Some solo piano music has part-writing that seems to correspond directly to music for string quartet. In such keyboard music, there are a constant number of "voices" tracing coherent individual lines. Beethoven: Opus 110 These voice-parts have integrity. We can follow tenor or bass, alto or soprano (viola or cello, second violin or first violin). This is a modern practice in keyboard music, I believe. The earliest keyboard pieces -- … [Read more...]
Piano Country
Keyboard music has always been linked with transcribing: making sung, or strummed pieces (or gestures), into something fingers can play on keys. The earliest extant keyboard pieces are transcriptions (more properly "intabulations," because they are written using the little diagrams called tablature): Robertsbridge Codex, circa 1350 One of my former students is making solo piano versions of Detroit techno. I've made piano transcriptions of … [Read more...]