Sunday, February 1, 2009

Perpetual Canon

Welcome to the one-month anniversary post for this blog.

I'm still keeping up the pace of one canon per day.

Today, I wrote a canon on the octatonic scale (alternating whole and half steps). The inherent symmetry of this scale is felicitous for canon writing -- this is something I will certainly explore again.

I stuck to traditional consonance and dissonance usage but the chord progression is certainly not "common practice."

The canon ends a half step higher than it begins. At this point the players should play it again a half step higher, proceeding in the same way at the end of each repeat. Thus, if the ranges of the instruments would allow, the canon could go on to infinity.

That would make his the longest piece I have written so far.

(click on image to enlarge)

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