Now that school is back in session, yours portly isn’t making it out to open mic night much, so I’m doing what I do best: mining the rich veins of my old, neglected works.
This week I’d like to share “Minuet for a New Moon,” which I composed on 9 February 2022 as part of Péchés d’âge moyen, the highly unpopular collection of lo-fi solo piano pieces I released largely as part of an inside Internet joke.
“Minuet for a New Moon” is minuet in A minor, with one of the hallmarks of my recent composing: moving to an unusual second chord (in this case, a bII chord, or Bb major). There’s a great deal of chromaticism in this recording, too. The astute listener—or even the casual one—will pick up on the hard cuts I made it my phone’s voice memo app, which I used to record this super lo-fi performance (you’ll also hear my heavy breathing—d’oh!):
Here’s the piece on YouTube:
And here’s the manuscript. I had to do some digging through my old music journals to find it:
Happy Listening!
—TPP
Other Editions of Open Mic Adventures:
- “Open Mic Adventures I: Oingo Boingo’s ‘Just Another Day’“
- “Open Mic Adventures II: Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’“
- “Open Mic Adventures III: Joanie Sommers’s ‘Johnny Get Angry’“
- “Open Mic Adventures IV: KISS’s ‘I Still Love You’“
- “Open Mic Adventures V: ‘There’s a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VI: Journey’s ‘Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VII: ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VIII: Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’“
- “Open Mic Adventures IX: Journey’s ‘Faithfully’“
- “Open Mic Adventures X: ‘Time Warp’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XI: Spooktacular Supergroup Covers ‘Monster Mash’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XII: ‘Ghostly’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XIII: The Penguins’ ‘Earth Angel’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XIV: ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XV: ‘O Holy Night’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XVI: ‘Please Come Home for Christmas’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XVII: ‘L’il Divertimento in C major’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XVIII: ‘Satiean Motion’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XIX: ‘Two-Day Minuet for Left Hand’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XX: ‘Sleepy Student’s Serenade’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXI: Styx’s ‘Come Sail Away’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXII: ‘Blessed Assurance’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXIII: ‘Gabbi’s Gavotte’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXIV: ‘Softly and Tenderly’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXV: ‘Venite, exultemus Domino’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXVI: ‘Sonatina’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXVII: ‘Heavenly Sunlight’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXVIII: ‘Song of the Bigfoot’”
- “Open Mic Adventures XXIX: ‘Lavender’s Blue’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXX: ‘Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXI: ‘Carousel’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXII: Hymn Medley“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXIII: ‘Spore Song (Mushroom Dance)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXIV: ‘Chase’s Dilemma’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXV: ‘The Rings of Saturn’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXVI: ‘The Rings of Saturn’ LIVE!“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXVII: ‘Private Lessons (Goth Chick)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXVIII: ‘Quasi-Date’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXIX: ‘(I’m in the) Business of Love)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XL: ‘Parada’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLI: ‘Serenade for a Sleepy Student No. 2’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLII: ‘1001 Arabian Nights’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLIII: ‘Greek Fair’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLIV: ‘Skeleton Dance No. 1’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLV: ‘Skeleton Dance No. 1’ – BASS“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLVI: ‘Canon Event’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLVIII: ‘Skeleton Dance No. 2’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XLIX: Sloppy ‘Hipster Girl Next Door’ Medley“
- “Open Mic Adventures L: ‘Lament of the Lizardman’“
- “Open Mic Adventures LI: ‘Bigfoot Boogie’“
The Portly Politico 