Partimento as improvisation pedagogy: renewing a lost art

Abstract

Throughout the 18thcentury, the practice of partimento flourished in Italian conservatories, spreading eventually to Paris where it functioned as a key pedagogical tool of the "Italian school." Partimenti can be understood to be instructional bass lines, and was used by thousands of classical composers and improvisers across Europe, a fact that is often overlooked. As a music educator who studies improvisation pedagogy, the obsolescence of the practice in the modern pedagogical landscape seems lamentable.Based on my own belief in the potential of this lost tradition to inspire new creative means to musical fluency, the present paper seeks to answer some important questions: What are partimenti?Why do we know so very little of them? How does the practice fit into improvisation pedagogy more broadly? Can a practice of partimento become a part of musical pedagogy in the 21stcentury?