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.
How Tones Fit Together
What if harmony is too small a word? This summer I’m beginning a new series called How Tones Fit Together, exploring one of music’s oldest questions in the broadest possible sense. From the harmonic series and the quadrivium to Bach, the blues, Taylor Swift, and musical traditions from around the world, we’ll explore how human beings have organized sound—and why melody, relationship, and listening may be the real foundations of music.