Cultus, for piano- sheet music with live performance

Sheet Music- http://imslp.org/wiki/Special:IMSLPDisclaimerAccept/157336 Join my mailing list and check out my site here- http://www.NathanShirley.org
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Cultus was composed in 2006 as a homage to the 20th century master Dmitri Shostakovich. It makes use of his signature motif- D, E-flat, C, B, which is derived from the letters in his name.* This idea was taken from the famous BACH motif which is based on the same letters-to-notes concept. Shostakovich used these signature notes very prominently in much of his music, and they also happens to make up part of the octotonic scale, used by several different cultures including music of Persia. Cultus was written to evoke the spirit of Shostakovich's music. The word is Latin for 'struggle', or 'toiling over something in order to refine'. Shostakovich's career (like so many Soviet composers and other artists) was spend toiling over his compositions. Working under unpredictable and oppressive circumstances, he had the impossible task of writing music which was (barely) acceptable to the authorities (Stalin), yet at the same time did not sacrifice his own artistic ideals. Like much Soviet era art, there is much dark sarcasm in his music. Cultus reflects this sarcasm. In the current work the D, E-flat, C, B motif is first introduced very subtly, slowly becoming refined until there is no mistaking it.

*This is taken from an alternate spelling- Dmitri Schostakowitsch. In the German musical system S = E-flat, and H = B.

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[nathanshirley]

@CheekyVimto08 Thanks for the feedback, and good luck with your own music.

[CheekyVimto08]

Hey man, love the notation at the top. And I don't mind the playback line. It's nice to see what exactly you're doing.

[nathanshirley]

@MicroTones Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Yes I am the composer and performer.

Your idea was actually my first idea, but I thought the playback line might be more engaging for people who don't read music (it was not easy getting that playback line synced to the music!). As it is, there are a few limitations with the program I used, so it's still not exactly as I'd like.

Thanks again!

[MicroTones]

Amazing! Please post more!

My only comment is that, since people trying to follow the notation will at least have some idea on how to read music, the scrolling line might be unnecessary as long as each new line of music starts with the beginning of a measure (not in the middle of one). This could be, of course, just a matter of taste and maybe you like how the scrolling line looks. :)

Are you the composer?

[nathanshirley]

This is an experimental video I just made where I have synced the playback of sheetmusic to a filmed performance. Comments would be much appreciated as I fine tune this system. If it is popular I could potentially do this for my entire solo piano CD.