passaggi

Passaggi serves as a specialized application for improvisation and ornamentation practices aimed at historical performers. It offers high-quality audio backing tracks designed for personal practice, facilitating the development of improvisational skills when utilized alongside both facsimiles and modern editions of historical scores. This app caters to a wide audience, encompassing students, amateurs, and professionals alike, featuring adjustable pitch and tempo settings as well as customizable looping options. The tracks are recorded using a sampled historical organ tuned in a temperament consistent with the repertoire, effectively complementing the pedagogical frameworks found in historical treatises.

The concept behind Passaggi emerges from a shared aspiration among many performers dedicated to historical repertoires: to recreate elements of the musical experience that existed at the time of a composition’s inception. While improvisation and ornamentation represent only a part of this multifaceted objective, it is evident that both students and professionals would benefit from having more accessible harmonic and musical contexts for these practices. Such accessibility could enhance immersive study and practice in these areas.

Consider the challenge many musicians face when attempting to engage with materials such as Dalla Casa’s Il vero modo... and singing the bass line from his embellishment exercise of Striggio’s I dolci colli. The benefits of practicing this exercise would be significantly amplified if such resources were readily available. The availability of a ground to practice improvisation upon could attract more musicians towards this exploration. With Passaggi, the project aims to facilitate a deeper investigation into historical sources and methods by digitally bridging the gap to the innate musical awareness that has characterized musicians of the past, connecting them with contemporary practitioners in the twenty-first century.