Month: May 2012

Happy Pentecost!  This week I did a trio on the tune “Sine Nomine.”  There are few hymn writers whose tunes never need more and Vaughn Williams is one of them.  The trio is certainly one of the more difficult forms to improvise in, but that’s what challenges are for.  Didn’t the immortal Bach himself write his Trio sonatas so his son could have complete control over all his limbs?

As mentioned before, I have decided to retitle these pages with just the simple “Improvisation.”  This weeks entry is an interesting one that requires a little explanation.  Usually, these this are straight forward: there’s a tune and I use it.  This week, I decided to use the homily as my jumping point.  Fr. Vincent gave a wonderful talk and I used specifically his idea that we are saints and sinners and represented that with two motifs: a descending half step for sinners (like the sighing motif of Bach) and an augmented 4th chord for saints.  To use the two together, one based in half steps and the other in whole, was a good challenge.  This being the Offertory, it was kept on the quiet side, but it stands pretty well.  Wish you could have head the homily!