tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91737649771257713742024-03-28T22:28:36.802-05:00GlorntismsGlornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-85515979365051793962024-02-04T17:15:00.000-06:002024-02-04T17:15:52.267-06:00Perenepsis XXIII -- 2 a.m.: Another Nightmare<p>The subtitle "2 a.m." here refers to the approximate time of day (night) this idea first came to me; it is another slow "nightmare"-type Perenepsis, akin to #5 (<a href="https://youtu.be/qWJlki8fVMY">located here on YouTube</a>) from way back in 2013. Like #5, this is almost atonal, but not quite, but also definitely not tonal, nor is it serial. It just is.<i> Delicate ears might want to skip this one</i>, as there is a more user-friendly entry coming any day now. For the background, I was looking for a late night photo of a dark sky, but this abstract watercolor from Circe Denyer seemed to provide the correct mood better than any photos I could find.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M6rbnawXCKI" width="320" youtube-src-id="M6rbnawXCKI"></iframe></div><br /><p>Now, I was planning to alternate piano and string quartet pieces for a while, but it seems that the piano pieces are multiplying like bunnies, so next up will be Perenepsis XXIV (Skipping Steps), and then another "color" piece for string quartet (either Yellow or Silver), followed by Perenepsis XXV and XXVI, then the other quartet, and then Perenepsis XXVII, at which point I'll need to finish something else (if that hasn't happened by then). This will get me up to 10 before the end of March, leaving me 9 months to finally hit my goal of 12 new pieces in a year, something that wouldn't be much of a challenge if I didn't keep on coming up with new ideas that steal my attention from ones that are <i>nearly</i> done... or if I had no other interests to take my time, such as sleeping.</p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-66149838117329967572024-01-08T21:14:00.000-06:002024-01-08T21:14:08.966-06:00Green<p> Here's something for string quartet. As you can see from the title, this took a couple of years to complete, the problem being that I came up with three different treatments of the same idea that starts with rising fourths, and after trying to pick which I liked best, I finally decided on just throwing them all together, and since the idea itself is rooted in D (more quartal than major or minor), I used an A7 chord to punctuate the three sections, and also as an introduction. The first part has half notes as the fundamental unit, the second goes to quarter notes, and the third to eighth notes, so each section gets faster even though the underlying tempo doesn't change. This piece is also a demonstration of my belief that the string quartet is an inherently contrapuntal genre. Sure, you can write for string quartet without using counterpoint, but it seems kind of a waste.</p><p>The background image is courtesy of Lynn at 4Artseasons; it's a pecan tree, chosen for the color, and for the three pecans representing the three sections of the piece.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PnJmLhnCyVY" width="320" youtube-src-id="PnJmLhnCyVY"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>Next week: Another piano piece; just need to decide which one it'll be -- Perenepsis 23 through 26 are all ready, 26 having been started last Friday and finished today. I'll probably get 23 out of the way first, as it's my least favorite.<br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-2310695682191544442024-01-03T21:12:00.000-06:002024-01-03T21:12:12.903-06:00Happy New Year!<p> So this is 2024... not sure if I like it yet, but I'm determined to post 12 pieces this year, and I'll start with this cheerful little thing in C minor. Don't worry, it does spend a few seconds in E-flat major:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nvUw7sTwTiU" width="320" youtube-src-id="nvUw7sTwTiU"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>I'll let this be the new guy for a couple days, then a little something for string quartet.<br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-39847230287243434822023-10-30T19:41:00.001-05:002023-10-30T19:43:17.711-05:00Conversation With a Tree (Oak)<p> This one came as a surprise. I was looking through scores yesterday afternoon and came across this one, which was dated 2021, but I had forgotten all about it. It needed just a couple small tweaks, all but one being dynamics and articulation. The only thing that makes sense is that it was written so quickly that I didn't get around to playing with it; I must've written it all in one or two sittings. And for some reason, it seemed important at the time to specify that the tree in question is an oak. I don't remember why.</p><p>The main idea is stated right at the beginning -- an upward minor third, a pretty simple motif. It appears initially in the basses -- B/D (B minor) -- followed by <i>col legno </i>strings to emphasize the wooden nature of trees. It's not just minor thirds everywhere -- other themes appear as well -- but while most of the minor thirds are B/D, the trumpets get it on A/C, there are other, more disguised ones in other keys (including E/G), and finally it lands on F#/A before ending back in B. I could've dissected it and added more detail or expanded it (no percussion apart from a few notes from the piano), but since I didn't really remember all of my thinking at the time, I decided that it was already doing what it was supposed to do, so here it is:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HpkE-Duzm3I" width="320" youtube-src-id="HpkE-Duzm3I"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-13452333403147448392023-10-03T23:02:00.000-05:002023-10-03T23:02:13.346-05:00Orange<p> Another color piece for string quartet, this one started while working on Brown. It's in F Major, but it takes a while to get there. The first violin opens with ascending fourths while the second violin traces a G minor chord, with the lower voices providing punctuation between episodes. Then the viola and cello get the melody, this time a winding figure, with the violins providing punctuation, leading to a cadence on F-sharp major. This is repeated with some changes, leading into a brief contrapuntal passage in F major (finally) that ends up landing on an A major chord. Then we go through the thing a third time, this one ending up in a somewhat longer contrapuntal passage leading directly into a short coda that ends definitively in F major. Sounds like a lot of stuff, but it's over in less than two minutes:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gQLbbsAs8CY" width="320" youtube-src-id="gQLbbsAs8CY"></iframe></div><br /><p>Next up will probably be Brown, which will be a little longer and calmer. All that's left is an ending and one bar somewhere in the middle that needs fixing.</p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-2492315480822528682023-08-01T20:25:00.000-05:002023-08-01T20:25:38.359-05:00Seven Haiku for Oboe<p> Inspired by a haiku posted yesterday on a discussion board, I thought it might be interesting to use the 5-7-5 haiku structure to write a short piece of music, and to keep it simple I decided to make it for a solo instrument, choosing the oboe (although the range is such that it could also be played on violin, viola, trumpet, flute or clarinet without transposition). But 17 notes wouldn't be enough, so I made it a series of seven haiku that trace the progress of a day:</p><p>I. Dawn</p><p>II. Sunrise</p><p>III. Mockingbird</p><p>IV. Noon Approaches</p><p>V. Afternoon Rainfall</p><p>VI. The Sun Shines Through Again</p><p>VII. Sunset Brings Day to a Close</p><p>Each haiku consists of three phrases, containing 5, 7 and 5 notes, in three measures of 7/8, 11/8 and 13/8, except for the final measure in 17/8 to represent the 17-syllable total length of a haiku. </p><p>I know it's not as good as a cat video, but whole thing is only a minute and a half long, so you just as soon listen to it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GN1wYW64_-w" width="320" youtube-src-id="GN1wYW64_-w"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-47289787100914129552023-06-25T20:13:00.000-05:002023-06-25T20:13:39.320-05:00Perenepsis XIX (There Are No Words)<p> This one has been "done" for a couple months now, and I finally decided to finalize it to prevent myself from continuing to add to it. While it's still a few seconds under 2 minutes, when it was first "completed", it was only a little over a minute and a half; 20-25 seconds might not seem like much, but in terms of percentage, that's about 25% growth, so I had to stop it. That was the right place to stop it, anyway.</p><p>This is based on the idea of combining unrelated chords, such as the opening chord, which is simple a B major chord (inverted) over an F major chord (also inverted), which share no common notes. I find it interesting that combining two major chords can produce such a non-major sound. Various combinations are used throughout, some "tame" ones actually sharing one common note (but never two).</p><p>As for the subtitle, it has a meaning relevant to the piece. I'll let you guess.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SBisblVFi18" width="320" youtube-src-id="SBisblVFi18"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-60064702779892919872022-12-22T21:07:00.002-06:002023-08-24T22:39:24.846-05:00Canzonetta Anachronismo<p><span style="color: #2a2e2e; font-family: inherit;">I meant to have a new Christmas tune written by now, but didn't get around to it, so this will have to do for now; I even used Christmas-y colors (but oranged-up the red a little to diminish the amount of eye hurt)...</span></p><p><span style="color: #2a2e2e; font-family: inherit;">The most obvious anachronism here is the Medieval/Renaissance style, but also the use of electric bass within the mix of other instruments: acoustic guitar (which should be a lute), alto and bass recorders, djembe (an African drum more geographically than temporally displaced) and finger cymbals (Middle Eastern... ditto). It is also "out of time" in the sense that it is all in 17/8 -- more or less 4/4 but with an extra half beat in each measure. <i>Note</i>: The choice of instrumentation was not an effort at "diversity"; I just used what sounded best to me.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2e2e; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The copyright label says 2015, which is when I started it; it's been "mostly done" since then. This was starting to become another Baltimore Museum or Art(*) situation, so I figured I needed to finish it rather than trying to make it longer.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2e2e; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(*) I lived in Baltimore for a couple years, across the street from the museum; actually walked through the outdoor display area on my way to school, but I never went inside, because I figured it was there so close I could go any time. When I left, "any time" had still not arrived.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YtXUzk9oMO0" width="320" youtube-src-id="YtXUzk9oMO0"></iframe></div><br /><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2e2e; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-3374580536666595952022-09-17T12:37:00.000-05:002022-09-17T12:37:25.761-05:00Three Miniatures for Woodwind Quartet<p> This one has a kind of strange origin. I started working on something for woodwind quartet, but decided that the idea was too big for just a quartet. At the same time, I had gotten an idea for piano that woke me up one night last week, to the point that I had to get up and write it down so I wouldn't forget. While working on that the next day, I decided to see how it would sound with the woodwinds, but early on made the decision that the woodwind treatment would follow serial rules, which the piano piece (still in progress) did not. </p><p>Meanwhile, I had also recently started something for full orchestra that starts with a loud open F chord -- mostly F's, with only 4 instruments on C (no A's), and so it occurred to me to tack on something in the woodwind piece that opened and closed with just 4 octaves of the same note -- in this case, D. The serial piece and the "4 D's" were the same slow tempo, so I thought it might be good to throw in something between them that was a little peppier, and since the bassoon didn't enter the serial part until near the end, I opened this interlude with something that to me seemed very bassoon-y. Here it is; I've had it up on YouTube for over a month now; not sure I waited so long to put it here:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Ibbc1kQ1L0" width="320" youtube-src-id="7Ibbc1kQ1L0"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-45494206659082417012022-07-04T00:15:00.000-05:002022-07-04T00:15:48.474-05:00Perenepsis XXII: Contemplation<p> As promised (or threatened, depending on your point of view), here's #22. Apparently, #21 didn't exhaust my desire to repeat notes over and over again. This one maybe presses the point even harder, consisting almost entirely of A's for the first 45 seconds. After a brief diversion to G, it goes back to A before opening up some when it shifts to C. It stays there for a while, then a couple more changes before the ending. As mentioned in my YouTube description, this is inspired by Gregorian chant, but obviously not an actual emulation of it. The tempo (80 bpm) is a bit faster than #21's 50 bpm, but doesn't feel much faster, because it uses mostly quarter and half notes, with occasional 8ths and only 2 16ths, and it's in 5/4 all the way through -- with the sameness of the notes in the beginning, it felt like it needed an atypical rhythmic flow. This one was finished a couple weeks ago; no need to let it ferment any further.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZTRQd5aTSdU" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZTRQd5aTSdU"></iframe></div><br /><p>As for what's next, I have no idea. It could be #19, but probably not. It could also be something for string quartet, but if it's a movement of my String Quartet #3, I think I'll wait until all 5 movements are done (one is done, a couple are nearly done, and two others not quite nearing completion), so it may be just a standalone item, possibly even something for orchestra.</p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-47445549081414452962022-07-03T15:19:00.000-05:002022-07-03T15:19:52.004-05:00Perenepsis XXI: Fulcrum<p> Now that I've decided not to let #19 hold things up, here comes more stuff, also finished about a month ago. This piece is based on the idea of keeping one note constant while moving other notes around it, hence the subtitle. The static note does change over the course of the piece, so as not to limit the range of notes used, and there are passages that don't repeat/hold a common note, but that's the overall idea. The tempo is slow (50 bpm), so even 16th notes don't seem very fast, which is why I had to resort to 32nd notes in places -- and even those don't seem too quick. I guess it's mostly in D, but wanders a good bit -- each note of the D natural minor scale serves as the "fulcrum", most multiple times. In fact, the final chord is technically an inverted F major chord, but the lead-in to it makes it sound more like a Dm7 with a missing root, so yeah, I'd say it's in D minor overall. Not much more to say about this one:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TSLJNT1I-Pc" width="320" youtube-src-id="TSLJNT1I-Pc"></iframe></div><br /><p>I'll probably be posting #22 tomorrow; meanwhile, #19 continues to be a problem child.</p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-28671443606531826812022-07-02T14:39:00.001-05:002022-07-02T14:40:05.100-05:00Perenepsis XX: Beach Music<p>First of all, about the subtitle. This probably isn't what most people would think of as "beach music", but it is, in the sense that it <i>could </i>be played at a beach -- if you're willing to risk all that salt air ruining your piano. Otherwise, it probably doesn't make much sense, but it's mine, so I can call it whatever I want, and I'm getting tired of the "not a waltz" gag (by the way, this isn't one, either, despite being in 3/4).</p><p>There are two gaps here -- first, the almost eight month gap from my last posting. Again, it's not that I've been doing nothing, just that I didn't happen to finish anything during that time... well, except for this one, which has been finished for about a couple of months, which leads to the second gap.</p><p>My previous post was #18 in the Perenepsis series, and I'm skipping straight to 20 -- what's up with that? That's part of the reason for the time gap; I thought I'd be done with 19 before now, but there are still some things to be worked out in that one, and I now have three finished pieces that are being held up (#s 21 and 22 are also done). I remembered how long the gap between 3 and 4 was, and #5 (and maybe a couple others) ended up being done before #4, so this isn't just me posting out of order just because I can (which I've done before), I just happened to finish these and don't want to hold them up when I don't know how much longer #19 will take, especially considering that I might leave 19 alone and work on some other things for a while.</p><p>As for this piece itself. the three opening chords serve a specific purpose. The piece is based on a D7sus4 chord -- DACG (from bottom to top). It could be any of several modified chords of other keys, but in order to give it context, I followed the opening chord by Gm then A7, to make it clear that the key is D minor. The overall form is ABA, with the B section being kind of a development section and the second A a moderately ornamented repeat of the initial A section, except finishing back at Dm (without the 7th or 3rd, but with an added 4th) instead of Em as the first A section does . The A section itself is based on exploring the opening two-bar idea (after the intro chords) of quarter, dotted quarter, eighth, dotted half, a very simple little motif. I almost decided to go in another direction around the 3 minute mark at that Dm9 that resolves down to a plain Dm, but then realized that if I just went into a final cadence there I had something that was balanced nicely into thirds. Plus, by that point I had already started on #21, and wanted to finish this one. Also, although the piece is in 3/4 overall (but, as previously mentioned, not a waltz), each section, including the intro, is set off by ending in a bar of 5/4. Why? Because I liked the way it sounds that way.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gfHorMyYu4g" width="320" youtube-src-id="gfHorMyYu4g"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-29526931409821805262021-11-05T09:07:00.000-05:002021-11-05T09:07:22.525-05:00Perenepsis XVIII: Oscillations<p> Guess what? Yep, another piano piece. While working on some of the string quartet stuff, I got to thinking about the previous four pieces and how they were all either slow or at most andante, and that I should do something a little peppier, or maybe just peppery.</p><p>Also, in #17, I had done something in creating the beginning part of the secondary theme that I thought might have more possibilities -- specifically, the use of increasing and decreasing intervals, which creates lines that are kind of like a cross between a scale run and an arpeggio; for example, C-D-F-Bb-F or C-G-C-Eb-F (the E needn't be flat). That's with them all going in the same direction; you can also alternate directions, getting something that turns in on itself: C-G-D-F#-E (and the F needn't be sharp). You can append one instance at the end of another, and so forth. And that's how I got this.</p><p>There are lots of fast runs in this, but along with the fireworks are the occasional slow passages, just to be able to catch your breath. A lot more chromaticism with this one, although it's more or less centered on A, but not really major or minor (the final chord contains 4 A's, a D and an E, just to avoid making it either). And, being as fast as it is, it's also rather short, just about two and a half minutes, in order to spare both the fingers and the ears. Needless to say, this one's even less like a waltz than #15 (the one that I explicitly declared to be not a waltz), so there's no need to mention it.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f3_zETRbRoU" width="320" youtube-src-id="f3_zETRbRoU"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-27135334299874547422021-10-23T19:40:00.000-05:002021-10-23T19:40:13.394-05:00Perenepsis XVII: Chorale<p>Okay, so I said not to expect anything else soon, but I was digging around in the scraps of the abandoned original Perenepsis IV (which has no relation to the posted <a href="http://www.glornt.com/2018/04/kites-perenepsis-4.html" target="_blank">Perenepsis IV</a>) yesterday and started playing around with parts of it, which led to this, although it contains none of what was already in that particular manuscript, so all of that is still there as a potential source for more material. This is very straightforward both structurally and harmonically, although like the preceding installment (which is not a waltz), it's also in 5/4 -- and coincidentally, is also not a waltz. I'm not sure it's really a chorale, either, but it's close enough for me to call it one. I could also call it a penguin, but that would just be goofy.</p><p>Now, I could promise a new piece next week, but if I did, chances are that I'd have nothing. Or, I could say again not to expect another any time soon and end up posting a new piece next week, so I think that instead what I'll do is say nothing and leave everyone guessing, including myself.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HEqOKf312Ho" width="320" youtube-src-id="HEqOKf312Ho"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-47234812559086579442021-10-18T17:39:00.000-05:002021-10-18T17:39:05.955-05:00Perenepsis XVI: Cantus Tenebris<p> This is getting ridiculous now -- nothing for over nine months, then two in two days, and another a couple days later. I'm not sure how this all came together so quickly, but this is the other main idea from the former Perenepsis XIV score. The old score contained two versions of the beginning of this idea, one in good old 4/4, and this one in a 7/7/9/7/7(/7) pattern (mostly), which I found more interesting. It's kind of a theme and variations, or more like 8 restatements of the same basic idea, based on a sort of Gregorian chant-inspired motif. This, together with the dark nature of the material, gives us the subtitle <i>Cantus Tenebris</i>. It starts out in A minor (mostly Aeolian mode, though -- no raised 6/7 until the end of the third time through, which is the only four-bar cycle) for four cycles, then three times in E minor (again, more Aeolian at first), then back to A minor for the final time through. This is actually the oldest of the three recently posted piano pieces, at least going by when they were started, and in terms of length, at 5'21" it's almost exactly halfway between the two others.</p><p>I guess this piece might sound pretty gloomy, but as I mentioned in <u>Reverie</u>, my music doesn't always reflect my mood at the time, and this is one where it definitely doesn't. I'm not really sure where this came from, other than that I liked the first two bars, and everything else arose from that, and there was no way to make it into a snappy little dance tune, so it is what it is.</p><p>The funny thing is that during the long gap of no new pieces from December 2020 through this October, I hadn't done much work on piano stuff; a lot of work on the symphony and a few different things for string quartet (I thought I had finished one of the quartet pieces but then decided the ending was too abrupt), but the <u>Reverie</u> idea came to me and I had to finish it for some reason, and then finding the old Perenepsis XIV score with four separate ideas in it (I decided to discard two of them, one of which was just an odd chord progression that was more interesting than entertaining, and a twisted waltz theme that maybe needed a little straightening out) led me to flesh out the two more substantial ideas there.</p><p>Now it's back to the strings and orchestra; there will be no continuing flow of daily or weekly posts, which is probably more disappointing to me than to anyone else.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n4HUkGZYmQw" width="320" youtube-src-id="n4HUkGZYmQw"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-19467807189462076072021-10-15T18:16:00.000-05:002021-10-15T18:16:22.163-05:00Perenepsis XV: Not a Waltz<p>Nothing for nine months, and then two new pieces in two days? Here's what happened:</p><p><u>Reverie</u> was actually finished (as in no more tinkering <i>at all</i>) for a couple weeks before I finally got around to posting it yesterday, and a couple days ago when I decided to declare it part of the Perenepsis series, I wanted to make sure which number came next. It should've been 14, but when I looked through my manuscripts, I found a 14 sitting there already, and to top it off, it contained bits of <i>four </i>different ideas. Instead of going out of order as I've already done a couple times, I decided to make <u>Reverie </u>#14, yank out one particular idea from the old 14, make it 15, and retain the rest of the old 14 as 16. Now that that's all cleared up, on to the piece itself.</p><p>It's in 5/4 (except for a 7/4 at the end of the first half and another at the very end), hence the subtitle -- while it's also not a lot of other things, a waltz is one of the things it's most not, even though part of it is rather waltz-like (while still not being a waltz). The overall form is ABAB(A), the last A in parentheses because it's highly truncated. The A section is in Gm/Dm, and the B section (the part that's waltz-like, but not a waltz) is in Eb/Ab. Like <u>Perenepsis XIII</u> (Tapping), it has a lot of grace notes, this time to make up for the fact that 5/4 isn't a naturally graceful time signature. When I yanked it out of the original #14 manuscript, only the first 8-10 bars had been written, but once I got back to it, spurred on by having finished <u>Reverie</u> (and having made good progress on my G Minor Symphony), the rest of it came together pretty quickly.</p><p>Something I recently noticed is that my titles have been somewhat inconsistent in regard to the Perenepsis series -- Some have a descriptive name as the main title with the Perenepsis number as a subtitle, while others have the Perenepsis part as the main title with a descriptive subtitle. There's a reason for this: The main title is whatever name I come up with first. If I start out writing a Perenepsis, that's the main title, and I try to come up with something descriptive as a subtitle (with varying degrees of success, as shown by this one's subtitle). Other times, as with <u>Reverie</u> and <u>Uncertain Time</u>, the descriptive title comes to me first, and I decide that it's a Perenepsis while writing it -- sometimes early on, and other times toward the end. If anyone besides me was wondering about that, there it is.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LKjU8srDLX4" width="320" youtube-src-id="LKjU8srDLX4"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-2273954856466525322021-10-14T17:32:00.000-05:002021-10-14T17:32:51.574-05:00Reverie (Perenepsis XIV)<p>The music I write is often contrary to my mood at the time of writing it. I've written calm pieces when having excruciating back pain, and dark stuff while in a pretty good mood. This one, though, I think pretty much reflects my frame of mind when it was written. As mentioned in my previous post, Hurricane Ida came along and delayed work on everything for a while Power out for three weeks during the hottest part of the year, internet out for about four weeks (with intermittent outages continuing for a couple more weeks), but I think I kept that out of this.</p><p>Things still aren't quite back to normal -- whatever that means these days, anyway -- but they're getting better. And while I said that I didn't let the storm affect this piece, I think it may have, particularly the ending, after about the 7 minute mark. Not so much the storm itself, which was not a whole lot of fun, but the sense of relief and thankfulness that it wasn't worse.</p><p>In terms of form, it is loosely structured (as indicated by the title), with three primary recurring motifs, along with reworkings thereof. It's mostly in 4/4, although about one third of the bars are in other time signatures -- mostly fives and sixes, with a stretch of threes and a few stray sevens. It's hard to say what key it's in, but it's not atonal; it just shifts a lot. The most certain thing about the tonality is that it definitely ends in E Major, if that helps any... which it probably doesn't.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8kNKjWHV774" width="320" youtube-src-id="8kNKjWHV774"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-8925180076007532562021-09-16T11:22:00.000-05:002021-09-16T11:22:10.708-05:00More Wondering<p> As a follow-up to my previous post...</p><p>I probably would've had a new piece for either piano or string quartet up here by now, but I'm in the area that was hit most directly by Hurricane Ida, and have been without power (and hence my ability to produce or post any work) for <strike>17</strike> <i>19</i> days now. There are rumblings from my electric company that I may have power later today or tomorrow, but as of now, my street is an island of darkness (Hey! That sounds like a good title -- all I need to do is write something to fit it; ideas are already percolating, even though it's not coffee, so "percolating" is probably not the right word) surrounded by light -- the power grid here is not very grid-like, but more like a tangled ball of yarn or a backlash on a baitcasting reel.</p><p>And then, when power does come back on, I'm going to have several things to do at the house before I can really get back to working on any music, so it may be October before I end up posting anything, and at this point it could be one of the several things that is close to finished, or something that pops into my head from having electricity restored, as momentum on the works in progress has come to a screeching halt -- really; I actually heard the screeching on the night of August 29. However, I'm determined not to let an entire year go without posting anything; just because the entire world has gone insane is no reason for me to join it.</p><p>On the plus side, I have gotten to sleep in a real bed the past two nights, although last night was less restful thanks to a tornado warning popping up just after I went to bed -- upstairs. Apparently, Nicholas decided that Ida had not completed its job on us, so has been pouring in more rain and wind before winding down. Not as bad as the initial hit, but probably pushed back my power restoration a couple of days. Oh well... the roof has bee tarped, my broken window patched for now, and I'm looking forward to cleaning out the fridge (yuck).</p><p>...</p><p>Naturally, by the time I had typed the above (on Wednesday, 9/15), the internet went out here -- again. I wasn't even surprised; it's just the kind of thing that's been happening for the past nearly three weeks. Plus, no bed last night, as power went out at my refuge, so it was back to mattress on the floor in front of the window unit. And the electric company once more said that it will probably be "a couple more days" before I get power, a line that they dropped on me last Sunday, so I'm less than confident that it will be true this time.</p><p>But there's some good news: Apparently, my cable and internet were restored <i>last week;</i> I just have no power to run them. Meanwhile, my brother got power back four or five days ago, but had no cable or internet until yesterday. Between the two of us, we had one fully up and running home, but also between the two of us is about two miles, so it didn't do us much good. I haven't priced extension cords of that length, but I assume they'd be pretty pricey.</p><p>So why am I making this post? Partly, it's to explain why the new music that I hinted at in my previous post has not materialized yet and probably will not for another few weeks. Also, though, it's because this situation is something that I would probably find funny (I'm easily amused) if it was happening to someone else. It's not nearly as much fun as it sounds, but I've had worse. In fact, many people here did have worse. My damage is probably below average here; parts of town look like a bomb hit -- it's <i>almost </i>as bad as the aftermath of Mardi Gras parades! You're welcome.</p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-8920227809955401202021-08-15T01:04:00.000-05:002021-08-15T01:04:14.605-05:00In Case Anyone's Wondering...<p>Yeah, I'm still here. I just realized that I haven't posted anything since last year, so I wanted to let any visitors know that I'm still here and that there's more to come. In fact, earlier this week I thought there'd be a new piece for string quartet here by now, but after having written it in less than a day, I decided that it might not be done yet. I also have a nearly finished piano piece (that almost ended up being two) and another one (or two) for string quartet that's pretty far along, plus the usual backlog of bigger pieces that are at various stages of completion, and more ideas that still haven't made it from head to paper.</p><p>So, just be patient, and hopefully by early September -- possibly sooner -- there will be another bit of noise here, either for string quartet or piano. That's as long as I don't start working on any of the new ideas that are trying to force their ways out of my head.</p><p>In the meantime, if you want to have some fun, listen to the songs (plural) "Last Train Home" by Pat Metheny and by Flying Colors, back to back. Two completely different songs sharing only a common title. </p><p>Probably best to start with Metheny's, which is a mostly instrumental jazz piece (some vocals do wander in somewhere along the way, but they're not the main focus, and I'm not sure they're singing actual words); the drumming especially is evocative of an actual train ride, pretty neat stuff ; there are several versions around on YouTube, the actual album version coming in at a little over 5 1/2 minutes. This one's from 1987, and is (to me) the highlight of the album on which it appeared, <u>Still Life (Talking)</u>.</p><p>The Flying Colors song is more of an actual song, albeit an extended, prog rock epic ballad of sorts -- 10 1/2 minutes, three different lead singers over the course of the song, several tempo and mood changes. Despite its length, you really can't get bored; I think they could've gone on even longer. It's also more recent, coming out in 2019 on the album <u>Third Degree</u>.</p><p>You'll have to look these up yourself, because I don't want to clutter my site with the videos of others. This is for my own benefit, for when I periodically go through my posts to count how many actual pieces I've posted; I don't want to accidentally count stuff that isn't mine. They're easy enough to find, though, and I own both albums on which these appear.</p><p>As a matter of completeness, there are at least two other "Last Trains Home", one by John Mayer released this year, a pleasant enough pop song with some nice analog synth sounds, and another by Lostprophet, from 2004, a sort of metal/grunge thing that has its moments. But neither of these is in the same category as the ones above. If you want to go whole hog and listen to all four in a row, I'd still start with Metheny's and end with Flying Colors, with Mayer second and Lostprophet third.</p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-62249945085516110152020-12-06T01:48:00.000-06:002020-12-06T01:48:09.943-06:00In Broad Darkness<p> My brief YouTube description for this piece is: <b>An ode to 2020 -- sometimes evil is done right out in the open, and people don't see it only because they don't <i>want</i> to see it.</b></p><p>This is not pretty, and it's not meant to be. And while I usually avoid the label "atonal" for any of my works, it does apply here... well, for the most part, at least. There are no "clean" major or minor chords anywhere outside the interlude in the strings (mostly; the oboes double the upper strings for the last two bars of the first half of it) from about 6:55 to 8:31.</p><p>Interesting (to me, at least) story about that section: it started as my answer to a question about how to transition smoothly from Bb minor to A minor, and after working that out, I proceeded to D minor, then G minor, and ending at D minor while holding a G in the bass to help introduce the brass interruption that ends the passage. I thought about removing this passage to use in a new piece, but decided that, even using minor keys, it provided a needed relief to the "noisiness" of the rest of this piece, and it does serve a programmatic function as well, so it stayed.</p><p>Another thing is that I divided the violins into four parts rather than the usual two. I started out trying to write the first and second violins <i>divisi,</i> but the phrasing and dynamics of the divided staves got too cluttered, so I just made it four parts. I thought about also dividing the violas and cellos, but thought that dividing the violas would thin them out too much, and didn't need that much harmonic density at the low end.</p><p>And about that "no major or minor chords" thing -- there are a few spots where a given group of instruments may be playing in a tonal manner, but apart from the interlude mentioned above, they are always accompanied by other sections playing antagonistic chords (or clusters) to the group trying to be tonal. Generally, if there are 8 instruments playing, there are 8 different notes being played, and not different octaves of the same note. There are very few doubled octaves, as I was mostly trying to avoid emphasis (in the background, at least) of any particular note in the masses of sound. It didn't occur to me while writing it, but I think this piece actually comes pretty close to being an orchestral <i>Perenepsis</i>, but those have so far been limited to piano pieces, so I think I'll keep it that way.</p><p>As for the story behind this, I think I'll just leave you with the YouTube description above. If you get it, you get it... and maybe it helps you make sense of this monstrosity. If not, then don't worry about it.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Yj4K_zFJb0" width="320" youtube-src-id="5Yj4K_zFJb0"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-29303052298556675652020-11-15T10:38:00.000-06:002020-11-15T10:38:01.341-06:00Perenepsis XII: Falling Forth<p> Here's the gap-filler to accompany Perenepsis #13, and it's also been finished for about a week. It's probably the most lyrical entry in this series, although I don't think that's exactly what I set out to do here. The subtitle to this one, as with #13, is a reference to the opening idea, this time being a repeated figure of a descending fourth.</p><p>This piece starts out as though it's going to be simply a theme and variations, but after four times through the initial 6-bar phrase, there's a contrasting section, then a return to two instances of a four-bar version of the opening theme that is shifted down a fourth (D to A becomes A to E), before a brief ending section that lands on an open A chord with no third in it. The last note before this chord was going to be a C, to strongly suggest A minor, but I changed it to a D to serve as a final "falling forth" to the A; the final chord still has a minor feel to it, but I think the D works better both logically and audibly. </p><p>While there is a good bit of repetition here, no two bars are exactly alike (except at the very end, where the closing chord is held across three bars of 5/4). This one's about a minute longer than #13, but I would say that it's a little less complex, and maybe more relaxing.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rnG04EqFa-8" width="320" youtube-src-id="rnG04EqFa-8"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-43976581271203757132020-11-14T23:42:00.001-06:002020-12-03T23:45:24.661-06:00Perenepsis XIII: Tapping<p> I started this one a couple weeks ago, and was about to title it as #12, then realized that I had started 12 back in June, and I'm not one to change titles once they're given, so 13 comes before 12, but this time the out of order posting isn't arbitrary. #12 is also finished now, but 13 was finished first (about a week ago), so it gets posted first.</p><p>Okay, now that the administrative details are out of the way, a little bit about the piece itself. The subtitle will be obvious from the opening. It came together pretty quickly, particularly the overall structure, which is roughly ABACABA, or in more detail, AABBAACCAAABBAA, with a short coda at the end -- yes, there's a third A after the Cs, which will be explained in the next paragraph.</p><p>The first of each pair of A's is right hand only, a rhythmic figure without any real melody, with the left hand providing melodic elements in each second (and third) A. The first pair is centered on C, the second on Bb, the first two of the third on D, shifting to G for the third, then back to C for the final pair and then to Bb again for the brief coda. The first set of Bs is centered on Bb and the second on G (following the oddball A section, also in G; also, in addition to being transposed, several of the right hand chords are inverted from their initial appearances in the first B sections). Everything is in 4/4 except for the C section, which switches to 3/4 (although I use off-beat accents to destroy the "three-ness" toward the end) and is in Bb minor, the only part that is unambiguously in a specific major or minor key throughout -- at least, until that final chord before returning to the A theme. I thought about taking this out and making it a separate piece, but decided it fit here and I didn't really feel like turning it into a standalone piece, anyway. </p><p>It's just under two minutes long, but there's a lot going on in this. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wtKYNZEeZto" width="320" youtube-src-id="wtKYNZEeZto"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-24129703678202903242020-06-16T23:40:00.000-05:002020-06-16T23:40:03.855-05:00Uncertain Time (Perenepsis XI)I took the day off from composing yesterday, but still had my momentum, so I cranked out another short piano piece, a sort of answer to the previous "In These Uncertain Times". <b>This</b> is what real uncertainty sounds like, not the music in those insipid ads.<br />
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The first 11 notes (2 bars) have been in my head for a while, and as they comprise a 3/4 + 5/8 beginning, I thought this could be the start of something to demonstrate uncertainty. The time signature is constantly shifting; two stretches of 3 bars each of 2/4 are the longest it goes without changing (and several pairs of 5/8). The harmony is based on fourths, similar in some respects to my much earlier<span id="goog_46038344"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_46038345"></span> <a href="http://www.glornt.com/2010/06/allegro-in-c.html" target="_blank">Allegro in C.</a>, including a passing reference to its opening.<br />
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For a change, I think I'll have a post in which both the music and the words are brief. You're welcome.<br />
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Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-49858573825994458472020-06-14T21:05:00.000-05:002020-06-14T21:05:39.172-05:00In These Uncertain TimesIt's a stupid little phrase, uttered so often on so many commercials during the hostage crisis. When you're locked up, and there are fewer things to do, there's actually <i>less </i>uncertainty, not more. Also, <i>all </i>times have been uncertain, just in different ways, so I decided to write a little thing to make fun of the insipid piano music that accompanies most of these little nuggets of idiocy. If it doesn't sound mocking, it's because you don't know my feelings about Maj7 chords -- they're not exactly ugly, but to me, they sound <i>weak</i>. They're meant to be transitional chords, not the main event.<br />
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Let me backtrack a bit, though. I was back in the score that gave birth to the just posted Emergence, and as I may have mentioned before, I really like stacks of fifths. There are several ways to stack fifths, and one of those is to have two pairs of fifths with the bottom of second pair a major third (in this case, plus an octave) above the bottom of the first. When you do this, you get a Maj7 chord, here it is F Maj7. I wrote the first bar with that chord,then a single note before the second chord, and thought, "Yeah, this sounds like it could be on one of those "In These Uncertain Times" ads in which companies, instead of telling you why you should by their products, tell you that <i>they care. </i>Guess what? They really don't; they just think that if you <i>think </i>they care, you'll fall for their nonsense and buy their stuff regardless of whether it's not very good. And it must work, or they wouldn't keep doing it. Or maybe it really isn't very effective, and their marketing departments are run by morons. Maybe both.<br />
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Anyway, it's a throwaway little thing for piano, in boring old 4/4 time in F major with lots of Maj7 chords, written in a couple of hours, although being by me, it did have to spend some time in D minor. For the most part, it's just a calm little piece about the actual <i>lack </i>of uncertainty <i>in these uncertain times</i>.<br />
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Glornthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381219410338000371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9173764977125771374.post-62855384941072353522020-06-13T14:43:00.000-05:002020-06-13T14:43:26.429-05:00EmergenceA second piece for orchestra in a row. And this time, it didn't take 9 years, only about two weeks. What happened is that I was working on another recently started orchestral piece, and had a passage for piano that I thought didn't quite fit and also might sound better with brass, so I started a score for brass ensemble, and was going happily along (briefly) until I realized that it needed more than just brass, so it ended up making its way into a new orchestral score the same day it had first surfaced in its original home. It's still predominantly brass, but I let other instruments get in on the fun... but without the piano.<br />
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It starts off in A minor, shifts into the relative major of C for a brief fanfare episode in the trombones and trumpet (in 6/8), then back to A minor (and 4/4) for most of the remainder, but when the fanfare material returns, instead of going to C Major again retaining the same key signature, it goes into A Major for a much brighter ending. Some of the woodwinds don't have much to do in this, but hey, at least they got into the game in what was initially going to be just brass.And the first bassoon has what is probably my favorite line in the whole piece. I could probably expand this into a much longer piece, but 5 minutes seemed sufficient to express what I wanted to right now. Maybe I'll come back to this.<br />
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As for the title, it possibly does mean what you might be thinking at the time of its composition. Or maybe not, depending on which particular events (or overreactions) you happen to have on your mind. I don't think I'll elaborate further on that, other than to say that it's definitely <i>not </i>about tearing things down.<br />
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