Voluntary in G Major - Fun with sevenths

Here's a PDF!

It's a beautiful morning, I'm up early, and I just sent my partner to Toronto because she wants to learn to make more documentaries.

This is one that bugged me for a while. I've been living with this melodic idea for a couple weeks, wondering how to make it work. So this is an experimental effort - which, in reality, is the point of this project, not just to write more of the same, but to try on some different ideas.

I've long been fascinated by the major seventh as a piece of a melodic and/or harmonic language, looking for ways to make use of it. This piece is a little... heavy handed with it - the main motif outlines the major seventh chord, it cadences on the major seventh in several places (including finally), the harmonies make use of it - but even so, I like the sound of it. Maybe because it's a blissfully short voluntary.

Next week is my final "voluntary!" Then I'm on to the next project.

I would be happy once more to point to the tip jar below...

Voluntary in G Major by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in B Minor - Harmonic games and twelve-tone rows

PDF behind this link!

So I'm reasonably sure this won't be as popular as last week's offering, but that's fine, I'm not doing this project for anything but my own edification, and this was rather edifying. Kind of fun, too!

The concept on this voluntary is very simple. There's a harmonic progression happening below, above, or around a constant note, and at cadential points there's a quick melodic turn through all twelve chromatic notes to land on the new pedal point. This voluntary is more about effect, something like a dramatic (hammy?) entrance, than it is about the notes themselves - not that the notes should be ignored, of course.

The processes in getting recordings set up are underway. Soon!

Legal stuff and a reminder: I'm almost done the second set of weekly pieces, which means I'm almost starting on the third set! If you want to throw me a little tip to make that process simpler, it would be highly appreciated.

{This} by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in D Major - Pedal exercises?

We have PDF!

My forty-fifth weekly organ piece, and finally I get to a piece of pedalwork. I've tried it - it works. And by and large, it works with alternating toes. This was fun to hammer out, since I don't write at the organ; there was a lot of rewriting and testing, and making sure that it was possible. And it is!

It seems that I've only been able to write one sort of single-line piece for the organ to date, the moto perpetuo. I need to expand my repertoire in that direction a little bit, I think. I've written several pieces for the flute alone and they're interesting and varied (in my own not-at-all humble opinion). However, one of the more interesting things to do on the organ is to mess with textures, and when writing pieces that naturally limit textural options there's only so much that one can do.

I think to Dénis Bédard's Trois esquisses pour le pédale seul, which are three lovely and varied works, and I wonder if maybe I shouldn't be doing something like that. Another idea to file away for another time...

At any rate. Here's the Voluntary in D. Three more "voluntaries" to go, and then my next 24-piece project begins!

Legalities and handout button:

Voluntary in D Major by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in F-sharp Minor - Fantasy on the Hexachord

Fantasy on a PDF!

So I decided that I would use the hexachord, kind of, for a voluntary. The hexachord is usually a reference to ut (or do) - re - mi - fa - sol - la, a six-note scalar pattern. I'm following on the centuries-old heels of my Renaissance-era predecessors, writing on a simple repeated pattern - although the pattern is transposed, stepping up with every repetition, and isn't really found in it's "natural" form except once, near the end.

We have here a four-voice work, with the bass (pedals) and the soprano reiterating this hexachord pattern up and down, and the alto and tenor getting slowly more and more agitated heading towards its final conclusion.

And speaking of final conclusions: Four more voluntaries to go, and I'll be done a second set of 24! D major, B minor, G major, and finally, E minor are all that's left to cover. I'm kind of excited!

The stuff at the end of every post is at the end of this one, too:

Voluntary in F-sharp Minor by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in A Major - Dance!

If you want a PDF, here it is!

No April Fool's joke here. Because this post is going to exist tomorrow and the next day and for years after that. And because I'm half-deaf and grouchy and my ear hurts.

So this is a minuet. And why not? It's written almost entirely in hemiola - and, again, why not? - to enhance the fun, dancing character as much as possible. The harmonies are fairly conventional and consonant; I wasn't feeling all that experimental this week, what with the ear infection. Just like it's hard for me to think about what I want to write here.

It's time for some painkillers. Also some end-of-post stuff. I'm going back to bed.

Voluntary in A Major by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in C-sharp Minor - I'm not really sure what this is

PDF hither!

I'm... really not entirely convinced of this. Mostly because I don't really know what exactly this is. I mean, it's sort of an ostinato, almost, which slowly slides up. And it's kind of polytonal... polytonalish, I suppose, in a couple spots. I'm not sure what it means, but I like it. I'm just not entirely certain as to what my composition process hath wrought in this particular case.

This is definitely a solid moderato. It shouldn't feel fast (or slow, for that matter), nor, I think, should it be loud (or too quiet). There's not a lot of need to make registration changes; the piece has a written-in crescendo as the texture thickens with each iteration. This feels like it's neither fish nor fowl, which I suppose means that it's ... beef? I'm not great with metaphor.

At any rate, we're nearing the end of my second set of 24 short organ works. I'm starting to think about what I might like to do for a third set. Suggestions gleefully considered. Suggestions with money attached even more gleefully considered... Hint hint.

Speaking of hints! Copyright info and also donation button!

Voluntary in C-sharp Minor by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in E Major - Alto Solo

Here's some PDF for anyone!

Here's a short, gentle piece, kind of in the style of a Romantic trio, although it's more of a quartet. The idea was to write a four-part piece with an alto solo, something which can be kind of tricky on the organ without playing the right hand on two keyboards (although I'm sure we'll get there...)

So instead of a chorale-like setting, there's this option, of having the left hand played off the keys and taking care of the tenor and soprano. Or at least what might generally be considered soprano; the solo voice does cross over it from time to time.

C-sharp Minor coincides with Good Friday, which should be interesting!

Licensing and money request below!

Voluntary in E Major by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in G-sharp Minor - Rhythmic intensity?

PDF presently placed in position, properly posted.

Once more I go to the well of techniques from the games of my youth, this week playing with a more repetitive, driving idea. The left hand can be very light, providing rhythmic intensity while harmonic tension comes from the legato chords in the right.

Of course, if this were proper '80s or '90s chiptune music, it would loop without end, but I think that my left hand would seize up before I could make it through a second repetition. Someone with a less-damaged left hand would do better, probably, but even then there are limits to endurance.

The piece is intended to be played on two manuals, but with only one the only overlap is in measures 35-36; I'd suggest just dropping the low B from the right hand rather than worrying about holding it through the repetition.

So that's that! Next week, E Major.

Copyright info and a reminder: I'm looking for money! I like money. It helps me buy food, which helps me continue to write music.

Voluntary in G-sharp Minor by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in B Major - A little look back

PDF here!

After last week's rapid-fire fiasco, I decided to look a little bit backwards. My compositional roots are in game music - not that I've ever had any used in a game - so I thought it would be time to reexamine some of the techniques and constructions I used to use to write one of my voluntaries.

Musically and tonally, this feels like "village" music, calm and quiet, a break from the adventure, although not without some tension, both in the overarching structure and in some of the more dissonant harmonies. I could easily hear this on an endless loop fading into the background while wandering about the countryside conversing with the peasantry looks for the next hint.

Regardless. End stuff!

Volountary in B Major by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in E-flat Minor - Toccata in... twenty?

Yonder lies a PDF!

So it was time to try my hands at writing a quasi-French-style toccata. Not sure that I quite got there (among other things, I kind of feel that there's a lot left on the proverbial cutting-room floor) but this is a fun little escapade nonetheless.

The upper staff belongs to the hands. Divide as you see fit. The lower staff is for the pedal.

The late posting is due to an unavoidable government day job! I'll be done with that soon enough.

Some news! I have plans to start making some recordings of these pieces. And I have some equipment to make it happen, thanks to my wonderful partner. So hopefully after a couple trial runs I'll start to have something to show for all this practice!

Copyright info and donation button below!

Voluntary in E-flat Minor by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Your donations can help me keep writing these! Click to feed a composer!

Voluntary in F-sharp Major - Fugue interrupted

Link to the PDF!

So it's been a while since I wrote a fugue. Parts of a fugue exist in my Trio in C (for piano, flute and 'cello, not a three-part organ work) and the Introduction and Fughetta (for the same group), the Prelude in F-sharp Minor from the previous set is a fugue, and the Voluntaries in B-flat Major and C Minor are fugue-like. This one is ... still not a full-on fugue; instead it incorporates small episodes on a secondary keyboard in between subject expositions. So! here's a fugue with little homophonic episodes cut in for interest!

Given the rather extensive chromaticism I chose to negate the key signature for six bars rather than deal with the somewhat horrific number of accidentals that would be required. 

It occurs to me that I should be writing more fugues. Hm. An idea for the next set of 24, perhaps? After all, they're good for the brain.

Speaking of interest, I hope you're also interested in the link below, where you can give me money! If you like these preludes and voluntaries, I could sure use your help in continuing to make them.

Cheers!

Voluntary in F-sharp Major by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in B-flat Minor - One BIG crescendo

PDF link here!

Bach meets Reger? Something along those lines anyway. 

Take a ounce of Bach bassline from the Adagio of the Toccata in C, or substitute from Air on the G string in you don't have any Toccata lying around; mix in a quart of extended registration crescendo from the softest 8' stop up to full organ; stir in a bowl made of shifting chromatic harmonies. Throw in a pinch of double pedal and a few ties to taste, bake for three minutes at 350º, and you've got yourself a voluntary.

Serve chilled. Makes roughly 28 bars.

Thanks for the glance! Here's the copyright info and the endless search for more money:

Voluntary in B-flat Minor by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in C-sharp Major - or near enough to it.

And lo, there was an PDF

Once more time to dip in to the modal well, as well as returning to the ostinato concept. A three-bar loop in the left hand and pedal (well, one-bar in the pedal), and a floating melody above. The result is a calm, relaxed, even-paced set of continual variations.

On the whole, I think it's a nice, simple, not-overly-difficult piece to play and listen to.

End of post stuff!

Voluntary in C-sharp Major by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Voluntary in F Minor - Diminuet

You might like a PDF here!

So a friend of mine challenged me when I was struggling for ideas - write a minuet, use "a lot" of diminshed chords. I took the idea and ran with it, primarily using diminshed (and extended) harmonies and drawing the melodies from that. I like my short works to have some variety in them, and I'm trying not to replicate ideas too closely one to another - I admit that I was a bit twitchy having just written a piece in 3/4 two weeks ago!

Copyright and money request below:

Voluntary in F Minor by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Your donations can help me keep writing these! Click to feed a composer!