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Shorts

Posted by Gavin Brown on March 11, 2023 at 12:53pm in Music Analysis and Critique

Hello Colleagues,

The issue of short works recently came up here. I am a big fan of shorts and think it is a specialized art form unto itself. I am working on an album of piano works which will include some shorts I have written over the last 40 years and recently gathered into a collection called Kites and Flying Lanterns, which I've included here. Scores in the video and as always, comments invited >

 

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  • gregorio X March 11, 2023 at 6:32pm

    Hey Gav.

    Listened to the first seven pieces. I think these are a tasty addition to the repertoire for the intermediate piano student. I could easily see them being played at recitals.

    Nice work!

    • Gavin Brown > gregorio X March 11, 2023 at 9:51pm

      Thanks kindly Gregorio! I often write with the student in mind, or even more specifically. the piano teacher, who often is on the lookout for new material. -Gav

  • Frank Paul March 11, 2023 at 6:36pm

    This is a great concept!  It harkens back a bit, I think, to Bela Bartok's Mikrokosmos series, but here the influences are obviously different - alternatingly I hear echoes of jazz, Debussy, Satie and a tiny bit of rock & roll maybe.  I think I'd like to try learning a few of these myself!  Gavin, will you seek to get the scores published in book form?  

    • Gavin Brown > Frank Paul March 11, 2023 at 9:54pm

      Thanks Frank, and your list of influences is spot on. The score: https://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/595528.html

      Kites and Flying Lanterns - Download Sheet Music PDF file
      Kites and Flying Lanterns by Gavin F Brown. Written for Solo instrument (Piano) with a duration of 12 mins. Purchase, download and print sheet music…
  • Raymond Jacob March 26, 2023 at 2:14am

    Hi, Gavin – thank you for reminding us of the value of short-form composition. I enjoyed each one of the ten. I appreciated your incorporating the harmony and stylistic vocabularies Frank noted. Two more points…. I found your use of meter and rhythm extremely interesting. Each piece “pops” with a statement defined as much by the rhythm, as by the harmony.

    Point two: No. 10 underscored with a double-time swing feel (brushes on snare with hi-hat) works. The drummer is thinking in four…  four quarters to every two of the printed dotted-quarters. I tried it. Very cool.

    Thanks, also, for providing the score. I listened with and without. Both times same impact.

    Thanks for sharing.  --Ray

     

    • Gavin Brown > Raymond Jacob March 26, 2023 at 2:04pm

      Thanks Ray, I have struck upon using varied time signatures as a way to avoid the constrictions of picking a single time signature and living within it. It's freeing! I just let the melody take me where it will.

      Regarding # 10, never thought of it the way you describe it, but it's definitely jazz with a little Gershwin in it, so I think it would work with drums.

      Thanks for comments!

  • Jon Corelis March 26, 2023 at 2:58pm

    I once wrote a very short composition called "Note in B flat."  I'd post it, but you can probably just imagine it.

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