Music 368-370: Three Short Serial Piano Pieces

5 Replies

There are three new piano pieces HERE at this link. It will take you to another page with links to my compositions of 2021 – including the new piano pieces. Go there if you dare!

Some people like to know how some things are made, so for them these three pieces are based on the same grid made out of the same 12-tone row. If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, it doesn’t matter. One doesn’t have to have the recipe of my fabulous rhubarb cheesecake to enjoy eating it.

To be even more obtuse, below is the grid from which the pieces are created. It is a composition “devise” created by Arnold Schoenberg and other composers in the mid-20th century. All 12 notes of the keyboard are played in a particular order and all are to be played before any note is repeated. Of course, these three pieces here “cheat” – who among us doesn’t break the rules when it comes to writing 12-tone serial music?

Thanks. Back to stories tomorrow.

5 thoughts on “Music 368-370: Three Short Serial Piano Pieces”

  1. badfinger20 (Max)

    I like the third one the best. I like high register ones. The first one has it’s own built in excitement…it sounds as if it could go off the rails at any minute but it doesn’t…you pull it back over.
    Cheat notes or not…it’s amazing how you come up with these.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. Bruce Goodman Post author

      Thanks Max – I knew you’d prefer the third and so do I. It’s a musical language I love (which dates me into the mid 1900s) but I’m delighted that you can relate to it in some way – which says a awful lot for your musicality and for the “universality” of the serial music phenomenon. Thanks so much for the open ear. I would do a lot more but a fear of irrelevancy is slightly overpowering!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
      1. badfinger20 (Max)

        Sorry for the late reply…but my work actually wants me to work! The nerve of them!

        I love hearing what you produce…if you feel the inspiration don’t let it pass!

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓

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