Autumn Moon Dance

Autumn Moon Dance: This dance-like motive unfolds in a so-called minor-variant romanesca.

The motif for 'Autumn Moon Dance' in musical notation.

Figure 1: Motif for Autumn Moon Dance

I’ll now list building-blocks, or schemata, whatever is relevant for future improvisations. The metrically stronger steps of the opening minor romanesca, that would be the first, third and fifths steps, or i, VI and iv -harmonies, receive a fifth leap, which would function as applied dominants had they leading tones. This reminds me of Elam Rotem’s Early Music Sources Video showing how to insert material in between the framework notes, or pillars of a renaissance romanesca (Rotem, 2018). The 0:10 mark (see player below for playback) resembles a converging cadence somewhat, although the bass differs in its direction of approach. In the 0:27 mark we hear so-called commas; or cadential gestures if you will. In the 0:51 mark we hear a false relation (yay!). For some reason to my ears I don’t get converging cadence vibes as much as I did in the 0:10 mark. Might be the yet another way the bass approaches the target notes. The piece, bizarrely, ends in an out-of-the-blue plagal cadence in the 01:03 mark.

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:

References

Rotem, E. (2018, July 20). The Romanesca. Retrieved from Early Music Sources website: https://www.earlymusicsources.com/youtube/romanesca