The “Nocturne” is based on the randomized diatonic four-pitch chords I’ve used in several pieces. Seven of these chords were used for the left-hand part. A set of seven numbers gave the number of repetitions of each chord (6215734) and the key of each chord (7623154: BECGFAD). They were then arpeggiated, in the familiar nocturnal […]
Entries Tagged as '*Music'
Nocturne
March 16th, 2012 · 1 Comment
Keyboard Music 3
February 27th, 2012 · 4 Comments
This photocopied dossier collects 49 pages of my music for keyboard. Let me know if you want one. The pieces are: The Muscatel Suite Pay Attention Gilding the Pyrite The Guidonian Hand Applied to a Tracing of a Plaster Cast of a Yeti Footprint This Honeycomb Matrix of Atoms Known as the Material World Bill […]
The Fun Song
February 24th, 2012 · Comments Off on The Fun Song
Michael Smith and I used to open every performance of “Doug & Mike’s Adult Entertainment” with this little ditty. Mike was on pocket trumpet, and I played banjo uke. We also made a karaoke tape, now included on our DVD.
String Quartet 3: Aretino in Solrésol
February 14th, 2012 · 1 Comment
The third string quartet consists of five of the erotic sonnets of Piero Aretino, translated into Solrésol. (There’s a preparatory sketch here.) In the first movement, the first four sonnets are offered simultaneously, each played by a different instrument. The translation is isorhythmic, with one beat of rest between words, two between lines, and four […]
The King of Ukuleleland
February 7th, 2012 · Comments Off on The King of Ukuleleland
In 2001, White Knuckle Sandwich — Jennifer Duffy (now Perez), Anne Shapiro, and myself — contributed to a program of 10-minute musicals under development at New York Theatre Workshop. Our selection, “The King of Ukuleleland,” was inspired by the island musicals that proliferated in the early 1900s; it featured my dummy, Eddie Gray, in the […]
We Need More Art
February 6th, 2012 · Comments Off on We Need More Art
We need more art! I only performed this anti-art tirade once, in a performance at Dance Theater Workshop. Maybe I’ll revive it.
Sentimental Doofus
February 1st, 2012 · Comments Off on Sentimental Doofus
Poor sentimental doofus! The arrangement was really meant for violin and cello, but I recorded it with keyboard.
String Quartet 6: Palindromes
February 1st, 2012 · 1 Comment
The sixth string quartet is based on palindromic rounds. I like the way they wash back and forth, interlocking.
The Baptistown Crawl
January 26th, 2012 · Comments Off on The Baptistown Crawl
“The Baptistown Crawl” is a delightful and catchy tune, recorded by “Hitch’s Happy Harmonists” in 1924. Historians remember the band as the first that Hoagy Carmichael recorded with. This tune, however, seems to have been written by the leader, Curtis Hitch. I transcribed it, and arranged it for viola and piano, in which form David […]
The Hand Without the Fingers Is Just a Spoon
January 24th, 2012 · Comments Off on The Hand Without the Fingers Is Just a Spoon
“The Hand Without the Fingers Is Just a Spoon” was one of the pieces I wrote as a student at Oberlin Conservatory. It was a piano suite, made up of diatonic motifs, repeated and varied within a rhythmic structure. In keeping with its diatonic foundation, it was structured mostly around the number 7. I have […]