“Ground”

posted in: Blog 8

Title/Theme: “Ground”; Key/Structure: C Minor

Comment about this piece:  The melody and harmony of this piece are directly taken from a piece often attributed to Henry Purcell, although there is some indication it was written by his contemporary William Croft. A “ground” in its technical sense is a repeated theme – often in the bass (called “ostinato”) – but can also be an entire theme. This piece originally dates to the 1600’s and would have been performed on harpsichord at a faster tempo and with substantial ornamentation. I find the melody uniquely contemplative – almost hypnotic. Perhaps appropriate as we think back on the past year and what the future holds. Always repeating. Never quite the same. I hope you enjoy this solo piano version of “Ground”.

(Equipment/Setup: Recorded at Piano Haven in Sedona, AZ).

GG Piano Meditations: Ground

Simply unzip the folder, then drag and drop the files into iTunes or wherever you store music files (the file may auto-play on some systems).

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MOBILE USERS

If you are accessing via a mobile device just use the download app of your choice to save the track to your phone or tablet.

Or if you prefer, you can stream the track here:

STREAM LINK:  GG_Piano_Meditations_Ground

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Relax. Be inspired. Enjoy. & feel free to share…

Note: To honor my craft and spend more time/energy creating music, I rarely check social media or email – the blog is the best place to communicate with me. Please share your comments and feedback below the post – I enjoy hearing from you!

8 Responses

  1. Janine De Lorenzo
    | Reply

    What a simply beautiful piece Gary!

    I love the calmness of it.

    Thank you for sharing this.

    Janine 🙂

    • pianoxcape
      | Reply

      thank you Janine!

      – Gary

  2. Alice Peterson
    | Reply

    Hi Gary, It was great to see you in October at the Portland event 🙂
    I’m looking for your pieces for a couple of adults who are more comfortable with music on the easier side of intermediate.
    “Ground” sounds just about right. Is it available as sheet music? What else would you recommend?
    Thanks,
    Alice Peterson

    • pianoxcape
      | Reply

      Hi Alice – great to hear from you! I actually have a piece of music where I created an “easy” version of the sheet music. It’s called “trilogy”. It was a three-themed composition I had recorded on my first album – and I had a lot of students ask if I could create something “simple” for sheet music. After that, there are several others which could be good for adult students. On my sheet music page (https://nakedpiano.com/pianosheetmusic/), you can click on the top of the columns to sort based on “difficulty” or “key”, or several other categories. Feel free to call or email me if I can help… Gary

      • Alice Peterson
        | Reply

        Thank you, Gary, I’ll check it out!

  3. Alice Peterson
    | Reply

    Gary, As I peruse your music, I realize that what I am actually looking for is music more accessible for my students with small hands–those with just an octave reach. (I sympathize with them as I have just an octave and find four note/full octave chords challenging, depending on the context.) My guess is that you have at least a stretch of a 10th; would I be right? Could you suggest some of your pieces that would be more accessible to small-handed people? Have you ever considered composing a set of pieces that would address this need?

    • pianoxcape
      | Reply

      Hi Alice – this is a great idea – and you are correct (I can play 10ths quite easily even though I don’t have “large” hands). I had never thought of writing some compositions for students with smaller hands and smaller reach. If you could suggest some key signatures which may be more suitable for these students, I’d be happy to try and write something and create sheet music. We can start with one piece, and see how it goes. How does that sound?
      – G

  4. Alice Peterson
    | Reply

    First choice–key of G–to draw in the timid. Second choice–B minor–a beautiful and underused key. Beyond that, whatever you think. I do find that adult “refreshers” tend to come into my studio with key signature phobia–so sticking with few #s/bs initially would make sense. Happy to test drive in my studio, if you want to try out ideas before “publishing”.. Maybe this is an untapped niche market.

    Root–up a 5th–up a 6th– is a common pattern in your music and other music in a similar genre, which is insecure for students with small hands. Pivoting on the fifth gets the student where they need to go, but the stretch of a 6th between finger 2 and thumb may cause physical tension–or psychological tension because of fear of not getting to the note, Both types of tension inhibit fluency. Root-5th-octave is more comfortable, if not as interesting.

    Thanks for considering this!

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