July 14, 2017 in Composing tips, Score

I’ve finished score for my Prelude in G Major. The Prelude is an impressionistic and chilled Intermediate Piano piece reminiscent of Satie’s Gymnopedie. To play it well, practice your arpeggios!

A sample of the first page can be seen below. The complete piece can be purchased online from SMP Press .

prelude

How did this piece begin?

How did this piece begin you may ask? The main idea for this piece started as I played around with a few melodies based on a G Major Seven chord. ( G, B, D with a F#)

Part A – The exposition

The first 20 bars contain the first theme in a variety of forms. At bar 21 the music modulates (change key) from the tonic key (G major) to the dominant and a similar theme in D major starts at bar 28.

Part B – The Development

At bar 43 the music modulates to D minor and you hear a minor version of the theme with a blues feel to the harmony.

The theme modulates to the relative F major version at bar 50. (The relative major of D minor).

We change key again at bar 58 arriving in C major or the sub-dominant version of the theme.

Part A – The Recapitulation

The music modulates back to the tonic key of G major at bar 74 repeating the whole of first G major section.

The piece ends at a short coda with a G blues scale and some jazzy sounding chords. In all, you can think of the piece as a theme and variations – simple really!

Below is a sample of the first page. You can purchase the complete piece at