"Blues Etude #1"

A new week ... and this is the second full week of "28 in Twenty-Eight!"

This has been a lot of fun and just what I needed to re-light my creative fires.

Years ago I had decided that I was basically a miniaturist as a composer. Small form pieces - pack a lot into one minute. Some of my earliest 'mature' sets of pieces were essentially a lot of miniatures strung together or separated into movements. "Piano Art" comes first to mind - a nice set of fifteen miniatures that try to musically depict great 20th century paintings in music. (To date that set of pieces and recordings of them have been used around the world from everything from background music in an Off-Broadway play to performances at museums around the world.)

Since then, long-form commissions, the yen to write operas (more on that this week!) and commissions for concerti ("Taliban Dances," "Spirituals for Violin &Orchestra," "'Cello Concerto" etc.) have forced me to become a long-form composer.

In getting ready to launch into "28 in Twenty-Eight" I knew that, basically, I would have to return to my roots as a miniaturist.

What I didn't know was how much I missed it!

Today's offering is a musically hybrid piece - and you'll have no need of electricity or gas to run it!

"Blues Etude #1" is a fun ditty that combines the wonderful open patternistic appeal of a blues pattern (essentially I - IV - V - I) and the technical demands and fireworks of Chopin "Etude."

This makes it really fun ... and hard to play. Right up my alley!

I hope that you enjoy the "Blues Etude #1." As the title implies, I'm rather hopeful that it will become the first piece in a set to come.

Again, many thanks to all who lurk by and listen. (Lurkeners?) I'm pretty humbled by the interest and most appreciative.

Robert Ian Winstin
www.robertianwinstin.com
www.numusicdirect.com

robert@robertianwinstin.com

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Get the sheet music for this piece at www.numusicdirect.com/28intwentyeight.html

Tomorrow? A bit of opera ...