"Jury Piece" - composed by me

[quantum]

As of yet we still don't have a composers forum, so this may not be the right place. 

I was randomly inspired to notate this.     It is intended as a test piece for a performance jury, hence the title. 

If anyone wants to hear, maybe I can convert  the Finale output to mp3.

[pianowolfi]

Oh my good gracious   Do you really think I could read this, let alone play it?   

But feel free to post a performance by yourself

[jlh]

I'm gonna play it on my kazoo, afterall, it's for piano or "any other instrument"...

[nanabush]

!!! "Forehead"  LMAO!!!

[pianowolfi]

I'm gonna play it on my kazoo, afterall, it's for piano of "any other instrument"...

Rofl

[Derek]

Wow. I really don't get it. You're a nice guy quantum so I wouldn't dream of ranting and raving like I do about xenakis, but...I just don't get it lol. It's actually funny to look at something like that (what with fists and foreheads etc.).  No offense intended at all.  I've heard many of your improvs and found them really cool (especially some of the meditation ones).  But...you've definitely got that "eccentric" thing down pat!

[quantum]

Oh my good gracious   Do you really think I could read this, let alone play it?   

But feel free to post a performance by yourself

I'm having trouble with bar 1.  What fingers should I use?  How should I voice the notes? 

I'm gonna play it on my kazoo, afterall, it's for piano or "any other instrument"...

   now that's the spirit. 

!!! "Forehead"  LMAO!!!

I thought about the nose, but I woudn't want to be responsible for broken noses in the event someone feels they need a spirited sforzando. 

Wow. I really don't get it. You're a nice guy quantum so I wouldn't dream of ranting and raving like I do about xenakis, but...I just don't get it lol. It's actually funny to look at something like that (what with fists and foreheads etc.).  No offense intended at all.  I've heard many of your improvs and found them really cool (especially some of the meditation ones).  But...you've definitely got that "eccentric" thing down pat!

Well actually humor was very much intended when I wrote this.  I was feeling in a bit of a silly mood.  Those of us who may have had to perform some eccentric music in uni as part of an exam may relate more to it.  I used to stay far away from such eccentric music, but over the years have grown to appreciate it. 

A bunch of silly situations, blown totally out of control.  There's a part of me that wanted to make at least some of it plausible, and the other part of me that said go to town and have fun.  I've seen other composers write a dynamic for almost every note in a bar, so why not do that for every rest too; nested dynamics that utterly contradict eachother; crazy polyrhythms, etc.  But, I also put some thought into performance choreography, I mean the forehead smashes in the middle of the keyboard is somewhat possible with both hands playing at the extreme. 

Some parts of it are there because I thought it looked pretty in the score 

Actually there are some new things that came out of writing this that I have never tried, but would like to.  For example contrary motion glissandi in one hand, elbow glissandi while playing other notes with the hand. 

Music can get very academic, especially in a uni setting where you have to be able to write about stuff you may not even understand.   I think we all need a bit of stress relief every once in a while and a good laugh. 

...but if your willing to put on a serious performance of this, go right ahead.  I wonder how it would sound on banjo....Thal?

[retrouvailles]

I wouldn't say this is similar to Xenakis. Reminds me of something that Kurtág would write (I'm thinking of his Játekók). I take it that you would need a Bösendorfer Imperial Grand for this to hit some of the notes in here. Please do upload the Finale rendering when you can! As much as it looks like a joke, heh, I would like to hear it. Who was your inspiration? I am curious to know.

For the record, the "fists and elbows" technique isn't a new idea in music at all. Thank Henry Cowell and a few others for that. The "forehead" technique is new to me though.

Also, this is completely playable. because he says that it's for any instrument, a rendering by an electronic intrument or synhtesizer is perfectly acceptable.

[quantum]

I should listen to some Kurtág then, because I haven't up to this point.  I didn't really intend to go outside the bounds of the normal 88 keys, but I didn't even check. 

A lot of inspiration came from looking at the scores of Scriabin, Boulez, Stockhausen and Finnissy to name a few. 

This thread probably initiated the urge to write it down:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,23610.0.html

Additionally, I've been itching to try some of the weirder and wild things you can do in Finale.  So this is in part a notation exercise for myself.

Anyways, I composed this all fun in mind. 

I improvise regularly in public, and some of my friends have nicknamed me Elbows or something of the sort saying I know how to bash a piano gracefully.  Thus why not expand to use other body parts, I mean the forehead is quite accessible isn't it?


Now, contrary to my own score indications, I've included here 3 different recordings with marked tempi. I composed the score listing at Quarter = 120, and never thought to play it back slower until after it was finished. I realized after that would make some things ridiculously fast (although it sounds cool). Quarter = 60 sort of seems to be physically playable. I've included Quarter = 40 if you wanted to hear more of the note interactions at a slower tempi. Note that many of the note clusters tremolos and glissandi didn't come out in the midi.

[maxreger]

ROTFL,

-well, this I hope was a joke.

Its notated in the most terrible way possible, no body would come within 30 miles of a piece like this. This has nothing to do with Xenakis or any other modern composer that can actually notate and write out their music to be played. This is just amature hour in regards to notation and pretty much everything else as well.

I take it it was a joke? I have not read through all the comments.

I think its this sort of thing that proves that the music of Xenakis and Boulez is not "random" at all... in fact, this proves just about every stereotype about modern composers to be more or less "off".

[maxreger]

hahaha, just noticed the mp3's you put up, priceless...

This is like bad Nancarrow.

[pianowolfi]

hahaha, just noticed the mp3's you put up, priceless...

This is like bad Nancarrow.

I haven't listened yet. I just saw the score But I know that Quantum is a very high-levelled pianist and can improvise the hell out of the piano. He knows very well what he's doing and I think this was actually, well a joke? I don't know. But something perhaps not VERY serious. But for sure he is not an amateur. Btw for me it would even be more than 30 miles  Lol  hee hee and "bashing the piano gracefully", very good, quantum! Interesting approach.

[maxreger]

I dont know what to say, I take it it was a joke... or simply its a complete and total and utter and complete lack of understanding what makes the music of the composers he named.

[pianowolfi]

I dont know what to say, I take it it was a joke... or simply its a complete and total and utter and complete lack of understanding what makes the music of the composers he named.

Well I take it as a joke but I still did not listen. It scares me. Honestly . But, maxreger, listen to quantum's improvs, you will see what I was talking about.

[jlh]

Hey Quantum... I just listened to the mp3s!  Great work... now you just need to record it yourself instead of the finale rendering... lol