I've started the habit of publishing new music every Friday. I'm going to start calling it "Friday music at Five." Time to start your weekend with some new music!
Agave
The 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 Agave
This 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-podcast
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I like the music.. a lot! Really soothing and sweet too.. just like agave and I think the composer is so brilliant to send the message like that to the listener. Luv it!
Found your post through @bengy entry post in the #payitforward contest this week.. thanks for sharing the music and explaining us about it too @pjcomposer😉 wish you continued success
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Thank you! Glad you liked it. :)
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Fantastic! I followed your Youtube so I can check out more later.
I found your post because @bengy has featured you in this weeks pay it forward curation contest.
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Thanks!
Posted using Partiko Android
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Thanks as always for the music (I usually visit under the account @classical-radio). I always enjoy the effort that you take to explain your inspiration behind the composition!
I have featured you and this post for a curation contest here:
https://steemit.com/curation/@bengy/payitforwardentry-week29-aobu4hh85o
You can join the fun here:
https://steemit.com/payitforward/@pifc/week-29-pay-it-forward-curation-contest-1a7250a1a8497est
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thankx for sharing the gem
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Mijn plezier!
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Thanks, man! Already following you. :)
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No problem, keep up the great work!
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Wonderful piece @pjcomposer. I like the piano in the back steady and very complementary to the guitar. Your description of the guitar being phrenetic is very true. Sometimes I admit, it's hard to comment when someone has such a wonderful write up. Looking forward to hearing more.
As you know @bengy featured you in this week's @pifc' Pay It Forward Curation Contest. Keep up the amazing work and maybe stop by to see what we do.
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what a great thing to listen too, i was listening while typing this comment,
i found your blog through @bengy and i think my friend @verhp11 will love this account too. @pifc will let others see the blog post too so good luck steeming and never stop playing.
greetz Britt
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Thank you! If no one listened, I would play anyway. But it's nice that you are. :)
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YES and we need more of this 😉
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This is my first time to see a music post with detailed explanation of how it was made. Interesting...
You mentioned about piano then guitar then another piano. How was that? Do you have an app that combines all of that or three different people were literally playing the instruments?
I came across your post through @bengy who featured it for the Pay It Forward Curation Contest. You too can join the contest.
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Actually, I think we met before. I remember you inspired me to put out a binaural piece.
There's just the one keyboard track, here. But basically, what I do is improvise the piano part first (recording it through a direct line), and then record the guitar and/or other instruments over it.
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Cool, you remember my previous bugging. 😊
I did not realize this is being done by composers. I am imagining it's gonna be very hard to play and record again but still be able to match the previously recorded one. Is it?
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I don't know that many other composers are doing this. I started doing this because I found that I could create viable music much more quickly and efficiently by simply recording improvisations directly, rather than writing them down and then performing them.
Matching things up is sometimes a challenge, but it is relatively simple to fix minor errors in the audio mastering process.
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I think you have a unique technique there with the re-recording. It gives another level of composition. The recording sounds like from a band but who would have thought that it was just you! 😊
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Lol. I always wanted to join a band, but never could find people who were willing to dedicate the time and effort. So I just taught myself to play the other instruments.
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That's clever of you! Creative too for finding a solution on your own.
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