Etudes for Piano (2021)
Mapping the Music Universe produced several small etudes to illustrate the compositional potential of musical patterns explained in the ebook. The inspiration to collect them into a series came from many years of fascination with Bartók’s wonderful Mikrokosmos series of 153 piano pieces in modern styles. Some of the Mapping etudes were originally sketched for piano, others adapted from more complex textures. They range in difficulty for the pianist from the simpler 1.Pisces to the more challenging 6.Scorpius.
Though the whole set is 10 minutes in length, the pianist wishing to perform some of them is welcome to select a suite of three or four. Each etude is titled with an astronomical entity named for a mythological character.
Pisces – The Fish; 12th constellation of the Zodiac
Cygnus – The Swan; a northern constellation
Milky Way – Way of the White Cow in Irish myth; the galaxy containing our Solar System
Pleiades – Seven Daughters of sea-nymph Pleione; an open star cluster
Laniakea – Immense Heaven in Hawaiian; supercluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way
Scorpius – The Scorpion; 8th constellation of the Zodiac
Andromeda – saved from the sea monster Cetus by Perseus; a spiral nebula and nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way
Pisces – The Fish; 12th constellation of the Zodiac
Cygnus – The Swan; a northern constellation
Milky Way – Way of the White Cow in Irish myth; the galaxy containing our Solar System
MAPPING MUSIC 