Ep. 203 | Sietze de Vries: Improvisation, Fugues & Teaching Music as Language

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Date of Interview: November 20, 2025

Professor Sietze de Vries returns to the HMA Podcast for a deep, practical conversation on how improvisation is learned, taught, and misunderstood. He is one of the leading figures in classical improvisation today, internationally active as a concert organist, teacher, and authority on historical improvisation practice. Known for his deep understanding of Bach and earlier styles, as well as his ability to improvise in convincing historical idioms, Sietze has helped reshape how many musicians think about theory, harmony, and keyboard training. Beyond performance, he is also a dedicated pedagogue, working with conservatory students and young musicians to reconnect technique, ear, and creativity into one unified musical language.

We talk about:
• Talent vs nurture, and why great improvisers almost always start “speaking music” young
• The language-learning model for music education: listen, copy, play first, read later
• Why many students can “play pieces” yet struggle with ear skills, harmonizing, and real musicianship
• The role of a shared core repertoire of songs and hymns as the engine of creativity
• A nuanced take on sight-reading vs understanding, and why memorizing notes is not the same as knowing music
• Live demonstrations: turning a simple Dutch children’s song into a waltz, then developing it into richer styles
• How to begin improvising a fugue, using harmony-first thinking and manageable steps
• A realistic way to approach keys (no, you do not grind 24 keys immediately), plus how style and history naturally expand your key vocabulary
• Bonus: a rapid-fire “winner stays on” game comparing famous organist-composers

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Chapters:
00:00 Intro and catching up with Sietze
01:12 Talent vs nurture, why improvisers often start young
04:24 The “most students barely practice” reality (what teachers can do)
08:38 Core repertoire: why shared songs and hymns unlock improvisation
11:50 Sight-reading vs ears: memorizing notes vs understanding music
19:04 Live demo: harmonize a children’s song and turn it into a waltz
26:09 Conservatory shock: great technique, weak ears (and why it happens)
30:50 Tempo, technique, and historical speed on organs
37:16 The instrument shapes the ideas (why organ is unique)
40:32 Improvising fugues: how to think, set up, and develop lines
47:08 Teaching triads and “big chords first” without paralysis
52:32 Keys: why starting with a few keys beats grinding all 24
1:03:01 Organist showdown game, ending with Bach
1:08:30 Wrap-up and play-out