I’m not sure quite what inspired the first of these. Some late night YouTube listening perhaps… But I suppose what I wanted to do was see how much variety I could create from a small number of parallel parts repeated in different combinations. In a sense this was a result of the circumstances: by experimenting with combinations I limited the number of parts I had to record each time but I could vary the texture, harmony and rhythm by putting the parts together differently, rather than by changing the way any individual part is played.
Other than the format, there is no intended relationship between the individual pieces. Each had its own inspiration, indicated in some cases by the somewhat cryptic names.
Ostinato
This was my first experiment in this format. I simply played some rather random notes on the piano and recorded them: that became the ostinato, above which I added the rest.
Allegro
A second attempt in the same format but at a faster tempo. As before, the piano notes that became the ostinato were played pretty much at random.
EGG
This one was inspired (believe it or not) by breakfast! Based on the pattern E-G-G.
Waves
This time I really wanted to see if I could change the mood/flow of a piece while maintaining the ostinato, just by varying the parts above.
Triads
Based on the simplest harmonic progression in the world…
BAC
More breakfast inspiration, this time using a rather intense repeating B-A-C in the bass line. (The breakfast reference is to bacon!)
Sicilienne
I wanted to take a “traditional” dance-like format and see if, and how far, I could push it.
Shotover
Believe it or not most of the lines in this are based on a recording I made on my phone when I went for a walk in the woods. Not necessarily all birdsong, but inspired by the outside world.
Forest
The chord progression in this crops up in a piece by Fauré that I was playing at the time, among many other places. The name is part of the village I happened to be in when I realised where else I had heard it before!
Largo
I started to experiment with shifting rhythms relative to each other in this one. The two lines containing triplets are almost exact replicates of each other, but shifted by a crotchet beat.
Waltz
I always love waltzes! But in a perverse way I wanted to break this one: by the end it loses its waltz character altogether.
Rain
I wrote this one while it was absolutely bucketing down outside, hence its name! This time I started varying the rhythm of the individual parts a bit: what starts as a crotchet becomes (in some cases) quavers, and then semiquavers.
Shore
More seaside inspiration, but it got a bit more complicated this time. (As a result I couldn’t play it very well, but hopefully it gets the impression across!)
Rainbow
Named mostly for the colour-coding that I used to show where the different parts appear! There are a few ideas inspired by Beethoven in there: I have been learning about his piano sonatas recently…
Julia Sherriff 