The big day draws ever closer, and the teaser videos show no sign of abating! Today it’s an itty bitty clip from ‘Affettuoso’, which I’m told is at least one person’s favourite piece out of the twelve. But will it be yours? Come along next Friday to find out!
Concert Teaser: ‘Vision of Triumph’
They say that procrastination is the thief of time… Well don’t let that nasty procrastination nick off with any more of your precious seconds – hesitate no longer, and book your tickets now for ‘Miniatures – Live in Concert’!
As an added incentive, here’s another li’l clip of our Jack playing piece no. 2, ‘Vision of Triumph’ : )
Concert Teaser: ‘Compost Frog’
Waddya know, there are only 10 days left until the live concert premiere of my suite of ‘Miniatures’ for solo piano! And this can mean only one thing: Time to ramp up my publicity efforts to warp factor 9! So I’ve made a little teaser video for you to enjoy. Watch it, digest it, then head to https://miniaturesconcert.eventbrite.co.uk/ to book tickets for you and all your friends. : )
New Music Monday, #40: ‘Cascades’
Every Monday throughout 2023 I will be highlighting a different piece of music that I have either written or been closely involved with. And this week, prepare to be swept up in an avalanche of notes because it’s…
What’s it called?
Cascades.
What’s it from?
‘Miniatures’, my 2023 album of classical piano compositions.
What’s it all about?
Another purely abstract piece, this one’s really not ‘about’ anything in a literal sense. My concept for it, though, was to try something similar to Bach’s famous C major Prelude, where the keyboard plays a perfectly regular repetitive figure but which changes a few notes each time in order to move harmonically from chord to chord. Thus the music rocks up and down between the left and right hands, each of which is given 3 notes of the chord, and over the duration of the piece we are taken on a journey through all sorts of different harmonic permutations in a hypnotic whirlwind of pianistic colour.
Listen out for…
The alternation between major and minor chords, such as you can hear in the opening 8 bars (0:00-0:07) and which recurs over the course of the piece. Each time this happens, in the sheet music I have marked the major chord as ‘confident’ and the minor chord as ‘less’, so it’s as though the music starts off bold and positive but is continually having little crises of confidence. I also playfully reprise this idea in the very last chord, which is a jarring clash of both major and minor at the same time (1:59).
Another section I rather like is 0:37-0:47, where I start with a simple C major chord then change 1 note every couple of bars to warp it into a mysterious harmony consisting of C, F, B, E, A and D (all equally spaced a 4th apart*). Like this:
* Technically they’re not all a perfect 4th apart, but in a diatonic sense they’re equally spaced.
Find out more at…
www.michaelgrantmusician.com/miniatures
Early Bird Ends Tonight! Get Your Tickets Now!
Well well, doesn’t time fly? Yes it does. Do you know what else flies? That’s right – early birds (when they’re not busy frying worms, that is). All of which is my convoluted way of saying, you only have until midnight tonight to book your tickets for the live premiere of my piano suite ‘Miniatures’ at the extra special discounted price of £5! You’ll save yourself a full £2.50 off each ticket, and in this economy that money could be used to buy… well… nothing really. But it’d still be nice to have, don’t you think?
Only 2 Days Left To Get Your Early Bird Tickets…
Today I’ve enlisted an owl to help with my publicity campaign by saying “Twit-Twooo”… That’s right, because there are only twooooo days left to get cheap tickets for my upcoming concert, and you’ll surely feel a twit if you don’t take advantage of this superb offer!
Head over to Eventbrite to book now with the ‘early bird’ discount – leave it any longer and you run the risk of become a ‘late bird’! Which, come to think of it, is probably a more fitting description for an owl, considering their nocturnal nature. What a confusing world we live in, eh?
3 Days Left To Be An Early Bird!
If I seem to be filled with an all-consuming sense of urgency, that’s because there are now only 3 days remaining to pick up your cheap £5 tickets for my tremendous concert! It will feature a full twelve pieces of original music, so by my maths that’s less than 42p per piece – what an unmissable bargain.
4 Days Left To Be An Early Bird!
There are now only 4 days remaining to get your tickets for my concert at the special discounted price of £5! In the words of the early bird himself, “Get ’em while they’re going ‘cheep’!”
5 Days Left To Be An Early Bird!
Only 5 days remaining for you to book your tickets at the super-special early bird discount price of £5! After that it will cost you a full £7.50, and I guarantee you will feel oh so bitter for missing out on the greatest bargain of your life so far.
New Music Monday, #39: ‘Springs’
Every Monday throughout 2023 I will be highlighting a different piece of music that I have either written or been closely involved with. And this week, prepare to bounce up and down with a regular motion because it’s…
What’s it called?
Springs.
What’s it from?
‘Miniatures’, my 2023 album of classical piano compositions.
What’s it all about?
I’d say this is a particularly joyful piece, full of optimism and hope, with a real bounce in its step that comes from the repeated offbeat accompanying figure in the left hand. When trying to come up with a title, I wanted something that reflected this positivity, and one phrase that came to mind was the Alexander Pope quote “Hope springs eternal from the human breast.” I soon realised that simply taking the one word from that sentence (‘springs’) would also open up a couple of additional relevant meanings:
- Springs as in the bouncy things – to relate to the lively bounce permeating the piece.
- Springs as in the season – where everything comes back to life and fills with hope after the dark days of winter.
And that’s where that came from.
Listen out for…
The middle section shifts into a more lyrical and poignant mood, culminating in what I consider a rather beautiful cadence at 1:50. Note that this part also makes use of the piano’s ‘soft’ pedal, which causes only one string to sound for each note played (when normally every note would be played on three strings at once). This gives a more muted and gentle effect.
Find out more at…
www.michaelgrantmusician.com/miniatures
