Info on composing and creating the score: This set of 21 short piano pieces was composed in a matter of days, in early July. The (mechanical then) recordings were taken by artist Piero Pierini, who also got the drafts of the scores and he created 21 illustrations corresponding to each piece. I must admit that he did a fabulous job, considering that the titles were somewhat weird to begin with... A dear friend and wonderful piano teacher added fingering (since I was unable to do so, not only due to extremely heavy workload, but also because of my belief that I would do a poor job putting MY fingerings (with my big hands and all) on MY works).

Technical info: These short works all range from very easy and very short (Quicky is only 10 secs and 8 bars long) to intermediate difficulty and medium length with a few being a bit more difficult than others. Each one offers a glimpse to a different harmonic idea and musicality, but the form and rhythmic material is always clear.

Following is a recording made by me of 3/21 of the pieces; VI, VII, VIII titled Ditsotred romance, The pride of the moron and Ooooooobsessions bbbbbbbsessions sessions. The recording was created with the use of computer samples, but no editing took place after the live recording of the performance of these works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeTFz-6G-SY

The Editions Musica Ferrum page has two more pages as previews of the score. You can also buy the score from that page, by clicking to 'add to cart' and then proceeding to the checkout, etc...

Regards,

Nikolas Sideris

PS. The initial image is taken from Cirque du Rien in the score.

I saw these the other day, they look really cool and I've already ordered my copy!

Very fine, Nikolas.

Potentially this would fit in with exactly the kind of ear training I have been working on, moving from the most dissonant intervals to the most consonant ones.

The second one seems especially practical for students who are not too advanced.

Cool illustrations...

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Nicholas, this quote came to mind as I looked over the links you shared. Yours is a unique book that doesn't look anything like the type of music books I see in local stores. I like that you have paired an intriguing illustration with each piece.

Hi Nikolas,

Will Ed. Musicum Ferrum have a display at Musikmesse this year? If you catch my drift.

John

Hey all,

I'll start from bottom to top.

John: The EMF will not have a display this year, but perhaps next yeat (if all goes well). We do have hopes to exhibit in other shows as well (WOMEX comes in mind right now...). Now... me getting to frankfurt is much more probable though. But as I've told you, I've still got plenty of time to book the flying tickets and all that. Promise to keep you updated though.

Ann:

This set came as a complete surpise for me. A student was complaining with me putting some Beyer in front, so I gave her a short work of 8 bars (called 'quicky' in the book). She loved it and I thought that I could perhaps carry on like that. On 3 days I had done 20/21 of the short works...

Then came the titles. Initially I was looking for a story teller to add a story, but that came too difficult to come, thus I turned into looking for an illustrator and adding my own completely bizare titles! The results can be seen in the book!

Gary: Thanks. There are more, easier works than the ones in youtube (the website has a preview of the first one called 'Chinese jungle' which you can check out. VERY easy to play). Ear training. 'Pride of the moron' is one of my favorites from the set, and it's actually rather 12-tone-ish... The main melody does contain all 12 pitches, so even with the right hand playing and very peristent patterns, my students had some trouble learning that (though they did love it).

Kreisler: Thank you, and thanks for ordering. You are the first US customer btw! I'm looking forward in hearing your impressions!

______________________

Everyone.

Something important that came to my attention:

1. The prices in $ are approximate 16$ for the book and 5$ for shipping fees (more or less anyhow).
2. Our website IS secure. You can check that in the checkout and cart pages the address changes to http[s] (not the normal http, and in Chrome it should be green, which means that all is ok). The whole website holds an SSL certificate which encrypts all information to 256-bit code... Very difficult to crack!
3. That said, keep in mind that in our website you do not give credit card details, but just your name and address. The payment takes place in paypal.com which is as secure as it gets!

I'm hoping that this will calm any worries you may have, but if not I'm here to reply to any questions...

Nikolas, I'm cash-strapped right now but I will definitely order when I can! I love new music and promoting living composers.

Best of luck with this collection, Nikolas - looks like like it should be a lot of fun, and the presentation is enviable, to say the least

I hope do Ben! When I decided to hit the publisher I had very specific ideas about the works I wanted to promote/publish and the way to present them! I find notating to be an art and as such scores are ... art items on their own! With that in mind I wanted this score to be beautiful in its own way and I found Piero who stood up to the challenge and did a brilliant work!

very very cool.. I'll order one. (I'm leaving for vacay but will do so when i return.. I also liked Perniciosus

I just ordered a copy. It looks interesting. I'm always on the lookout for new pieces for my students. The problem of boredom and apathy is constant in my experience. Thanks for your contribution to the literature!

apple*: Thank you for your post and for enjoying this set!

Tavner: Thanks. I agree (not on the 'looks interesting' part. That would be weird on my behalf! :D) that boredom and apathy are two problems that could be solved with new repertoire!

I was hoping that I would be able to produce another youtube video with 3 more pieces from the set, but illness has kept me inside sadly! Hope to be able and pull myself together the next week!

i hope you bump this again in a couple weeks.. i am worried about shipping while we are gone. i love love the illustrations and novelty of the music i was able to listen to.

Hope you feel better!

A bump to showcase three more pieces from the set. Same situation as before (me playing, samples but not edited (after all they are easy pieces) and illustrations by Piero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tMBOVFIMx8

I hope to make more videos with more of these once I find some time...

I enjoyed the youtube previews and I love the presentation -- what great illustrations! I'm ordering a copy now.

I'm glad you bumped this thread or I probably would have missed it. Maybe you should also post it in the Adult Beginners' Forum; I think people there might be interested in something like this.

Thanks...

I'm not too sure on how much I can stretch the 'rules' of the forums. I know that cross posting is not exactly looking nice on the mods, but perhaps they won't mind?

Kreisler? Someone else?

Nikolas, considering the many useful and helpful posts you've made over the past 5 years, I doubt folks would be upset learning about your new music.

I would think it would be OK (but I'm new here...). I was looking around last week for some intermediate level arrangements of modern music, so I'm really happy to have found this. I think there are people who don't really venture out of ABF too much but might also like your work.

I'm only involved with the Pianists' Corner, but personally, I don't see a problem with it.

I listened to a few of the pieces, and just ordered a copy!

Nikolas, your thread that was on the ABF has, rather mysteriously, vanished.

I had left a post on it; however, that particular post is not in my "posts" list anymore (it is as if it had never even existed). It is a shame they took the thread down, your set of pieces seems well suited to Adult beginners, which is not something that can be said of a lot of contemporary music.

Hi Nikolas,
9 March 2012

Having just recorded my playing of the first 8 measures of your Perniciosus ... it made my dog howl!! ... nothing but discords to break sensitive eardrums ... (but grateful for the “p” dynamics).

You seem to have gone out of your way to jangle a single-note romp of steadily increasing Manhattan outlines (mostly below Middle C) ... ouch!

But why?

PS ... Rubato is not an indication of tempo ... merely a licence to spread some notes. Also ... there is a keyboard tradition to include a rhythmic input, upon which to
float a melodic theme ... which can be enhanced by use of counterpoint.

Perniciosus is devoid of a regular beat and/or counterpoint.

btb,

I think you mixed up the threads, since this thread is NOT about Perniciosus, but since you posted I might as well reply...

Thanks for taking the time to have a look at (part of?) the score. You took a bite of the first 8 bars, which are... monophonic! So I would hardly think there is too much discord going on. I mean discord has the idea of 'dissonance' inside and if you're looking at a monophonic stream of notes it's quite difficult to pin down 'dissonance', right?

Ouch says you. I know plenty of people who enjoy this particular style of music and a lot who actually enjoy this particular work! And again you seem to be talking for the first 8 bars of a work which has no less than 239 bars! So it's about... 3% mathematically speaking.

Are you honestly asking that because you're interested to learn the opinion of the composer, or you're trying to devalue a work of music, simply because you don't like it? If it's the latter I won't be bothered with replying. If you are sincerely interested in knowing why I would be most willing to reply (perhaps in another thread?

An indication to spread some notes?!?!? Rhythmically? Off tempo? Either way you are free to disregard the 'tempo molto rubato' in the score as an indication of tempo and use it as a license to spread some notes. There's also a quartet = 52 up there I think...

You have not mentioned if you heard the whole work in youtube (where you can preview the whole score), or if you bought the score, but I can promise you that there's plenty of counterpoint and melodies going on in the 11 minutes of this piano music.

My turn now:

Why pollute this thread, which is about a different work, with this? I mean, really, I'm here and ready to answer to any questions, but this seems off topic last I looked at its definition.

Okay, that's just rude. You owe Nikolas an apology.

My dog howls at pieces by Christopher Norton and Robert Schumann, and Stephen Heller. Each morning he's howling as my son plays Norton repertoire.

My dog is content with gentle, lyrical pieces though.

I think that dogs hearing is more sensitive than humans, and what sounds fine to us can be very unpleasant to them. Probably like our enduring some violin screeches. Anyway, if the comment was intended as an insult, I don't see it as much of an insult, because it's an observation of how dogs sometimes react to music. And dogs are not prized for their mature taste in music.

Ann I do not wish to pollute this thread, which is about Sketch Music, further about this issue, so I will PM you, instead.

Thanks for your response Nikolas (Perniciosus m1-8) ... but when you defend your composition style with

“looking at a monophonic stream of notes
it's quite difficult to pin down 'dissonance', right?”

No ... WRONG.

I’m too long in the game not to instantly detect dissonance ... which can be hugely effective in small doses as a shock motif ...
but in Perniciosus, you labour the effect ad absurdum.

Please excuse me going off at a slight tangent ... happily I am the owner of the score of Schoenberg’s Opus 46 (6 minute)
“A Survivor from Warsaw” ... which will always rattle my cage.
The orchestral discourse
(whether brass, strings or woodwind) is rivetting ... including a narrative starting with
“I cannot remember anything ... I must have been unconscious at the time”

Against a rhythmic beat, the counterpoint of various instruments and voice ... there is the insistent jab of a haunting highlighting of the
outrage of the inhumanity of Man (to man) ... however, the harmony remains intact ... no need for dissonance ad lib.

Thanks Ann from Kentucky for sharing views on “howling” dogs. Far be it from wanting to insult Nikolas ... I was wanting the chappie to explain his style.

Please folk ... play the first 8 measures of Perniciosus and see if you don’t agree about the extensive use of discords ... please park sensitive dogs outside (thanks Ann).

I am in agreement that btb's post was extremely rude. I just meant that his complaint that the music made his dog howl was a lame complaint.

We all know btb. It's endless insults with him. I do give him credit for being able to outwit me in online battles though. So this is the last I'll say.

I'm sorry that our respected friend Nicholas has to endure this mean treatment.

This is marvelous music! I'm not a teacher, but as a student I'm delighted to see a set of new pieces.

Cheers!

I looooooove this and have ordered my copy. Thanks for sharing your talent with us, Nikolas. (And for the record, I like Perniciosus too lol).