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Minimalist Piano Sonata No. 1 in F: III. Liftoff

from Sonatas, Sonatinas, and Suites for Piano, Vol. IV by Nathan Fivecoate

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Even though I denote this as my first Minimalist Piano Sonata, this isn't actually my first attempt. In 2022, after a year away from school, I went back to school. At that time, I knew it meant cutting all the way back on music-writing. I improvised an attempt at combining minimalism with Sonata form, that I liked so much I created a chord sheet in Microsoft Excel (with some changes from the recording to fit the Sonata structure better). But I knew that it would be my last attempt at any music-making for the foreseeable future. Still, it was a recording and a sketch that opened my eyes to what other music possibilities were out there that haven't been tried yet. However, I have yet to complete music sketches made for this improvised and modified movement, let alone for subsequent movements (I have about 2 pages of what could be a third movement) that I cannot call it No. 1 in this series.

So the Minimalist Piano Sonata in F gets the No. 1 denotation because it's the first to be complete. And the sketches for this all came together in about two months' time. Praise God! I will say, taking a minimalist approach helps save on ideas, but it's also a good stretch as a composer trying to find something new that hasn't been done before. I've listened to some Philip Glass since completing these sketches and I've come to admire the simplicity, elegance, and popularity of his work. He didn't use anything close to Sonata form, at least in the works I've sampled.

My goodness. I'm not as much of a fan of Sonata rondo form as I am of simply Sonata form, but I appear to be on a mission to try to make Sonata rondo form work. Also, I appear to stubbornly cling onto this format where I take 8 bars of music, divide it into two (so, 4 bars and 4 bars), and then take each 4-bar section and follow this pattern: 1st 4 bars 1x, 2nd 4 bars 1x; 1st 4 bars 2x, 2nd 4 bars 2x; 1st 4 bars 3x, 2nd 4 bars 3x; 1st 4 bars 4x, 2nd 4 bars 4x. This is one "section." Now imagine this structure for every section (except for intros and interludes): Intro, A, B, Interlude, 1/2 A and 1/2 A' (minor), C, Retransition, A, B', and then Coda. That's how this piece goes from being 7-8 minutes long (the average of most of my sonata movements) to 18 minutes long!

At the end I just go for broke with the range (I've hinted at this in other compositions). Someday I'm hoping this will be played live on a Stuart and Sons piano.

This track was created and mixed in GarageBand, with a simple piano patch and minimal effects.

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from Sonatas, Sonatinas, and Suites for Piano, Vol. IV, released April 21, 2024

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Nathan Fivecoate Chicago, Illinois

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