Thinking Music

Notes on partimenti, musical creativity, improvisation, and learning to think in music.

These essays explore historical traditions of musical training, practical tools for improvisation and composition, and reflections on how musicians learn to create.

A Do-It-Yourself Canon

Build your own musical canon from the music that speaks to you. Instead of inheriting a fixed tradition, explore, play with, and internalize the sounds you love—from Bach to Bad Bunny. When you get inside the harmony and structure, those ideas become yours to shape, transform, and carry forward into your own music.

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Partimenti Ian Campbell Partimenti Ian Campbell

What is ‘Partimento?’

Partimenti can refer to several closely related things: a body of unfinished musical repertoire, a creative musical practice, a powerful teaching method, and a way of understanding harmony and musical form from the inside out. This article explores how these ideas connect and why partimenti still matters for musicians today.

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