My First Nocturne: Behind the Scenes

 

**Nocturne Sheet Music**

This year has been a rich one for me on my journey as a budding composer of piano music. I wrote many smaller works at the beginning of the year and finished a sonata in the summer. In the fall my free time has been occupied by writing in another genre, the nocturne. First pioneered by John Field and further popularized by Chopin, the nocturne is a piece for solo piano meant to be played at night. Like much of Chopin’s music it features a steady left hand with a right hand that often moves in an improvisatory way. The right hand is meant to mimic the silky smooth melody of a vocal work such as an aria. Nocturnes are normally peaceful but can become tempestuous and virtuosic at times such as in parts of Chopin’s Nocturne in C Minor op. 48 no. 1.

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Springtime Sounds

Today students from the studio congregated to share some of the pieces they’ve been learning this spring. With summer around the corner it was an opportunity to bask in the warm glow of beautiful piano music. From Yankee Doodle to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the audience was serenaded by music from many time periods and places.

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