Impromptu
On F Gb and A

Impromptu was written as my first exercise for my Masters degree in composition. We had studied Ligeti's Musica Ricercata which consists of 11 small piano pieces - the first only using one note, the second two, and so on. The task was to create a short piece using only three notes.

Initially I had chosen three other notes but found that they did not spark anything. On the 4/10/06 I settled on F, Gb, and A and improvised for a few minutes at my Clavinova. When I improvise I tend to make a midi recording just in case anything good comes out. In this case I was very glad that I did as the piece was constructed there and then. The original improvisation can be listened to as a midi file by clicking here. This might be useful as a comparison with the final piece. Please remember that the above file is an improvisation so you will hear pauses and the working out of ideas.

I knew that I had all the ideas for a piece in my recorded improvisation and so on the 5th and 6th of October I imported the midi file into Sibelius and carefully notated the whole file (including mistakes and hesitations!). The final process was carried out on the 8th when I edited the music taking out all the bits that didn't work. I also examined the structure and created the final version of the score using the improvised recording as a starting point.

You can view the score on my Sibelius website by clicking here. If you wish to purchase the score, please email me for a price list. Upon receipt of the fee, a PDF of the score will be emailed to the purchaser.