Subtraction

In the Drop-in Wednesday morning class series, I realized that I had been doing a mathematics run. The first week was about addition. The next was about division. So last week, I decided to try subtraction. (Can you guess what is coming this week?)

We worked with a series of 8 beats that gradually whittled itself away to 1. There is not a lot of music that fits this pattern, so in lieu of a recording I am offering one of my own compositions for you to play with. I’ll leave it to you to explore ways to use it for movement. If you are stuck for ideas, go through the previous posts. Many of the techniques and suggestions will work well here.

This piece is meant to be a springboard for improvisation, kind of like a jazz ‘head’. It’s also something of a Dalcroze two-fer: there is a harmonic association (two things put together) tucked in. Hint: it has to do with the intervals. Try it on the piano!