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Singing, Reading, Writing, Playing

Practising with TomĂĄs de Santa MarĂ­a


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  • Abstract
    • This article approaches the question how people practised at a keyboard instrument in the 16th century by evaluating the most extensive source, TomĂĄs de Santa MarĂ­a’s Arte de tañer Fantasia (1565). Avoiding specific problems such as fingering or hand position, this article focuses on how practising can be organized, and how the advice given in the historical source can be applied in today’s didactic practice. As the hints scattered throughout the treatise suggest, learning is guided by an active engagement with singing, solmization and written-out compositions in various notational formats – instead of merely ‘interpreting works’. Equipped with a plethora of musical ideas and motor patterns acquired through vocal and instrumental experience, a skilled musician – in the sense of Santa MarĂ­a – can play polyphonic pieces based on paired imitations spontaneously, which sound as if they were written-out compositions.
  • Date Issued 2024
  • Authors
    Rabe, August Valentin | University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
  • DOI 10.21939/HARPSICHORD-16C-05
  • Language en
  • License CC-BY-4.0
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