Podcasts about polytonality

30,000 people. 16 measures. One bad decision.

AgaveThe agave is a desert cactus. It spreads out almost like a flower; but unlike a flower, it survives year in and year out in the inhospitable desert. It is so sweet that its flesh is processed and used as an alternative to sugar. Its glory is its steadfastness, longevity, and sweetness. Prickly and yet beautiful on the outside. Alive and sustaining of life on the inside. It is patient.Some Notes on AgaveThis piece is largely tonal. It is in F Sharp Major.  It is for keyboard and guitar. Although it is tonal, it uses a lot of quartal harmonies, polytonality, and some dissonance. The piece is a narrative in terms of formal structure; it expresses a motif, and then the rest of the piece is one long development section.The piece starts with a solo piano. It begins with an unassuming moderato. The motif is almost an ostinato, but it moves just enough to suggest a simple melody. The guitar enters intermittently with a more melodic countermelody, lending it a simple polyphonic texture. After this brief interplay, the piece slowly begins to unfold and build. The piano begins to play fast chords while the guitar sings over it. Then it takes a step back. The piano returns to the ostinato melody; however, now in a variation. The guitar continues to play a melody consisting of long, patient notes as a slow, concurrent melodic line over the frenetic keyboard activity.The piece reaches a climax with a third piano variation over the guitar's agave theme, like an agave plant riding a desert storm. The piece ends with a quiet inversion (also a variation) of the theme in the piano, with a slow scaling motion in the guitar. Finally, the guitar ends on the fourth scale degree, suggesting the sacredness of a liturgic resolution.Copyright, Philip John Cornell, 2018, some rights reserved. You may download this content freely. If you share it, it must be prominently attributed to "PJ Cornell," and if shared online, a link to the original content must be provided in a prominent location. This audio and video content may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without permission from the copyright owner. Only the latest episodes of this show are available on iTunes and Soundcloud. To locate archives of this podcast, visit: http://pjcornell.com/category/asterisked-music/piano-podcastFollow me on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pj-cornellFollow me on iTunes: (Asterisk Piano Podcast)Follow me on Steemit: https://steemit.com/@pjcomposerJoin the conversation on my site: http://pjcornell.com

AgaveThe agave is a desert cactus. It spreads out almost like a flower; but unlike a flower, it survives year in and year out in the inhospitable desert. It is so sweet that its flesh is processed and used as an alternative to sugar. Its glory is its steadfastness, longevity, and sweetness. Prickly and yet beautiful on the outside. Alive and sustaining of life on the inside. It is patient.Some Notes on AgaveThis piece is largely tonal. It is in F Sharp Major.  It is for keyboard and guitar. Although it is tonal, it uses a lot of quartal harmonies, polytonality, and some dissonance. The piece is a narrative in terms of formal structure; it expresses a motif, and then the rest of the piece is one long development section.The piece starts with a solo piano. It begins with an unassuming moderato. The motif is almost an ostinato, but it moves just enough to suggest a simple melody. The guitar enters intermittently with a more melodic countermelody, lending it a simple polyphonic texture. After this brief interplay, the piece slowly begins to unfold and build. The piano begins to play fast chords while the guitar sings over it. Then it takes a step back. The piano returns to the ostinato melody; however, now in a variation. The guitar continues to play a melody consisting of long, patient notes as a slow, concurrent melodic line over the frenetic keyboard activity.The piece reaches a climax with a third piano variation over the guitar's agave theme, like an agave plant riding a desert storm. The piece ends with a quiet inversion (also a variation) of the theme in the piano, with a slow scaling motion in the guitar. Finally, the guitar ends on the fourth scale degree, suggesting the sacredness of a liturgic resolution.Copyright, Philip John Cornell, 2018, some rights reserved. You may download this content freely. If you share it, it must be prominently attributed to "PJ Cornell," and if shared online, a link to the original content must be provided in a prominent location. This audio and video content may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without permission from the copyright owner. Only the latest episodes of this show are available on iTunes and Soundcloud. To locate archives of this podcast, visit: http://pjcornell.com/category/asterisked-music/piano-podcastFollow me on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pj-cornellFollow me on iTunes: (Asterisk Piano Podcast)Follow me on Steemit: https://steemit.com/@pjcomposerJoin the conversation on my site: http://pjcornell.com

Prelude and Fugue in ASolo keyboard pieces like this prelude and fugue were not common in the Baroque period. However, some significant works for solo keyboard did exist. Bach and Buxtehude wrote significant numbers of solo keyboard works (for example, The Well-Tempered Klavier, by J.S. Bach). The piano did not exist at that time. The keyboards available to composers and musicians at that time were far less versatile. They had the organ, the harpsichord, and the clavier; but each of these instruments had limited capacity in terms of volume control. In the case of the organ, you could pull out more stops, but even then, you were talking about sharply graduated stages of volume. The organ did not have the same level of artistic expressiveness as the piano.Around 1700, Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano. Composers became excited about the possibilities for the instrument, and the literature for solo keyboard music exploded. The "fortepiano," ("the loud-quiet," in Italian) was highly versatile. You could control how loudly or quietly you could play on it. Thus, the name.In the Baroque period, prior to the classical version of the sonata form, which came to dominate two centuries of instrumental classical musical form in one way or another, a very popular formal practice was to take a form, such as a fugue, fuguetto, fantasia, toccata, passacaglia, etc., and put a prelude in front of it, to compile a nice little two-movement piece. The prelude and fugue, in particular, was a form that produced a lot of great keyboard music, mostly because of J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Klavier.Some Notes on Prelude and Fugue in AThis piece is a prelude and fugue. It's part of my series Preludes and Fugues, most of which are not tonal, but do have a tonal center (thus, there will be twelve of them, one for each scale degree, rather than twenty-four, which would be one for each key). This one is (it is in a minor), however, it is titled as simply in "A," not "a minor," in order to be in keeping with the rest of the series.The entire piece is somewhat slow and melancholy, which I find appropriate; a minor sounds gray and melancholy to my ear. This is a Baroque style piece, but it also uses some modernist techniques.The Prelude, while largely tonal, does drift into polytonality, and does flirt with modalism. There are some very discreet moments of dissonance, as well. It also has a certain recitative structure. As an aside, until the Romantic period, when Chopin published his groundbreaking book of 24 Preludes, it was considered improper to compose a prelude as a standalone piece; it was always a prelude to something, meaning that it was expected that another, longer piece was to follow it. Since then, however, the prelude has come to be recognized as a musical form all to itself. In keeping with the original intent of the prelude, the prelude in this piece preceeds a fugue.The fugue, in this case, is quite short. It is in three parts. Unlike its prelude, it is more or less strictly tonal.Copyright, Philip John Cornell, 2018, some rights reserved. You may download this content freely. If you share it, it must be prominently attributed to "PJ Cornell," and if shared online, a link to the original content must be provided in a prominent location. This audio and video content may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without permission from the copyright owner. Follow me on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pj-cornellFollow me on iTunes: (Asterisk Piano Podcast)Follow me on Steemit: https://steemit.com/@pjcomposerJoin the conversation on my site: http://pjcornell.com

Prelude and Fugue in ASolo keyboard pieces like this prelude and fugue were not common in the Baroque period. However, some significant works for solo keyboard did exist. Bach and Buxtehude wrote significant numbers of solo keyboard works (for example, The Well-Tempered Klavier, by J.S. Bach). The piano did not exist at that time. The keyboards available to composers and musicians at that time were far less versatile. They had the organ, the harpsichord, and the clavier; but each of these instruments had limited capacity in terms of volume control. In the case of the organ, you could pull out more stops, but even then, you were talking about sharply graduated stages of volume. The organ did not have the same level of artistic expressiveness as the piano.Around 1700, Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano. Composers became excited about the possibilities for the instrument, and the literature for solo keyboard music exploded. The "fortepiano," ("the loud-quiet," in Italian) was highly versatile. You could control how loudly or quietly you could play on it. Thus, the name.In the Baroque period, prior to the classical version of the sonata form, which came to dominate two centuries of instrumental classical musical form in one way or another, a very popular formal practice was to take a form, such as a fugue, fuguetto, fantasia, toccata, passacaglia, etc., and put a prelude in front of it, to compile a nice little two-movement piece. The prelude and fugue, in particular, was a form that produced a lot of great keyboard music, mostly because of J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Klavier.Some Notes on Prelude and Fugue in AThis piece is a prelude and fugue. It's part of my series Preludes and Fugues, most of which are not tonal, but do have a tonal center (thus, there will be twelve of them, one for each scale degree, rather than twenty-four, which would be one for each key). This one is (it is in a minor), however, it is titled as simply in "A," not "a minor," in order to be in keeping with the rest of the series.The entire piece is somewhat slow and melancholy, which I find appropriate; a minor sounds gray and melancholy to my ear. This is a Baroque style piece, but it also uses some modernist techniques.The Prelude, while largely tonal, does drift into polytonality, and does flirt with modalism. There are some very discreet moments of dissonance, as well. It also has a certain recitative structure. As an aside, until the Romantic period, when Chopin published his groundbreaking book of 24 Preludes, it was considered improper to compose a prelude as a standalone piece; it was always a prelude to something, meaning that it was expected that another, longer piece was to follow it. Since then, however, the prelude has come to be recognized as a musical form all to itself. In keeping with the original intent of the prelude, the prelude in this piece preceeds a fugue.The fugue, in this case, is quite short. It is in three parts. Unlike its prelude, it is more or less strictly tonal.Copyright, Philip John Cornell, 2018, some rights reserved. You may download this content freely. If you share it, it must be prominently attributed to "PJ Cornell," and if shared online, a link to the original content must be provided in a prominent location. This audio and video content may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without permission from the copyright owner. Follow me on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pj-cornellFollow me on iTunes: (Asterisk Piano Podcast)Follow me on Steemit: https://steemit.com/@pjcomposerJoin the conversation on my site: http://pjcornell.com

Ancient RiddleI find that the deeper I delve into religion, the more my efforts merely uncover an ancient riddle. One can earnestly trace the factual basis for religion. When one does, that leads to threads and stories and archetypes that are far older than written language itself. Consequently, there is one religion of the world that persists; all of its permutations are different only in terms of detail and emphasis. Hence, this one religion of the world is an ancient riddle because it is woven into the very fabric of our psyche from times when we were not even modern humans.Islam traces back to the Christianity of James and Jesus. Likewise, Christianity traces back to a union of Judaism and religions of the east, within one schism; the other half of that schism traces back to Judaism and Babylonian theology (which, in turn, traces back to Egyptian theology), absorbing the European religions along the way. From there, those separate, and trace back to Egypt and the Aryans, respectively. They join again in the Emerald Tablets of Thoth. Finally, the wisdom of the tablets of Thoth traces back into the pre-literate psychology of mankind and pre-humanity. This religion is constantly branching out and recombining with itself like a species undergoing an evolution. Our religion, just like our DNA, distinguishes us, then recombines us, then scatters us into the diaspora of the stars to differentiate us once again. Some Notes on "Ancient Riddle"This is a keyboard improvisation. I have applied reverb and echo filters to it via audacity. It is in E Major. It takes on a ternary format (ABA), where the "B" section is a development section. In the development section, there are no key changes, but there is a lot of polytonality (multiple keys being present at once). Finally, In the recapitulation, the melody does not end in the tonic of E Major, but rather, on the super-dominant, c# minor, suggesting the parallel minor, without actually achieving a transition to that key, leaving the ending of the piece in a highly ambiguous state.Copyright, Philip John Cornell, 2018, some rights reserved. You may download this content freely. If you share it, it must be prominently attributed to "PJ Cornell," and if shared online, a link to the original content must be provided in a prominent location. This audio and video content may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without permission from the copyright owner. Follow me on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pj-cornellFollow me on iTunes: (Asterisk Piano Podcast)Follow me on Steemit: https://steemit.com/@pjcomposerJoin the conversation on my site: http://pjcornell.com

Ancient RiddleI find that the deeper I delve into religion, the more my efforts merely uncover an ancient riddle. One can earnestly trace the factual basis for religion. When one does, that leads to threads and stories and archetypes that are far older than written language itself. Consequently, there is one religion of the world that persists; all of its permutations are different only in terms of detail and emphasis. Hence, this one religion of the world is an ancient riddle because it is woven into the very fabric of our psyche from times when we were not even modern humans.Islam traces back to the Christianity of James and Jesus. Likewise, Christianity traces back to a union of Judaism and religions of the east, within one schism; the other half of that schism traces back to Judaism and Babylonian theology (which, in turn, traces back to Egyptian theology), absorbing the European religions along the way. From there, those separate, and trace back to Egypt and the Aryans, respectively. They join again in the Emerald Tablets of Thoth. Finally, the wisdom of the tablets of Thoth traces back into the pre-literate psychology of mankind and pre-humanity. This religion is constantly branching out and recombining with itself like a species undergoing an evolution. Our religion, just like our DNA, distinguishes us, then recombines us, then scatters us into the diaspora of the stars to differentiate us once again. Some Notes on "Ancient Riddle"This is a keyboard improvisation. I have applied reverb and echo filters to it via audacity. It is in E Major. It takes on a ternary format (ABA), where the "B" section is a development section. In the development section, there are no key changes, but there is a lot of polytonality (multiple keys being present at once). Finally, In the recapitulation, the melody does not end in the tonic of E Major, but rather, on the super-dominant, c# minor, suggesting the parallel minor, without actually achieving a transition to that key, leaving the ending of the piece in a highly ambiguous state.Copyright, Philip John Cornell, 2018, some rights reserved. You may download this content freely. If you share it, it must be prominently attributed to "PJ Cornell," and if shared online, a link to the original content must be provided in a prominent location. This audio and video content may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without permission from the copyright owner. Follow me on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pj-cornellFollow me on iTunes: (Asterisk Piano Podcast)Follow me on Steemit: https://steemit.com/@pjcomposerJoin the conversation on my site: http://pjcornell.com