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!

Hymn-A-Week 38

I opened a hymnal randomly to "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," and decided to use that rhythm for some slightly harmonically unusual hymn tune. I think it's rather fun, myself.

Interested in using this hymn tune? Copyright info is below. Interested in helping me continue to write them? A donation link is also below!

This hymn 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.

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

Hymn-A-Week 37

This week it's a less-usual rhythm, and some straight-forward homophony. Because why not?

This is recovery week. I'm suffering a little bit of exhaustion from the social on Sunday, and various work things in the meantime.

Ending stuff!

This hymn 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 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.

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

Hymn-A-Week 36

Thought I'd take on "Crown Him with Many Crowns" (and various other hymns with this rhythm) and give the tenors and altos something interesting to do.

And busy enough this week with my wedding fundraiser this Sunday that this is very last minute!

Copyright and money request follows:

{This} 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 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.

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

Hymn-A-Week 35

So I've been exploring some of the less-common meters as I go, either those developed from Lutheran chorales (like the above, from Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten) or just some of the odder rhythms in the hymnary. Any suggestions for some of the stranger meters are definitely welcome!

The first five tunes of this year are in a PDF here - which will be updated periodically with more hymn tunes as I write them.

If you want to give me money, please click the link below!

This hymn 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!

Little Fantasy, for Horn and Piano, on "General Taylor" (Donation piece)

In thanks for a generous donation from my friend Ryan Peters.

PDF available here! (PDF for the horn part here!)

Shortly after the turn of the new year, I was surprised by a very kind and generous donation from an old friend. So I went back in to our common history and suggested that the piece I would write in response could be an elaboration on "General Taylor," a tune we both enjoyed from our appreciation for Great Big Sea and similar folk groups.

The earliest source I could find for either tune or words for General Taylor dates to 1914; the song likely refers to American General (and President) Zachary Taylor, who died in 1850. The song is a funeral procession, describing the many things to be done to honour the memory of the dead. This Fantasy... is not. Context is more or less disregarded in this one in favour of just playing with the melody.

Hopefully this little piece provides some interest and joy to horn players out there! And if you'd like a piece like this for yourself... the donation button is below!

Little Fantasy on "General Taylor" 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!