores and a bunch of more related little easter eggs: patreon.com/user?u=72391205&u...
00:00 Intro
00:48 Leonard Schick’s channel
02:15 On the term “methodical”
03:35 Schick’s methodical fugue + transcription
04:33 Reverse engineering 1) surface elements
05:55 2) the fugue’s subject and its counterpoints
07:41 On template-based improvising
08:04 Me approaching a different subject with the same strategy
08:50 Fuge improv in A Minor
10:18 Fugue improv in F Major - เพลง
Mate, your channel is criminally underrated. I can’t believe we’re living in a time when the subculture (aka. early music nerds on social media) are actually the ones interested in attainable craftsmanship/complete musicianship, and the mainstream (aka conservatories) are still bogged down with this elusive mantra of “being yourself”, and “being original”. We have it completely backwards. This obsequious chasing of originality and “inspiration” is what led us down the path of wretched contemporary academic music nobody in the right mind listens to/cares about. Anyhow, keep up the good work!
LOVE that comment❤️❤️✌️
100% true
I agree, totally! What Michael is giving us, very few others are able or even believe that this is valuable.
no, the academics do not search for inspiration either! they search for Adorno
I don't think academic music is required to be that original anyway, it is a disingenuous and layered statement that they want people to have their "own voice" but there are some distinct ranges of recent styles and methods that are acceptable to sheerly imitate, and other older ones which are not acceptable to even be an innovative derivative of. Sheerly original stuff is a mixed bag, there's no telling they would even appreciate that.
The internet should be like the printing press for learners and that is why this channel and others are so great. Of course the people who were guarding secrets in aural traditions wouldn't want people gravitating toward books. This is the position universities are in when they want like $5,000 for some remote lectures for an undergrad course and certification of their brand of approval. This brand of approval will not last as the only option forever without adapting.
Artificial intelligence is now real, meanwhile us nerds are writing fugues from an era when Newton was still alive xD
A.I. cant write them well because it hasn't been able to absorb any intellectual property which properly describes the composition process. So... enjoy this time, while it lasts.
What’s wrong with that?
@@avmusic2977 @bronktug2446 I made a joke, I'm not advocating for AI or criticising traditional composition. At the time I wrote this ChatGPT had just come out, and it was impressive, so the joke made more sense. Now we've progressed to AI generated war propaganda - technology moves fast.
Thanks so much for your video on fugues. Here is the list of Modern fugue composers I have found on YT over the past 12 years or so.
Geopholus playlist : Great New Fugues. .
Some of the included composers are: Domenico Bottari, Nicholas Papadimitriou, Graham twist, John Vogt, Jonathan Mui, Gabriela Montero, Brian Ciach, Jack Levinson, Thomas Mayas, Pablo Escande, Matheus Valente "The Diasneb", Zoltan Goncz, Damiano Danti, Felix Carcone, Orlando Aponte, Sergio Valenzuela, "Steveistheman", Alexander Lieberman, Maria ScharwieSs, Lenny Cavallaro, G, Cagnani, Geir Oyvind Eskeland, Kimiko Ishizaka, & Richard Atkinson. It's actually not such a small bubble but YT seems to keep us isolated from one another. I just accidentally came upon Your site after looking every day for NEW FUGUES for more than 12 years.
00:00 Intro
00:48 Leonard Schick’s channel
02:15 On the term “methodical”
03:35 Schick’s methodical fugue + transcription
04:33 Reverse engineering 1) surface elements
05:55 2) the fugue’s subject and its counterpoints
07:41 On template-based improvising
08:04 Me approaching a different subject with the same strategy
08:50 Fuge improv in A Minor
10:18 Fugue improv in F Major
I couldn't understand a single word (well, so to speak), and yet it blew my mind. Such is the value of good musical forms, well explained. It has fueled my interest in learning more about Bach and baroque conventions, so thank you for being so instructive.
haha, then check this one:
th-cam.com/video/aJut2xoQb9w/w-d-xo.html
Very enthusiastic German man explains fugues
Good summary... true though! haha
I really like this down-to-earth approach to the fugue that is otherwise often so "overcomplicated". Basic applied counterpoint through clausulae/cadences and sequences, right next door to every other piece of baroque music, just a slightly more imitative type of jamming, fun and accessible for anyone. I think people tend to compare fugues a bit too much with Bach's fugues which many of them are odd birds and thus maybe not ideal prototypes for beginners. Just for starters the fugue in C major WTC 1 has no sequences/episodes and is basically an experiment of just how many strettos one can exhaust from a single subject, maybe not ideal beginner material as this is indeed quite an arduous task and very difficult to improvise. This approach is more of seeing the fugue almost like a type of improvised prelude, just a tad more imitative and systematic
Thanks Kristian, this is a good comment of course. Well I'd say fugue is still kinda demanding allthough when approach like this. "More imitative" type of jamming: yeah, exactly. I do jam with imitations at the octave for some time now but it really raises the difficulty when you change the key all the time you imitate haha.
I totally agree on your opinion on the WTC: some of them odd birds, and some of them deffo outwright pen and paper creations. I'd say some of the organ fugues are more kinda accessible and some of them probably have an improv background. "Just a tad more imitativs and SYSTEMATIC": I think this is what fascinates me most about this because you're kinda forced to re-evaluate your own jamming: I normally wouldn't modulate so systematically - it just kinda happens, but from now on I'm gonna pay more attention to this.
Thanks for commenting :D
Yeah you can't exactly evaluate all of the best strettos for a subject that is given to you at the moment and how to develop them over time unless - like a chess grandmaster - you have labbed these scenarios so ridiculously hard beforehand that your fluency with stretto formulas approaches that of thoroughbass and beyond. Theoretically possible maybe but not practical. I see the upper limit of improvisation's aims something more like the 2nd movement from Bach's Hortus Musicus Sonata after Reincken - and rather than the WTC this follows more closely the manner of Bach's organ fugues like big and small in G minor, A minor the great, E minor wedge, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, etc.
It is created out of "standard" materials but done so well that it's mindblowing tbh. But it's also known that Bach was mindblowing with those standard materials. Between subject entries when it does rising runs in thirds which do voice exchanges to keep going, something like that he would have entirely labbed out beforehand as a standard technique. I recommend anyone to analyze this fugue if they want to see some tricks of a younger Bach that I've never seen deployed so systematically in one place. Even better is the fact that this is AFTER Reincken's sonata so you can see the huge extent that Bach added to this based on the standard possibilities of that subject.
I like that chess analogy, because I guess that is well comparable
How I wish I had discovered this fascinating channel earlier! Thank you so much for this, it is most illuminating!
I love your videos! They are super helpful and I learn immensely. Thank you!
I just realized that the 19th prelude in A major from WTC I is one of these “methodical”, straightforward Fugues! Bach probably wanted to toss off something easy after writing 18 brilliant preludes, and fugues. And then he follows it with an amazing Fuga in 9/8 time, which to me, sounds more like a prelude!
I love your videos. Thank you for introducing Leonard Schick. Borogrove is another classical/baroque improviser that has helped me at classical improvisation. Thank you again.
Borogrove is legend! :DD one of my favourite channels
I loved the video. Maybe the video title could be more like "Improvising Fugues the Easy(er) Way" . I don't think I would have clicked on the video if I did not already know your channel.
I suspect this is THE way. Once you internalise enough patterns you could improvise a fugue from an audience theme (maybe modifying the given theme so it fits one of your patterns).
Hey man I really appreciate this comment, it's helpful. I really struggle with titles/thumbnails because I find clickbaity stuff kinda scammy but to a certain degree you have to do go down that road I guess... at least if you wanna grow
Excellent 😊thanks for the video
great stuff!
Excellent video!
Thank you! Your videos are really helpful to learn new things in a simple way!
thank you so much! great video, well done 🎥
Great video! And beautiful simplicity of theme 😊
THX for watching, Szymon!
Very very nice! I will be watching several times to try and understand everything. My ability to improvise contrapuntally on a theme has to improve, I mostly compose dances and melody - bass pairs. Thank you for sharing.
Wahre Kollegialität! Gratuliere euch beiden! Und herzlichen Dank!
haha, danke. Er ist eher nicht so Fan, glaub ich😂😂
Very nicely put together video!
thank you
Thanks!!
excellent stuff!
THX, Peter❤️✌️
Your videos are really helpful, i'm still getting started in improv, i didn't check all of your videos but could you make a chopin etude improv tutorial, i really like your way of "teaching" btw, Thanks a lot ! 😀
haha you mean like "improvising winter wind"?
@@en-blanc-et-noir i'm selling my organs if you're making this video
Hey! I really liked your video, thanks for creating it. Apart from the purely practical aspect of it, I particularly enjoyed some terms you used, such as "combinatorial continuum" and "gaining head space for on-the-spot decision making", which beautifully verbalized intuitions I've had while reflecting on composing. I then tried to check those terms out. I found nothing! So I'd really love to know if you could recommend literature that has influenced your own thinking about creativity. Thanks a lot in advance!
Thanks a lot! I appreciate that! On the terminology: Well, I'm a music theorist and those people usually invent terms I guess. Most literature, even very recent and ostensibly "informed" publications on the topic are methodical disappointments and not innovative. The only publications I can really recommend are in German: "Compendium improvisation" by Schwenkreis et.al. and the Book on Händel's Partimenti by Holtmeier/Menke/Diergarten (which is not primary about improvisation but very illumintating). Those books are actually not really about creativity but more like on the topic of "craft" that - at the moment - is the main focus of baroque improv methodology. I hope that someday this will change...
As improviser I use to observe myself conciously which is like a natural habit to me so I notice stuff like that "head space" requirement :DD
@@en-blanc-et-noir Thank you so much for taking the time for responding. Yeah, the "head space" thing is also a continuous concern of mine (I'm a film composer, so I begin every project by improvising while watching the film). Everytime I get a chunk of craft down I can feel my head getting extra space for higher level (more structural) thinking. Thanks a lot also for the books, I'll check those out (German isn't a problem, I studied at the MDW).
Maravilloso
You should’ve seen me after listening to your F major Fugue improv, standing in my kitchen and yelling out “Wow, Michael”!!!
Now I’m going to listen to the whole video again and go practice using your Patreon files. Bravo!
haha, thanks, Angela! Well I wouldn't say it's great music but you gotta start somewhere
@@en-blanc-et-noir But that was a great improvisation and it was fun as a listener to know what I was hearing based on your previous example with the analysis that you showed.
Great coda bro!
lol common
I love your videos! You really unpack a lot of complex topics that not a lot of people touch on. I’ve been improvising for almost a year now and I have become very comfortable with doing it by ear, but I’m now trying to refine it so I can play classical or romantic styles more clearly. I’m only 15 however and I don’t have a college degree in music so when yo upstart talking about all these complex chords like 6/4 or all the others you lose me 😅 I’m wondering if you could make a video to help explain this so I can better understand your content, or if you know what all this is called so I can find the information somewhere. Thank you!
Hey, cheers! Thx for comment. Well, the overall approach you can see here is a thing that roughly figurates as "historically informed music theory" - the idea is that the contemporary approaches back in the day did cover compositional aspects of their style more adequate than "modern" academic music theories. Although this may sound evident it is not at all mainstream because it's too specific and maybe less systematic in comparision to functional theories.
The approach seen in my videos is a mixture of bass/scale degrees (usually numbers in circles) and figured bass (which indicates intervals/chords) as there is a strong relation between scale degree and the supposed figures you'll see above them. A book that's good ressource for beginners probably is Job Ijzerman's "Harmony, Counterpoint and Partimento" check this out...
I discovered Leonard Schick on the r/partimenti sub. yes that exists
Good video! You're like a Wes Anderson character
lol, HOW??? I'm usually not a fan haha, but if you say so, I guess I gotta re-watch :D
Hi Michael, really interesting. Fits into your general hint of baroque music as made of building blocks. Does that mean his trick is to take a common opener as skeleton for fugue subjects, because they are already well internalized and easy to recall spontaneously?! E.g. page one, quiescenza, 1-7-1 or else? sequencial greetings Richard 😊
Rich! :D long time no see! Yeah: you're absolutely right, there are little "families" of fugue subjects that more or less imply similar counterpoints. Subjects can as well be seen as indiviual melodies drawn from a pre-existing multivoice fabric (e.g. a cadence or a sequence) and when you look at historical fugue treatises you'll see that some of them even show HOW to draw a fugue subject out of a multivoice setting. I'm not sure where exactly at the moment but I think I've seen this in Kirnbergers treatis on fugue.
Cheers
Danke. :--)
Ehre! Besser spät als nie, ich dachte schon, dass es dir aus Gründen nicht gefallen hat. Ist schon als aufrichtige Hommage gedacht!
@@en-blanc-et-noir Ich gestehe, dass ich nicht systematisch das Internet nach solchen Inhalten absuche. Vor etwa 2 Monaten hat mich jemand auf das Video aufmerksam gemacht. Ich dachte, ich hätte schon damals reagiert. Gestern hat mich wieder jemand darauf angesprochen (oder eher angeschrieben) und da habe ich nachgeschaut. Tatsächlich hatte ich noch nicht reagiert. My bad. Der Blick von aussen auf die didaktische Fugenimprovisation hat mir gefallen, weil da noch Sachen zur Sprache gekommen sind, die ich in meinen Videos nicht ausdrücklich erwähne (zb die fast durchgehende Dreistimmigkeit, oder auch die Dux-Comes-Paare innerhalb des Stücks).
Krank
isso
Very nice as always! You should probably tune your piano up a bit, given the quality of your content and your special place in this partimento youtube island ;)
LOL I know... thanks anyway :DDD
@@en-blanc-et-noir By the way, talking about improvisation youtube, do you know the channel of Franz Josef Stoiber? It's a great resourse that you might want to recommend people, particularly german speakers (I understand it but can't speak pretty much). It's an organ thing but of course living improv tradition is largely an organ thing and we should translate the knowledge of this tradition to the piano world, I am part of both cultures. Cheers!
ha! Of course I've subscribed to FJS' channel. I really like how he's directly going into medias res without making such a big thing out of it. What you get to see there is the typical german "Kirchenmusikerstyle" or "das reine Handwerk" (the pure craft). I watched quite a bunch of his tutorials and learned a lot, especially methodically.
@@en-blanc-et-noir Me too! I'm Swedish and we largely have the same germanic organ tradition here.
Oh since you surely know this stuff, do you have other german language sources on youtube to recommend in this community?
But but but... all my music professors have told me that all the classical composers were geniuses who could never be matched again by others, and also therefore, that is why all classical concerts constantly feature only their music rather than performing any new works. Are you saying... they were wrong and that anyone can learn to write such works ?!?? Inconceivable !
Do you believe that?!
no... lol
Ciao, Peter! :D