Chrysalis

This is the new one (for piano) mentioned in the preceding pre-posting post. It's about patience and change. The changes happen slowly at first, but both the magnitude and rate of change increase as it proceeds. It's in 7/4 at a slow tempo, and is in E-flat major (including a little visit to C minor) most of the way through, gradually moving in stages from mostly half and quarter notes, to mostly quarters and eighths, then 16ths with a few eighths, and just after the 32nd notes start, it shifts to F major (via B-flat major), by which point it hardly resembles the opening ideas at all, just as the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. Finally, at the very end, the rhythm slows back down, and the final three notes echo the first three.

What I didn't really notice until it was almost done were the similarities between this and both Memorandum (minus the encapsulated fugue) and Introit (minus the strings and the symmetrical form). It also includes a brief suggestion of a slightly out-of-kilter waltz, a la Perenepsis #5 (it might finally be time to go back and re-finish #4), and relies heavily on fourths and fifths, a common feature among many of my works.

So, here it is, my final posting of the year, barring an unanticipated lack of distractions (such as yesterday's nearly successful attempt to go up a down escalator that was much higher than the ones I'm used to; doing this right after a big lunch of Italian food was probably not the best idea I've had lately, but if I'm pretty sure that with a slightly quicker pace at the start, I would've beaten it). As mentioned in my previous post, I'll try to do better next year (in terms of both postings and that escalator).

A Pre-Posting Update

Okay, so it looks like I won't be making that target of posting 12 pieces this year. Not even close. So sue me (note to ambulance chasers: I really don't think there are any grounds for a suit, unless I sue myself, which doesn't seem extremely likely at this time). I did have my week off during October, but didn't go to Zwolle, and didn't get much done musically the entire week. I decided instead to go to a more local Oktoberfest celebration, but ended up not even doing that, spending most of that week doing my very convincing impression of a human zucchini... except for the color, as I couldn't hold my breath long enough to reach the proper shade of green. Maybe I should've tried for eggplant instead.

Once I got back to work, though, progress resumed on the music as well. Quite a bit, actually, but spread out over at least 12 different pieces, so none are finished yet... well, except for Perenepsis #4, which was finished even before the staycation, but I've since decided that I don't like the last bit before the very end, so put it aside for a while to attack with a fresh ear later. There is one that's just about done that wasn't even in my head yet until just a couple weeks ago, so that'll probably be the one that makes it here before 2015, although last month I could've sworn a different one was less than a week away from being done. Of course, I could intentionally delay it in order to bolster my chances of hitting that target next year, but now that I've said it, everyone would know that I cheated, and we can't have that, can we? So, hopefully this weekend; December 28 at the latest... probably.

I'll try to do better next year, but I think I might just have more fun working on pieces than finishing them... maybe like a cat playing with a mouse, but maybe not.