Dream Dance (Solo Piano) - Programme Notes
(2007; 10')
Click button to view or download the score (please let me know if you decide to perform this!)
Some composition ideas never develop into much more than a few bars of music, and such was the case for many years with the opening to Dream Dance.
I believe I started it around 1997, and, try as I might, I could not seem to find anything satisfactory to take it much beyond the 30-second mark, the point where it takes an unexpected
(to me, at least) foray into a minimalist feel. I think the basic problem was that I didn't understand why a piece would open the way it does and then suddenly decide it's a minimalist piece.
Where's the logic in that?
In the summer of 2007 I had a sudden attack of stubbornness and decided to get into a Jacobean wrestling match with the opening,
intending to finish it no matter what (within reason, of course; I didn't want to end up with a dislocated hip as Jacob did); it
just seemed a shame to waste what seemed to me like a good opening idea for a piece, and I thought I could perhaps turn it into a
short-ish (perhaps 3 minutes?) work, and be done with it.
As music often does, I was surprised at how difficult it was to take this in a direction with which I could be satisfied, and I ended up
struggling with it for about 5 months until I was finally done. The key in moving forward for me was in accepting that the three changes in mood that occur
in the first 30 seconds might actually be a good thing
if I were to play with the idea of a stylistic hodgepodge throughout the composition, so that is what I did.
There is actually a term for this — "polystylism,"
which, as the title suggests, refers to the use of multiple styles or techniques of music, and it is associated with the music of
Alfred Schnittke and others.
All of which still doesn't explain why it took me another 5-6 months to finish the work, but it may have been because it was a new direction for me, and
countless re-writes and edits took place.
A few features that may be of interest:
- There is almost constant 16th-note motion from beginning to end, bringing to mind the invariable motor rhythms found in many baroque fast movements;
- I had great fun playing with tonal harmony (this is an afliction of mine that I blame on having taught music theory for 25 years). It opens in D major, for example, then suddenly jumps to an ambiguous key that may or may not be F minor (which would be a double chromatic mediant relationship with D), then quickly moves to Db major for a bar before slipping back into F minor again, all within the first 30 seconds;
- The left hand often has to play in the middle of the right hand's notes; the hands are literally right on top of one another at times, requiring tremendous gymnastic hand choreography on the part of the pianist;
- It is extremely difficult to play, despite the simplicity of the opening;
- I mentioned that it is a stylistic hodgepodge, evoking at various times minimalism, Haydn, Bach, Gershwin, Scott Joplin (at the very end), and maybe others as well. Commentators at MacJams.com thought they also heard references to Prokofiev, Scriabin, and Debussy; and
- There are close to 120 comments on Dream Dance at MacJams.com. Feel free to read them if you like!
Jennifer's Tune,
Late Night Music, and
Last Dance
©Clark Winslow Ross
