Ten Miniatures for Black and White Keys
The following miniatures comprise a collection of musical thoughts from several periods in my life, all tied together over the course of the two short weeks from January 1-15 of 2010. They are, I think, all technical studies in a wide range of performance abilities both piano-specific and otherwise.
The common thread uniting all of the miniatures together is the separation of musical ideas on the black (pentatonic) and white (diatonic) keys. In the score, I have used large accidentals almost exclusively to indicate that a particular hand or musical line is to be played with one set or the other.
Each miniature carries a cryptic dedication, concluding with the initials of that person who has—at least in my mind—a connection to the piece.
Note: This recorded performance was hastily prepared and executed. Therefore these recordings are not definitive—the score, however, is. Click the link at the top of the page to download a ZIP containing all of the MP3 files.
The too-short primordial soup of FIXATIONS.
Echo refers to the initial pattern that grows longer each reiteration;
Kern refers to the adjustment of spacing between various musical elements.
Knock, knock. . .
A hard-to-remember additive pattern of subtractive rhythms.
A meditation in symmetry.
A vaporous and dizzying trance.
Study in illusion tones: pitches that seem to sound again when other neighboring notes are released.
A riddle of melodic entanglement.
Four verses, four choruses—cadence.
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