Wherever The Wind Takes Me

Wherever The Wind Takes Me: arpeggiation of a single motive, resulting in a deceptively simple prelude.

The motif for 'Wherever the Wind Takes Me' in musical notation.

Figure 1: Motif for Wherever The Wind Takes Me

I came up with this piece after getting fed up with the nigh impossible choral-style anti-guitarisms of Angels Carried me Away in this same album. To those familiar with early music improvisation concepts, here I list the scale-degree schemata (or partimento concepts) that I think might be useful for future improvisations. In the 0:14 mark (see player below for playback) begins a “moti del basso” of a 2-up-3-down sequence, which ends at 0:23 mark. Moti del basso is a partimento term, literally “movement of the bass”, basically sequences. The modal addition that gives the harmony a dorian sound steals the show: I wouldn’t call it a conventional 2-up-3-down sequence; or perhaps it speaks of the chameleon nature of the bass movement. The 0:28 mark begins a large-scale fonte, where each step lasts for four bass steps. The fonte ends on the 0:41 mark. Although I wouldn’t read this as a proper Fonte Prinner, the harmonies still cycle through a descending-fifths sequence. The 0:41 mark begins a romanesca with the falling bassline, but continues practically through the entire scale. In the 1:00 mark occurs a converging cadence.

For playback (& if you like this album, consider buying it in BandCamp to support my art):

Here’s the recording session video of the piece: