sketch no. 1

This will the the first piece in a set of three, the design of the set is based around certain limitations unique to each piece, and the exploration of the musical and expressive (I do not necessarily mean emotion expressiveness, Boulez once said that music doesn't need to express emotion, it's enough that it expresses music) potential that can be found within these limitations. This piece uses only 4 pitch classes: c#, d, d#, and e. The "music" is less a result of the notes themselves, but more the space between the notes. Both in terms of register, and in duration. Duration in particular is fascinating to me. Not rhythm, but duration. I am aiming for a feeling of stasis, rather than meter.

Dr. Ross mentioned something in class that made me see something that I otherwise may not have seen within this piece. He mentioned how a repetition of a certain chord (it sounds twice in succession) seems out of place. Aside from this moment, none of the chords in their unique voicing ever appear after they are heard once. There are allusions to certain sonorities, but they are never heard twice in the same voicing or register. This makes that particular moment really stand out. And whether or not this is a device I choose to imply (I think it is an interesting concept) the way that I wrote it is certainly not interesting in the least. That concept could be applied to an important focal point in the piece, it needs a great deal of care, something that was very lacking in my initial sketch. It could be something important, something meaningful, but I basically wasted what could have been one of the key moments of the piece.