I had a bit of staff paper and some time Saturday afternoon, so I jotted down another little piece. I wanted to do something in the chorale-vein I’ve been mining lately, but also change it up a bit. The result is today’s piece, “Clusters.”

I imported the WAV of the finished product into Audacity, where I applied a “Medium Room” reverb filter; a “Wide Synth Pad” chorus effect (one of my favorites); and a “Vintage” master effect.

“Clusters” is a two-part selection in concert Eb major for Bb single reed instruments. The piece is arranged originally for Bb tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet, and Bb bass clarinet, but any combination of Bb instruments could work (the piece could also be played on three trumpets, or with three Bb clarinets, etc.).

“Clusters” experiments with tight tone clusters, which appear at different points in the piece. The first part, “Cluster Chorale,” is a flowing, atmospheric chorale; the second part, “Cluster Dance,” is a lively dance that places the primary motion in the bass clarinet.

Here’s the handwritten score; I had to use colored pens to help me see where each part was going:

And here’s the finished manuscript:

Here’s the cover art:

And here’s the photograph I took of some mushrooms on our lawn last week, which served as the inspiration for the piece’s artwork:

What do you think of this quick little piece? Is it a lively diversion from the day’s struggles? Or a sophomoric attempt at music-making from a hack composer?

Let me know in the comments!

Happy Tuesday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP