Music For My Grandchildren

My grandchildren’s birthdays are scattered over this time of the year, with three of them being born in February (apparently June is a popular time to conceive children), one born in March, and the other born in May.In November of 2017, I decided to compose some music for them as a Christmas present. Unlike what I have done prior to this, I dedicate all the songs to all my grandchildren but one, the sixth song. The sixth song is dedicated to the grandchild I never knew, who died as a result of a miscarriage.

Psalm Offering 1:  Simple Dance

My grandson, Owen, approached me in 2016 about giving him piano lessons. I was both surprised and honored at his request. Shortly after Owen started lessons, I asked his brother, Aidan, whether he wanted piano lessons and he answered yes. As their skills at the piano increased, I began to think of composing some easy melodies for them to play. This is the first and the most rudimentary of the 6 piano compositions. For those of us who remember beginning band, this would be the “Hot Cross Buns” piece of the 6. This both Owen and Aidan can play with ease. It is in simple 3 part A-B-A form.

Offering 2: Rondeau

This is a little more complicated, but still fairly simple to play. The boys by this time have gotten comfortable playing major scales, so the melody includes up and down scale passages. The song uses the Alberti Bass in the left hand accompaniment. The Alberti Bass is a left hand accompaniment pattern used frequently by the Classical period composers, e.g. Mozart and Haydn, is very repetitive and played with ease. The normal three notes of a chord (technically a “triad”) are not played as a blocked chord, but as a broken chord. There is a see saw motion in the wrist where the bottom note of the chord is played alternately with the upper two notes of the chord. The song is written in Rondo form: melody 1, melody 2, melody 1, melody 3, melody 1.

Psalm Offering 3: Celtic Dance

This is where the Psalm Offerings begin to be more challenging to play. The first challenge is the changing meter from 6/8 meter to 3/4 meter, back to 6/8 meter. The second challenge is the subdivision of beats in the 6/8 meter. The song begins in a fast 6/8 time with measures alternating between a measure of 6/8 with the 1^st and 4^th beats accented, followed by a measure with the 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th beats accented, e.g. 123456/123456 This segues into a middle section of slower 3/4 time. Grace notes are introduced in the melody of this middle section. A grace note is a very quick note that adds decoration or an embellishment to the melody. It almost sounds like “pah-DUM” with the grace note on the “pah”. The middle section sounds a wee bit Scottish, the left hand playing a kind of drone that one might hear in bagpipe music. Melody 1 returns in the faster 6/8 time.

Psalm Offering 4:  Nocturne

This song is in 5/4 time. Of all the 6 songs, this is the most challenging in terms of piano technique and rhythm. It is definitely way beyond the playing skills of my grandsons (At a certain point, grandpa found it difficult to keep his music at the playing levels of his grandsons.) It is meant to be a Nocturne. Simply, a nocturne is “night” music,  meant to evoke peace and tranquility in the listener.

There is a harmonic ostinato pattern (a repeated pattern of rhythm and harmony) in the left hand. The right hand plays variations of the melody above that ostinato pattern. It is written in Rondo form, melody 1, melody 2, melody 1, melody 3, melody 1, Coda (ending).

Psalm Offering 5: Mazurka in 5/4 time.

This is a Mazurka (a Polish dance). Frederick Chopin was the master composer of Mazurkas. Unlike most Mazurkas written in 3/4 meter, three beats to a measure with the quarter note getting one beat. This is composed in 5/4 meter, five beats to a measure with the quarter note getting one beat. The uneven meter of 5/4 time is a hard meter in which to dance. It would be akin to dancing with an extra leg. All that being said, this piano piece retains the vigorous exuberance of more classical Mazurkas.

Psalm Offering 6:  Lullaby for a Still Born Baby

Unlike the previous 5 Psalm Offerings of this Opus, this is specifically dedicated to “Baby Wagner”. Between the births of Aidan and Ollie, my daughter-in-law, Oliva, was pregnant with another child. Sadly, that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. This Psalm Offering is dedicated to that beautiful baby I never got the opportunity to know. I found myself overwhelmed emotionally as I composed this Psalm Offering. I believe I finally allowed myself to grieve the death of this lovely unborn child I never got to know. I like to think of this song as a lullaby to my unborn grandchild. When Ruthie first heard it, she found it emotionally moving. She said it was so beautiful, yet, it was also sad. I must confess that when I finished the composition of this piece, I wept. The music is composed in 3/4 meter. Similar to the 4^th Psalm Offering there is a recurring  harmonic and rhythmic ostinato pattern in the left hand throughout the entire piece. It is composed in Rondo form: melody 1, melody2, melody 1, melody3, melody1, Coda.

Of course, there are not enough pages to display ALL the pictures of our grandchildren. While pictures have a way of freezing an images in time, alas, grandchildren continue to grow and mature. Alyssa and Owen are now 16 years old and will be juniors in high school. Aidan is 13 years old and will begin his freshman year in high school. Sydney is 13 years old and will be in 8^th grade. And, Ollie, is 8 years old and will begin 3^rd grade this year.