Connecting Canada - Ian Campbell

Ian Campbell

Ian Campbell is a pianist, composer, improviser, and music educator based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is the founder of the Partimenti Workshop (www.partimenti.ca), an online program dedicated to exploring historical approaches to harmony, improvisation, and composition through the study of partimenti—bass-driven exercises that formed the foundation of musical training in European conservatories from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. His teaching brings together historical pedagogy, modern learning science, and practical musicianship, helping students develop fluency in harmony, improvisation, and composition.Ian holds a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Manitoba. He spent summers studying at the European American Musical Alliance at La Scuola Cantorum in Paris, France, where he studied counterpoint, keyboard harmony, composition and fugue with disciples of Nadia Boulanger.As a teacher, Ian works with students ranging from beginners to professional musicians. He believes that musical understanding develops most deeply when sound comes before notation and when students are actively engaged in making music. Ian maintains both an online teaching studio and an in-person studio in Winnipeg (www.creativepianolessons.ca). His students explore a wide range of musical practices, including improvisation, composition, and collaborative music-making.Alongside his teaching, Ian writes about music pedagogy and historical practice, and is currently developing instructional materials that integrate partimenti with contemporary approaches to music learning. His work aims to reconnect modern musicians with the creative, improvisatory traditions that shaped the training of composers such as J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Verdi among many others.Through teaching, writing, and performance, Ian seeks to cultivate a musical culture in which creativity, curiosity, and historical awareness support vibrant musical practice today.

Session #5: From Theory to Creative Practice: Teaching Harmony Through Improvisation and Composition

Many students experience music theory as abstract, disconnected, and difficult to apply musically. Perhaps you do too! This session proposes an alternative: teaching harmony as a living, creative practice grounded in improvisation, composition, and embodied musical understanding.Drawing on historical pedagogical traditions from the Neapolitan and French conservatories and Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory.This presentation introduces a pattern-based approach to harmony that emphasizes sound before symbols. Participants will explore how harmonic understanding can be taught through scales, intervals, and common harmonic and contrapuntal patterns—such as the Rule of the Octave, sequential patterns, and cadential formulas—rather than through isolated written exercises. These patterns are presented not as rules to memorize, but as flexible musical tools students can use to improvise, compose, and better understand repertoire. Through short demonstrations at the keyboard and recorded examples, participants will see how even early-level students can work creatively with harmonic motion, bass patterns, and voice-leading using simple materials.The session also draws on contemporary Music Learning Theory, particularly research emphasizing audiation, pattern learning, and creative engagement as foundations for musical understanding. By connecting historical methods with modern research, the presentation offers a pedagogical bridge between improvisation, composition, and traditional repertoire-based teaching.Practical applications will be emphasized throughout. Participants will leave with concrete strategies for:

Introducing harmonic patterns through scales and intervals
Guiding students in improvisation over structured harmonic frameworks
Using cadences and sequences as compositional building blocks
Helping students connect theory concepts directly to repertoire and creative work

This session is designed for teachers working with students at a wide range of levels and is especially suited for educators seeking to foster creativity, independence, and deeper musical understanding for their students.

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