1:41 What was the landscape for books on classical improvisation before the publishing of his book 3:35 How long did it take you to write the book, and did you have to revise the book as new information kept coming out? 4:22 Who is the book written for? 5:37 Does the book lean Italian or German in it’s approach? 7:12 What prerequisites do you need to create a figuration prelude? 8:12 What harmonies do you need to know to start your figuration prelude? 10:01 How do you break up the chord and how many types of figurations that you can come up with? 10:46 The effectiveness of figuration preludes in getting newcomers to creating music right away 11:29 Why is Toccata chapter 2? 12:56 What’s the amount of harmonic knowledge you need to improvise Toccatas? 13:37 Do you teach cadences in the book? 13:57 The Rule of the Octave and how important it is? 16:08 Which version of the Rule of the Octave do you want students to start with? 17:50 CPE Bach’s multitude of Rule of Octave versions 18:51 Diminutions 21:19 What about 16th notes? 22:14 How do you avoid contrapuntal mistakes in improvisation? 23:37 Do you encourage students look at the piano literature and steal ideas? 24:23 Variations 27:48 What’s the way to develop melodic lyricism? 31:42 How do I finger all these examples in the book? 32:36 Friedrich Erhard Niedt and the suite 35:52 Imitation 38:30 Counterpoint 39:57 Is Counterpoint not being taught correctly in University? 40:57 Partimento 42:27 The benefits of partimento with regular music students 45:09 The overwhelming positive feedback to classical improvisation 46:00 How does the classical improvisation scene compare to 10 years ago? 48:17 Schemata 50:00 Interest in traditional Irish music 50:51 The parallels between Celtic improvisation and Classical improvisation 52:28 On being denied visiting a University because the top professor could not improvise 53:44 Is a classical improvisation renaissance happening? 54:20 Publishing with Oxford University Press? 55:52 What are your thoughts on hexachordal solfeggio practiced by the Neapolitans as researched by Nicholas Baragwanath? 58:57 Wrapping Up

Thank you both so very much for sharing your experience and insights gained from your lifelong hard work! It's through the passion, commitment and devotion of people like you that improvisation has found a place in 'classical' music again!

Another interview with John, what a treat! Thanks Nikhil, great work as always.

Awesome show! Thank you Prof. Mortensen for your vision and leadership on this subject. I really think improvisation will fundamentally transform - over the next several decades - the solo concert experience away from “recitals “ and towards “creative performances”.

Love Prof Mortensen!

my major interest is pop/rock but i practice a ton of bach and i love classical music generally. i'm interested in improving my improv skills and for me this book seems to make sense. i also like bluesy, pentatonic stuff but don't want to get absolutely locked in on that. i see the book is not available on amazon right now but i will get it. thanks for this content and mapping it out !