[atlantaprog] Re: prog

>  On
> the other hand, have you ever heard a classical musician try to improvise
> over a chord progression, or (heaven forbid) write a song?

Um, yes, actually.  A couple of times in the past month at early music
performances.  Up until a certain point in musical history, the keyboard
parts for most kinds of performance consisted entirely of a figured bass, so
that the keyboard player absolutely had to improvise over a chord
progression.  Continuing on into the era of Beethoven and Mozart, composers
were expected to also be performers, and to be capable of improvising,
largely in variation form (which is...wait for it... improvising over a
chord progression).

Of course, in the last 100-150 years, that sort of thing has become
inessential to most classical performance.  But then again, its also true
that a fair number current classical performers also play jazz on the side.

Lets not go spreading FUD about classical music, shall we?

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