There’s something about these winter doldrums that always get my creative juices flowing, and I’ve embarked upon a new composing project, which I wrote about briefly last week. Piano miniatures—and mine are mini-miniatures—are a fun way to attempt to express a musical idea in a very brief format, much like “flash fiction” or very short stories.
Last year I penned Péchés d’âge moyen and a short sequel, then my composing pen laid fallow for much of the rest of the year. I’ve sketched out a few short pieces that will eventually (probably, maybe) make it into Pdam III, but nothing with the drive and focus of the original and its shorter follow-up.
Then I hit upon the idea of taking the small red tardy slips that students bring to class and composing short pieces on that very small physical medium. I now have a small stack, and it makes for a fun way of composing first drafts.
With that mini-project in the works—it’s perfect because I can take five minutes even on a busy day to jot down a few bars of music—I thought it might be fun to look back to the origins of what would become Péchés d’âge moyen. As my red tardy slips project suggests, there are frequently “arbitrary and absurd sources for inspiration.”
Well, at least for yours portly.
With that, here is 8 February 2022’s ” Composing Humorous Miniatures“:
The Portly Politico 