Summer 1998 (Mid-Late August)

A side note: I cannot pin-down the exact date of completion for this piece titled Bagatelle which in brief meant a short piano piece. It was for a celebration for a friend’s birthday. It was one of the earliest “published” work I have disseminated. I do have works composed on an even earlier date, but they are mostly musical fragments or early failed attempts of composition: It was usually first enthusiastically written, with much fervor, I might add. Then only by a later moment realizing the work represents a ghostly image of my past aural experience, either I have remembered the tune too fondly to accept its actual authorship, or instead not enough to recall the tune’s original composer. In any case they are now carefully stored in my “vault” of manuscripts which comprised of my written incomplete fragments, prior to the use of various computer music composition software.

Back to the music: notwithstanding the audible naiveté and “freshness” of my youth (I must admit how I could never listen to this piece without a giggle, how old was I again? ha-ha.) , There are actually many points of interest worth analysis: about it’s structural form, harmony and pacing.

Bagatelle is in roughly Rounded Binary form, which is meant “Something—Something different—Something again”. One must ask the difference between Rounded Binary and Ternary form, which is not what Bagatelle is because the middle section is rather too short to be called an independent structure. Instead more akin to a bridge the middle section links to the original main theme combined with the ending.

I don’t believe I understood the meaning and usage of such form back in 1998, however. Its perhaps more about being directed by some kind of aural-sensual aesthetics. This is also why the piece is written in the key of F-sharp Major. Yep, a whopping 6 sharps, again while I still currently having trouble playing C Major without any errors, the decision has to be made by aural, perhaps ergonomic sensitivity too: Similar to many piano piece it looks deceptively difficult. Its just those black keys, right? And mostly pentatonic…

Okay, perhaps not that simple, after all. What is it, really? Perhaps a listen would clarify the motive of writing this section: Its actually a modal (Dorian mode, to be exact) ascending gesture. I wouldn’t be paying too much attention to those double sharps or which note is supposed to be natural-ed. Its pretty much appregios in this order, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E, F# and G.