Prelude No. 3 (Homage to Nancarrow) for Solo Piano by Keane Southard

Keane Southard

Prelude No. 3 (Homage to Nancarrow) For Piano

(2009) (Duration: c. 3 mins.)

Program notes: Prelude No.3 for piano was inspired by listening to the player piano studies of Conlon Nancarrow. Not only was I astonished by the dense polyphony and his rhythmic exploration, but also in his use of extremely fast chromatic glissandi. The glissando is one of my favorite musical gestures, but I have used it sparingly in my piano compositions because, frankly, they hurt! Many a time have I had bleeding under my cuticles because of practicing too many glissandi!

And that is only from white-key glissandi! Black-key glissandi hurt more, and chromatic glissandi are just not even worth trying.

However, one day I was practicing piano and put my right hand in the sleeve of my sweatshirt, and I realized this way I could do extremely fast glissandi, and that the sleeve protected my hand from being hurt while performing black-key and chromatic glissandi. Plus this produced a sound very much like Nancarrow's player piano glissandi.

I eventually found that wearing a glove that creates little friction against the keys works the best, and then I set out to write a piece exploring the possibilities of this otherwise unattainable and unexploitable sound.

Keane Southard 2009

Keane Southard/Spindrift Pages Email: keane.southard@hotmail.com Website: keanesouthard.instantencore.com

Performance instructions:

1. Unless otherwise indicated, the damper pedal should be used discreetly to allow for maximum clarity.

2. The pianist must wear a glove, that will slide on the keys with little friction, on their right hand for the entire piece. The gloved hand will only perform glissandi and clusters.

3. In general, the top two staves are reserved for the right hand, while the lowest staff is for the left hand.

4. There are three different kinds of glissandi used in this piece: white-key, black-key, and chromatic (black and white-key).

White-key glissandi are indicated by a large natural sign at approximately the midpoint of the glissando line, black-key glissandi are indicated with a large sharp sign at the same spot, and chromatic glissandi are indicated with both a natural and sharp sign. There is also a footnote on the first page of the score to clarify this as well.

5. A note with a triangle note-head indicates the highest pitch possible on the instrument.

6. Notes inside parentheses indicate that it is the approximate pitch to begin or end a glissando.

7. All clusters are indicated by a thick black line. White-key clusters are indicated by a large natural sign in front of them, and black-key clusters by a large sharp sign. In addition, all clusters, except for the final two measures, are approximate in their pitches. They should be performed in the general register indicated.

Prelude No. 3 (Homage to Nancarrow)







 *  §

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*§ = white-key glissando #= black-key glissando §# = chromatic glissando ©2009

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fff sempre per glissandi gliss.

{

r.h.

(with glove)



Keane Southard

q = 144

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    mf   dim.                     ff       dim.              

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                ff          

                                        

                                     

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                                                                     



§

            

3

43

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#

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#

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#

#    

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#

#

#    

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§

    

#

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 

        p      

  § 56   

 



#

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§ 

 §

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#

 

pp

                

50

q=72



§

 §§    §  

 §      

§

mp

 §   §

   

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 

§

 

 



§

 § §    §  



4

61







§ 

 

§

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     

66





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   

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§ §   §  

§

§

fff

§ §    § 



 

§

f

   

§

fff





  





§   §§   §  fff

fff

 

 



§

 

§

§ §   § 

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§

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§ §   § 

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



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 

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

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  § §    §   

 

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§







#    #   ##    

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

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

#    #   ##    



 §

§

ff

   

§ 

  §

 



§ 

§ 

§    §    §     § §    §§   §§   §§  § § §

 q = 144

§





   



§ 

§ §   § 



§ 

 

(h=144) 72



 

§



§ 



§ 

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§

§ §   § 

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

§ 

 



 §



§   §§    §    

 

5

 # 

78

   #       # #    #          

 § 



   §  § §    



§

 

 

 # 



    # ##  



#

     

  



rit.

§







§

   § § §    f

 # 

 #    # ##   

     

f



    





ff

      l.h.   l.h.  l.h.   l.h.  §   

ff

















 §  



q = 108

83



        § § §    



 §

 §

   

#

   ##

 #

 #



§ § § § § § § §    

              

  

rit.

         § §        §     § 

#§#§ #§ #§

ff

§§

 

  

as fast as possible

                ff                 (over r. h.) 



 



§§

 

   

A tempo



88

fff

 

§





        

§

  

ff

ff   



    







fff

  

§# 

     sfffz  