10 February 2009

The Gnome's Grand Adventure

My friends, it is quite probable that you remember a piece of music that I composed in May 2007 for strings, called "The Gnome's Grand Adventure." In late December, I decided that I would rework this music for solo piano, and I finished this task in the middle of January. Because of certain computer difficulties, I am only now posting the music, whose audio file is ready for download onto your computer or iDevice on the left.

Now, why did I choose to rework "The Gnome's Grand Adventure," you wonder? There are several reasons. First, the original score is a disaster, full of basic part writing errors, poor voicing, and boring harmonies. Doing the rewrite for the piano was an obvious course of action for me. I wanted to make it playable, and I wanted to augment my volume of piano pieces. One day I want to make a book of them. Focusing on recasting all the harmonies and several melodies such that they are not technically horrid, I think that I have made "The Gnome's Grand Adventure" into a far more interesting piece of music. Notice that the middle section is almost completely different. It was beyond help, really. I was also able to balance the structure with a coda, and I was happy to defeat what had once been a very abrupt ending.

Enough on the specific changes I made. I would also like to state why, of all the error-ridden pieces of music I have composed, did I choose "The Gnome's Grand Adventure" to change. First of all, it has the most wonderful subjects: gnomes and adventure. I do not feel the need to explain why these are such elevated themes, so I will move on to my second reason, that being the propensity and nature of comments I have received about this piece. It is the one that is most frequently mentioned to me by my friends. I mean, on the relatively uncommon instance that I wind up in a conversation about my music, I remember hearing about "The Gnome's Grand Adventure" more than any others. Since of course I do not actually keep track of this sort of thing, I could be wrong, but you see my reasoning. For another, I believe that "The Gnome's Grand Adventure" has been complimented above its musical comrades more than any other. The final push came when in the middle of December I found out that "The Gnome's Grand Adventure" might be the piece of music that is most associated with me, at least by one excellent reader. How could I let its defective form live on after that?

Without further ado, let me express my thanks that the song of my little gnome has been appreciated. I hope that I have made it better to ears other than my own.



2 comments:

maria said...

It really is much better this way. Before, I sometimes wished that I actually liked it for more than its subject and its beginning. I'm glad that my favorite aspect of it was kept. The only way I have of describing it is through sound/motion though, so I can't really type it. I wasn't all that fond of the transitions between the middle and the end in the older one, so I'm glad that's been changed. I didn't have an issue with the abrupt ending of the old one, but the new ending is a pleasant addition.

It was really the idea of the song that reminded me of you more than how it actually went, but now it sounds closer to you too.

Thorvald Erikson said...

I would be interested in these descriptive sounds and motions.

The original transition there did not make any sense at all. I think it was D major to d minor, which makes even less sense between two large structures.

Thanks for the comments.