Wednesday, June 11, 2008

23 April 2008, #4b. "Alex Cohen" - 7m41s (update)

I ended the previous piece on an open chord, and begin this one with open octaves. It quickly becomes an F minor texture. I think my attempt was to express a tonality without a meter. It's kind of like windchimes, with a limited tone range, ringing at unpredictable times. Such a "random" effect is hard to achieve with fingers used to playing predictable patterns, especially when, at the same time one is trying to move one's fingers as randomly as possible, one must still stay within a prescribed tonality (F minor).

Eventually I settle a ostinato in my right hand (c, g, c, f, e flat), discovered at 3:32, but not settled on until thirty seconds later; I noodle restively underneath it. Finally it finds a pair in the left hand, and they roll to a stop together.




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Recorded on April 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.

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