Fragments of a Star

for Piano, Live Electronics & Computer Tape

Fragments of a Star is for piano, live electronics and tape. The piece was written between the 1st and the 6th of August 2007. The atmosphere is dreamy throughout and sparse depicting the vast Nebulas from which stars are created.

The piano part is based on a note row that uses only two intervals (a rising perfect 5th and a falling major 3rd. When these two intervals are used alternately, they produce the following sequence:

D, A, F#, C#, A E, C G, Eb, Bb, Gb, Db, A, E, C, G, E, B, G#, D#, B, F#, D
(at which point the sequence repeats)

All of the piano music is derived from moving through this row a number of times. The space between each piano fragment gradually gets shorter as the pieces progresses and then returns through the same process.

The pianist performs against a click track that is generated by a second CD synchronized with the computer tape part (or both parts could be imported into a sequencer and routed accordingly). This tape part provides the computer sounds that can be heard throughout the piece. Many of the samples heard are actual samples from space that NASA have obtained. They convert date from stars etc. into audio frequencies in a process known as sonification. In addition to the computer tape, live electronics are used to add slight delay and other effects to the piano part. These are operated by a second person who follows the score.

The score can be dowloaded by clicking on the images below. If you require the CD parts send an email to guybunce@hotmail.com