Singing upon the (Note-)book

Unser Verständnis der Alten Musik ist stark geprägt von schriftlich überlieferten Werken. In den letzten Jahrzehnten wurden jedoch auch zunehmend schriftlose Phänomene – wie der contrapunto alla mente, der lange Zeit im Schatten der Musikschreibung stand – erforscht und sogar als Praxis wiederbelebt. Mit dem Projekt "Singing upon the (Note-)book" wollen wir praktisches Wissen zum improvisierten Kontrapunkt bündeln und mit einer Übungsmöglichkeit online verknüpfen.

In a series of tutorials, we would like to explain various techniques of improvised polyphony. The methodical structure is designed with practical realisation in mind: The aim is to provide instructions that are as specific as possible in order to gradually build up your own skills from easy to difficult. This is accompanied by references and links to historical sources.

For this project, videos were recorded in a church with several singers and a trombonist. They serve as templates for improvising various counterpoints and include model progressions, Gregorian chorales, hymns, cantus firmi from tracts and canons. The videos show the music stand in the church with the various manuscripts and the beaten tactus for metrical orientation, in order to promote the greatest possible immersion in the real sound and context when practising.

The specially developed player is the centrepiece of the ‘Singing upon the (note)book’ project. This player can be used not only to play the practice videos, but also to record your own improvisations, for example to listen to them again at your leisure or to gradually add more voices. All saved recordings are provided with a link so that they can be easily shared with other people. Have fun!