Basso continuo: All beginnings are easy

Playing basso continuo on keyboard instruments requires various skills: playing technique, understanding of harmony, the ability to read and react when accompanying and also improvisational imagination, as the vast majority of notes are not written in the sheet music. The greatest initial difficulty is playing without precise notation, but this is much easier when playing together with other voices, provided the music is not too demanding.

This is exactly where Greensleeves and Pudding Pies . In the context of ensemble pieces with one or optionally two upper voices from the mostly English dance music of the early Baroque, beginners at the lowest level (Level 1) can take their first steps in continuo improvisation without much preparation: 1.) with the same bass notes (and chords) struck repeatedly, 2.) with pendulum basses, 3.) first step sequences, 4.) on organ points with changing harmonies, whereby figures can already be read, up to 6.) bass movements with sustained chords of the "right hand". On this simple basis, there are no limits to the creativity of the "continuo beginner": rhythmically, harmonically, figuratively, melodically, ornamentally, etc. All you need is an instrument, a fellow player and, of course, the inviting booklet by the Hamburg harpsichordist, harpist and recorder player Monika Mandelartz. Levels 2 and 3 are already waiting with the sequel!

Monika Mandelartz: Greensleeves and Pudding Pies. Figured Bass and Historic Improvisation, 50 Pieces for 2 or more Instrumentalists, Level 1, EW 1220, € 26.50, Walhall, Magdeburg