4 x 4
Instrumentation: piano solo
Duration: 16 minutes
Commissioned by the Ohio Music Teachers Association 2024
Duration: 16 minutes
Commissioned by the Ohio Music Teachers Association 2024
Program Note:
During my sophomore year of high school, I participated in a program called Junior Symphonies. We met once a month at the University of Minnesota to learn about instrumentation and orchestration. Each of our meetings came with a homework assignment. a composition challenge! The first assignment was to write a short string trio using only four notes. (I chose C, E, G, and Ab.) I enjoyed the task so much that I made it a string quartet and added two preceding movements: one on four chords and the other on four rhythms.
Fast forward a decade and I received a commission award to compose a new work for the annual conference of the Ohio Music Teachers Association (OMTA), a chapter of the National Music Teachers Association (NMTA). Immediately, I thought of writing a composition for piano (especially as an artist-in-residence for a major piano provider.)
Like before, I wrote the movement on four pitches first (now Bb, C, E, and F) experimenting with different combinations that could imply a wider breath of harmony. This movement became the energetic and exuberant finale, Toccata. Next came the central Nocturne based on four chords, each with four notes (Emaj7, Bmin7, Csus7, and F#7b5). The opening movement, a witty but at times serene Capriccio was composed last and is based on four intervals (m2, M2, M3 P5).
During my sophomore year of high school, I participated in a program called Junior Symphonies. We met once a month at the University of Minnesota to learn about instrumentation and orchestration. Each of our meetings came with a homework assignment. a composition challenge! The first assignment was to write a short string trio using only four notes. (I chose C, E, G, and Ab.) I enjoyed the task so much that I made it a string quartet and added two preceding movements: one on four chords and the other on four rhythms.
Fast forward a decade and I received a commission award to compose a new work for the annual conference of the Ohio Music Teachers Association (OMTA), a chapter of the National Music Teachers Association (NMTA). Immediately, I thought of writing a composition for piano (especially as an artist-in-residence for a major piano provider.)
Like before, I wrote the movement on four pitches first (now Bb, C, E, and F) experimenting with different combinations that could imply a wider breath of harmony. This movement became the energetic and exuberant finale, Toccata. Next came the central Nocturne based on four chords, each with four notes (Emaj7, Bmin7, Csus7, and F#7b5). The opening movement, a witty but at times serene Capriccio was composed last and is based on four intervals (m2, M2, M3 P5).