The Pianist's Guide to Historic Improvisation
John J. Mortensen
Reviews and Awards
"This book fills an important niche in the world of piano and keyboard pedagogy. In each of the chapters Mortensen encourages the reader's creativity, simultaneously exposing the musical building blocks used by some of the great composers and allowing the reader to apply those same compositional techniques to improvising in a stylistically-appropriate way." -- Kate Boyd, Professor of Music at Butler University
"Any language study based solely on reading without speaking, would be incomplete. Similarly, the study of improvisation is indispensable for learning music. In this important book John Mortensen wonderfully demystifies the creative process and presents a clear and gradual method for learning to speak the language of J. S. Bach and his contemporaries. Highly recommended!" -- Noam Sivan, Professor of Piano Improvisation, Hochschule of Music and Performing Arts, Stuttgart; Formerly, Director of Improvisation, Curtis Institute of Music