Three Blind Mice - Variations
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Op.1 No.1 The Rat Patrol.mp3
Op.1 No.2 Dance of the Farmer's Crazy Wife.mp3
Op.1 No.3 Mice in Wolves' Clothing.mp3
Opus 1 - Variations on Three Blind Mice
I've always felt a bit wanky about titling my work with opus numbers, but I decided last year that I might start doing that. The problem I have in not labeling things that way is I often change my mind about titles and ultimately end up losing things or having duplicates under a dozen different titles.
The first variation - The Rat Patrol - was composed in the style of contemporary American composer, John Adams. I really like a piece of his titled Short Ride on a Fast Machine and I had it in mind when I composed this. There's also a few discrete references to an ELP piece called Pirates -- kinda a personal joke that would take too long to explain here.
The second variation - Dance of the Farmer's Crazy Wife is as its title suggests. It's a fairly wild variation that extends ideas introduced in the first variation. Incidentally, whenever people ask if I dance I usually say no. It's not that I don't dance - I do. It's just I dance to music like this and, frankly, I'm yet to visit any nightclub that plays music remotely resembling this. So yeah, if you want to dance with me, you'll need to get your dancing shoes around music like this. Oh, and I like to spank to these types of rhythms as well. Just so you know.
The third and final variation - Mice in Wolves' Clothing is a solo piano piece in a minimalist style. There are some subtle metric modulations throughout to alleviate the monotony of the minimalism. The title is something of a musical in-joke that won't be evident in this recording. Originally, the piece was conceived using the Pythagorean tuning system. This system was such that all intervals of a third are 'consonant' while the octave, fourths and fifths (usually the most consonant) are dissonant. The 'thirds' relates semantically to the Three Blind Mice and by making consonant (most harmonious) here ends the cycle of dissonance established in the preceding two movements -- but not entirely, as the Pythagorean tuning sounds 'out of tune' to modern ears. Even in equal temperment, the repetition of certain notes and intervals is such that it alludes to the Pythagorean tuning.
Op.1 No.1 The Rat Patrol.mp3
Op.1 No.2 Dance of the Farmer's Crazy Wife.mp3
Op.1 No.3 Mice in Wolves' Clothing.mp3
Opus 1 - Variations on Three Blind Mice
I've always felt a bit wanky about titling my work with opus numbers, but I decided last year that I might start doing that. The problem I have in not labeling things that way is I often change my mind about titles and ultimately end up losing things or having duplicates under a dozen different titles.
The first variation - The Rat Patrol - was composed in the style of contemporary American composer, John Adams. I really like a piece of his titled Short Ride on a Fast Machine and I had it in mind when I composed this. There's also a few discrete references to an ELP piece called Pirates -- kinda a personal joke that would take too long to explain here.
The second variation - Dance of the Farmer's Crazy Wife is as its title suggests. It's a fairly wild variation that extends ideas introduced in the first variation. Incidentally, whenever people ask if I dance I usually say no. It's not that I don't dance - I do. It's just I dance to music like this and, frankly, I'm yet to visit any nightclub that plays music remotely resembling this. So yeah, if you want to dance with me, you'll need to get your dancing shoes around music like this. Oh, and I like to spank to these types of rhythms as well. Just so you know.
The third and final variation - Mice in Wolves' Clothing is a solo piano piece in a minimalist style. There are some subtle metric modulations throughout to alleviate the monotony of the minimalism. The title is something of a musical in-joke that won't be evident in this recording. Originally, the piece was conceived using the Pythagorean tuning system. This system was such that all intervals of a third are 'consonant' while the octave, fourths and fifths (usually the most consonant) are dissonant. The 'thirds' relates semantically to the Three Blind Mice and by making consonant (most harmonious) here ends the cycle of dissonance established in the preceding two movements -- but not entirely, as the Pythagorean tuning sounds 'out of tune' to modern ears. Even in equal temperment, the repetition of certain notes and intervals is such that it alludes to the Pythagorean tuning.
Labels: Music Originals
posted by Mister Pervert at 10:34 AM
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