11 short classical piano pieces

8/12/2019 11 short classical piano pieces

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11 Short Piano Pieces

1. Waltz2. McGillicuddys Rant

3. Invention: Canon at the Octave; Syncopated Rhythm

4. Invention: Canon at the Ninth

5. C-E-G Prelude

6. Sues Song

7. Study: Chromatic Noodling

8. Dream: Hearing Footsteps

9. Broken Glass

10. Julias Prelude11. Waltz (reprise)

Clark Winslow Ross


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11 Short Piano Pieces(1980-98) Clark Winslow Ross

Short Piano Pieces (1980-98) is a collection of piano compositions written over a fairlylong period of time. Most are for beginning-to-intermediate pianists, but the last four are moredemanding. The pieces that have very little in common, save their brevity. They can be played

independently of one another, or in any combination of the performers choice.Waltzwas written for the 1994 Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto as a theme on which

young composition students were to write variations, and McGillicuddys Rantwas written in 1980, the

year I started studying composition. This also exists in a version for classical guitar with numerousvariations. I played it for my guitar teacher many years ago, before I had come up with a name for it, and,for reasons I have never been able to fathom, he suggested the name McGillicuddys Rant. I felt the

pentatonic tune had a vaguely Scottish, folk-like quality, and although it bears little resemblance to aRant, I did not know that at the time, so the name stuck. The two inventions were commissioned by

Frederick Harris Publishingfor possible use in theRoyal Conservatory of Musicgraded piano albums,

aimed at earlier grades, and the C-E-G Prelude was written much later (1998), also as a relatively easy

student piece. I wroteSues Song for my former sister-in-law, Susan Griffin, in 1986 as her birthday gift.The next three pieces become increasingly chromatic and challenging. Chromatic Noodling was

conceived as a study, and is a fun, rather nutty piece. Dream, is an impressionistic composition written

for my friend and former colleague Liana Lam (who came up with the idea of making a collection of myshort, but unrelated, piano pieces, and performed them), while Broken Glass is short but very

challenging. It was written for Barbara Pritchard, also a close friend, who specializes in the performanceof insanely-difficult modern works, and she commissioned it through the Canada Council in 1991.

Julias Preludewas named for my wonderful daughter, and was written in the style of Schumann just for

the heck of it, after a harmony class one day in which we analyzed Bach's Prelude to the Bb Fugue from

the Well-Tempered Clavier(book 1). Yes, there is a connection!

Clark Winslow Ross's compositions have been performed in England, Ireland, the United States, andacross Canada by some of Canada's finest musicians, ensembles, and orchestras. He was Composer-in-Residence atIreland's Waterford New Music Weekin 2003, and has won Young Composer's Awardsin national competitions bythe Winnipeg Symphony Orchestraand theHamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also received over 20commission grants from various funding agencies, including the Canada Council, the CBC, and the Newfoundlandand Labrador Arts Council. Clark is the founder and Artistic Director of the Newfound Music Festival, held everyFebruary in St. John's, and was a founding member and later President of Continuum, the Toronto-based new-musicgroup. He serves on the national executive of both the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian MusicCentre.

Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Clark was raised there and in Caracas (Venezuela), Lima (Peru), Lennoxville(Quebec), New York City, Fort Lee (New Jersey), Brussels (Belgium), and Toronto, where he attended university.Upon receiving a Mus.Doc. (composition) degree from the University of Toronto in 1992, he began working at

Memorial University's School of Music, where he is currently an Associate Professor, teaching composition,orchestration, theory, electronic music, and classical guitar. He was awarded Memorial University's President'sAward for Outstanding Research(1999) in recognition of his extensive compositional activities. He is married toDr. Jennifer Porter (professor of Religious Studies, Memorial University), and has three children (Alexander, (b.2004), Andrew (b. 2001), and Julia (b. 1990). His interests outside of family and music include baseball, cats,cooking, ethnic food, reading, writing short stories, and invigorating jumping dances.

Other works for piano and other instruments can be heard and downloaded at: www.clarkross.ca

Contact Clark Ross via E-mail at: [email protected], or through his website


3/20

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1. WaltzClark Winslow Ross

1993 by Clark Winslow Ross

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4/20

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5/20

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6/20

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7/20

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8/20

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9/20

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10/20

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11/20

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12/20

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14/20

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15/20

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Commissioned by Barbara Pritchardthrough a grant by The Canada Council

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16/20

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17/20

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20/20

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11 short classical piano pieces

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