Ex Ovo

Simultaneously a textbook and a collection of essays, Ex Ovo by Dusan Bogdanovic is a theoretical and practical guide for contemporary composers and improvisers. The book includes chapters on Baroque and Jazz improvisation, species counterpoint, music aesthetics as well as comprehensive theory of motivic transformations. The book is illustrated with drawings by M. C. Escher and contains excerpts ranging from African tribal music to works by contemporary composers such as Ligeti, Reilly, Reich, Feldman, Nancarrow and others.

“Your book [Ex Ovo-A Guide for Perplexed Composers and Improvisers] is very rich and it would take too long to tell you everything that has impressed and given me food for thought. I will simply say that I consider your first text to be a remarkable synthesis. In fact your approach is at the same time that of a musician, a teacher, a structuralist, a sociologist, a philosopher and… a humanist. That’s a lot of talent brought together in one man”.

Simha Arom

Counterpoint for Guitar with Improvisation in the Renaissance Style and Study in Motivic Metamorphosis

Chapters on counterpoint offer excellent descriptions and musical examples explaining species counterpoint in two and three voices. The descriptions of cadences and canonic technique are supported with practical exercises. Notably, the short chapter on imitation is summed up by a brilliant analysis of the imitation technique of Francesco Canova da Milano describing the modal and non-modal harmonic plan of the given fantasia…My recommendation is that any serious guitarist/teacher/performer/composer with an academic interest in teaching counterpoint should have this book as an important reference or method. After reading and playing through this treatise one is left with the impression that Bogdanovic is an intelligent and creative musician trying to verse the guitarist in the use of learned counterpoint, but with reference to the guitarist’s literature, not that of the vocal or keyboard tradition (though these traditions are very important). The only question I am left with at the end of this tome is “why wasn’t this done before?

Harmony for Classical Guitar

Harmony for Classical Guitar written by Dusan Bogdanovic has been conceived as a comprehensive theoretical and practical guide for guitarists interested in deepening their knowledge of traditional harmony starting from the fundamentals up to and including the impressionist period. In addition to the general subjects, the book offers many exercises for practicing different types of chords with their inversions, modulations, progressions, ornamentation and others. While most examples come from the classical guitar literature, the book can be used by performers, composers and improvisers from a wide cross-section of contemporary styles.

Tradition and Synthesis

 Tradition and Synthesis is a ground-breaking work which focuses on the creative act of synthesis or fusion in composition, improvisation, and performance: jazz guitarist/composer Bruce Arnold explains his approach to improvising classical masterpieces (Monteverdi, Messiaen, and Webern, among others); composer-performer Dusan Bogdanovic musically deconstructs the pioneering work of the composer Maurice Ohana; theorist-composer Xavier Bouvier, who has just returned from a six-month sabbatical in China, describes his approach to negotiating intercultural exchange and dialogue; an independent scholar/author and lecturer, Ellen Dissanayake illuminates the human biological predisposition to being musical; Catalan composer-guitarist Feliu Gasull, shares his insights and experiences regarding fusing flamenco in contemporary idiom in an interview; the Iranian composer-guitarist Golfam Khayam focuses on compositional synthesis based on traditional Persian idiom; an interdisciplinary artist and “avatar of experimental music”, David Rosenboom, exposes his ideas of the artscience school of thought; composer/author and educator Michael Tenzer talks about fusing traditional Balinese gamelan with South Indian and Western music.