Jim Dee's Musical Cosmos

El Dorado Chatelaine

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:09:54 +0000

(Opus 17, Composed March 2008 - present)

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about Northern California — especially the area between Sacramento and Tahoe. I’ve never been there but, from what I’ve read and seen, can’t imagine a much more beautiful area. More description later after I post this tune. (I’ve finished a first draft of it and am nearly finished notating it as of July 2009.) For many, this will be more of a listening tune (as opposed to one you’d want to invest the time to learn), as it’s written in F# and then switches to B — two keys that you don’t see much of in the ragtime world.

Download / Play Midi File (to be added soon)
Download Sheet Music (to be added soon)
View Performance Notes

The Ten Twenty-Seven

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:08:52 +0000

(Opus 16, Composed December 2007)

Dedicated to my mother, born 10/27/45. Of the three tunes posted here from my little Christmas/Birthday Suite, this is the most traditional in terms of ragtime form (with the rather unusual maintenance of a single key signature throughout — Bb). The trio is a lot easier than it may appear, as my notation software doesn’t do such a great job with grace notes, forcing me to notate these things most of the time. If you’re going to download the sheet music, I highly recommend also grabbing the midi file for reference. This tune and the two below were given to my family as Christmas gifts (nicely bound and all!). I now understand why most ragtimers charge a fee for their sheet music. Putting these things together requires some serious Kinko’s time (over and above composition time, of course). Aside from these three tunes, I’ve never published bound versions. Instead, I just make them all available here as PDFs.

The Six-Ten Swing

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:08:05 +0000

(Opus 15, Composed November 2007)

This one’s for my dad, born June 10, 1943. He’s spent quite a lot of time learning James Johnson pieces on the piano. I think it was Loveless Love, one of his favorites, that I saw once in 12/16 time. This is a good time signature for notating swing, as you don’t have to do it in 2/4 with a bunch of triplets everywhere. This lively, fatherly tune starts out in Eb, switches to a light Gershwin-esque second theme in Ab, then reprises the main theme again, only using a habanera rhythm. The trio is pure ragtime in Bb. For the finale, I switched back to Eb and got a little showy, keeping the habanera beat going for the 1st 16 bars. The repeat of the final theme recalls the opening theme in a grandiose manner. And, a big ending seemed called for. So, this one’s got a little something for everyone.

Twelve Twenty-Three

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:06:33 +0000

(Opus 14, Composed October 2007)

When my sister opened this up at Christmas (alongside my mother and father, who also got compositions — included above), she said, “Oh look, mine’s in C.” She was implying, of course, that I purposely made the tune easy to play. Well, it does have a simplistic sound, but I assure you this is no walk in the park. It’s got plenty of interesting complexity that I’ll leave it to her (and to you) to discover. I was kind of shooting for an ethereal feel in many places (such as the opening theme and the entire second section). The cover photo shown here is an actual photo from the Hubble telescope (with a keyboard superimposed.) Note: Measure 32 is just 1 beat long, on purpose.

“Open her up, Pat!”

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:05:08 +0000

(Opus 13, Composed June 2007)

In Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged, these are the words spoken by Eddie Willers to Pat Logan, the engineer selected by Dagny Taggart to operate the maiden run of her new John Galt line. It’s one of my favorite passages in the book, so I figured I’d name a rag after it. While this tune is entirely original, there are nonetheless references to other composers’ work herein. The A theme has a few chord changes that may faintly call to mind some of the modern rags of George Winston; the first eight measures of the B theme’s bass might remind one of Confrey’s Kitten on the Keys; the Trio is a subtle nod to Frank French’s Belle of Louisville, and the D theme is a direct homage to David Thomas Roberts’ Pinelands Memoir. I originally composed this for a contest. It received no awards or honorable mentions, but I’m still rather fond of the piece, and hope you like it, too.

“When she grasped it, she burst out laughing, suddenly, with the abruptness of a cry. She laughed, shaking, like a child; it sounded like sobs of deliverance. Pat Logan nodded to her with a faint smile; he had noted the guard of honor long ago. She leaned to the open window, and her arm swept in wide curves of triumph, waving to the men by the track.” Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, Part I, Chapter VIII, The John Galt Line.

Erich’s Etude

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:03:17 +0000

(Opus 12, Completed Spring 2007)

Well, what can I say about this one? It’s just a crazy thing that I like to play more than it is a real rag or anything. I’d originally set out to write a more formal piece here, but it took on a life of its own and it is what it is. A name came to mind at some point in the process, apropos as the tune ends abruptly after just three themes instead of four. (But, what would you expect from a magician?) Since I wrote this beast, I can (and often do) play it, but it’s got a few measures during which one can actually hurt oneself if played too quickly. It’s chock full of clichéic stuff, mostly drawn on the New Orleans piano tradition, yet maintains some fleeting sense of originality I guess. Or not. As such, I never really meant to write this one down, but did anyway. Surely you know who Erich is, right? Erich Weiss? Ring a bell? (Answer.)

ps The midi is rather plain sounding. Add pedal when playing!

Hellkite Rag

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:02:32 +0000

(Opus 11, Composed January 2007)

A friend of mine back in college, a poet, once remarked that she didn’t know what she liked better: the poems that just flowed forth effortlessly or the ones you really had to work for. The former is always welcome, but the latter offers perhaps a bit of a heightened sense of ownership. This one’s a pretty good mix. The main theme came to me a while back, and I’d toyed with a number of additional ones (scrapping several in the process). It’s an infernal tune, though — hence the name (taken from a fictional location in a book I’ve been reading — T. Pynchon’s “Against the Day”). Four flats, my impish friends.

The Parlour

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:58:37 +0000

(Opus 10, Composed December 2006)

This started as a quick, rather disposable little improv in Db (for the A strain) — just put my hands on the keys and it came out (though it’s a bit more bouncy in real life, as sequencing music tends to remove just a little of that lovely rubato). Anyway, I’d almost written this tune off as an odd little curiosity, but then I was out cleaning the garage and an idea for a B strain hit me. Clearly, this was evolving into a decent rag. But, no trio came readily to mind. However, after a little thought, I finally decided to build off of the 10ths in the left hand at the end of the A strain repeat, so I downshifted keys & threw in some rather kitchy (but still amusing) exotic scale references. For the D section, I was coming up empty again. However, after so many Bb notes in the trio, I decided to change keys again to Bb and reprise the A theme, though modified quite extensively. It ends with a flourish of 64ths that I probably play just as fast but not as precisely timed. All in all, a fun little jaunt.

ps The “cover” shown here features a courtesan painted by Edouard Manet.

pps The D theme is also interesting (to me) in that I purposely lost a beat near the end (see measure 100, which has just 3 8ths instead of 4). Odd, yes, but I like it this way.

The Ragtime Dream

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:57:18 +0000

(Opus 9, Composed Spring 2006)

This isn’t my best work, I’m afraid. But, it’s sort of interesting to me in that I woke up one morning with this melody (the A theme) in my head. I’m often hesitant to write things like that down, as I’m afraid I’m unconsciously plagiarizing someone else’s work. But, I really can’t recall any very similar tunes, so perhaps I was simply composing in my sleep. I added the rest of the tune later, this time seeming to channel a little of Gershwin’s spirit. In all, it’s a rather light effort, not intended as anything more than a light, short breeze across the keys. Oddly, I play this tune quite frequently. I hadn’t expected it to grow on me like it has.

The Customs Officer

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:55:48 +0000

(Opus 8, Composed January 2006)

Perhaps my most ambitious attempt to date, I set out to do two things when writing this tune. First, I wanted a depiction of the artist Henri Rousseau, also known as Le Douanier (which means “the customs officer”). The cover mock-up shown here features one of his self-portraits. Second, I specifically set out to write something in five sharps, as it’s a different mind-set than my normal places of comfort, which are Eb and Db for the most part (although I’ve also been toying a lot lately with F#). This tune is meant to be played rather quickly, as is reflected in the midi file. I think I probably slow the D section down a bit, but not too much, when I play it live. (Additional note: I may at some point slightly revise the transition between the trio and the finale.)