for solo piano
As part of my compositional training at the University of Oregon, I was required to explore various formal structures within the confines of the piano. Each little piece had a handful of other parameters to them, such as requiring the use of two different scalar models or a constant centricity to name a few.
After completing the suite, I was not terribly thrilled with most of it. Sure, they fulfilled the requirements of the assignments, but there was no cohesion to the pieces, and the entire work left me feeling rather empty. Though I was not too keen on just dumping all of it, I did decide to discard roughly two thirds of the movements, leaving me with just these two short pieces. I tweaked them ever so slightly, and now they fill the purpose of short piano works with a light, carefree whimsy. Ultimately, the pieces just are and that is good enough!