The Art of Canon Improvisation: Making the Impossible Possible

With practice, most individuals can improvise a simple two-voice canon on a keyboard instrument. However, when a cantus firmus is added, as in Weckmann’s partita on Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, the complexity increases considerably. The composer must ensure good counterpoint between the canonic voices while also keeping both voices consonant with the cantus firmus. This requires careful planning, for example by using pivot tones-notes that are consonant with successive notes of the cantus firmus. By analysing all possible movements, these pivot tones can be identified and applied. Expressive dissonances and techniques such as prolation, inversion, and retrograde inversion can also be employed. Though demanding, research shows that these complex forms can also be improvised with systematic practice, offering new creative possibilities.