Music for Opened Strings
May 7th, 2008
I never understood why the sostenuto pedal is used so little because I find it so fascinating. The first really neat use of this pedal which I encountered is in Schoenberg’s Drei Klavierstücke, op 11. In this piece, Schoenberg instructs the performer to silently depress a group of pitches, depress the sostenuto pedal, and then play loud interruptions with both hands, causing these opened strings to resonate. I decided to use this idea along with the scale matching ideas from Quintessence to create harmonies which created great resonance inside the piano. I also focused on creating melodies which could be sustained using the sostenuto pedal, allowing both hands to play an ostinato pattern without being tied up in the melody. Despite sticking fairly close to C-minor/E-flat major tonalities, the end result sounds unique to the piece and my style of composition. I could not be happier with my final piece and premiere at UWM.
Live Performance by Patrick Behringer »
My Bands and Activities
An industrial/hard rock band I founded. I play guitar and serve as the main songwriter.
{ELSE} »
My Lo-fi glitch pop side project.
Hey, Barely »
Dabbling in dark ambient.
Akin to Being »
I sub in for this bluegrass string band on spoons, snare, and suitcase bass drum. Pay the Devil »
I have several string quartet arrangements for sale on MusicNotes.com »
A techno side project since 2005, I write most of the music and perform bass, guitar, and FX. A Life Elided »
I wrote album and concert reviews, thinkpieces, and music news forThose Who Dig »
My wife and I played in Whiskey Doubles, an orchestral-folk outfit. Whiskey Doubles »
I played drums, wrote most of the songs, and acted as a manager for Effigy from 2002-2008. Effigy »