The Dutch and Finnish harpsichordist Jasper Koekoek is both a versatile continuo player performing actively in chamber ensembles and orchestras alike, and a solo harpsichordist, and has distinguished himself as a promotor of Dutch and Nordic repertoire. He has performed in productions of renowned ensembles like the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and Ensemble Nylandia. As an artist-researcher, he is working on a doctorate in music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he has completed his master’s degree and worked as an accompanist as well. He conducts the Amore Barocco orchestra. His artistic activities have been generously funded by e.g. the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. He works as a harpsichord and piano teacher and as an accompanist at the Nurmijärvi Music Institute. Apart from his studies under Assi Karttunen, Annamari Pölhö, Elina Mustonen and Matias Häkkinen, he has extended his expertise at masterclasses by renowned harpsichordists like Corina Marti, Christophe Rousset and Francesco Corti.
Research Abstract
The Study of 17th Century Polyphonic Keyboard Notations
How did a 17th century keyboard player perceive notated music? Why would they write solo keyboard music with separate voices? The present doctoral project investigates the process of gaining literacy in the two dominant polyphonic keyboard notations of the 17th century: new German organ tablature and open score, which present voices seperately, superimposed. The volume of extant sources is massive, but the extent of literacy among musicians today, infinitesimal. Without the aid of notational polymathy, we cannot comprehensively understand the intentions behind old scores and treatises.
German tablature was predominant in Hanseatic regions. Open score was used in Italy, southern Germanic regions and Spain, often as an “auxiliary” notation for certain genres. Illustrating the polyphonically oriented mindset inherited from medieval practices, and intertwined with vocal music, the evolution of keyboard notations was a caleidoscopic playground of experimentation, until the wide diversity settled roughly into two contrasting traditions during the late 16th century.
Relying on the dialogue between historical sources and artistry, historically informed performance (HIP) is the approach to performance practices and the “movement” that acknowledges the ephemerality of tradition and seeks to comprehend past practices through first-hand accounts. In Artistic Research, music-making is the object, method or output of the research, and the researcher usually adopts a reflexive approach. The key method of the present study is to internalize the notations through facsimilae. It adopts artistic practices—programming, practicing and performing—as methods, applied with documentation into a reflexive journal and retrospective analysis thereof. At the core are two periods of systematic and immersive artistic study. The outcomes are presented in two concerts, an article presenting a learning model for German tablature, and a summary that reflects on the interrelation between the notations.
Tuition
Koekoek works as a harpsichord and piano teacher as well as an accompanist at the Nurmijärvi Music Institute and he also offers private tuition in those instruments. He has previously worked as a music teacher and accompanist at the Porvoo Region Music Institute, the Raahe Music Institute, and the Taidetöölö Music School. Additionally, he served for a year as an accompanist at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (2021–2022). He studied in the master’s program Piano Chamber Music and Lied at the Sibelius Academy, graduating in 2020. Koekoek has also studied at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences, the Turku Conservatory, and the Salo Music School. His teachers included Juhani Lagerspetz and Heini Kärkkäinen. Koekoek completed his pedagogic studies at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences.