Keyboard Sonata in g minor
This is a keyboard sonata in g minor. It follows the classical sonata form. Stylistically, it is a blend of pop, neo-romanticism, minimalism, and modernism. It tends to be a bit on the dark side, although there are plenty of spots where the light shines in.

I've always greatly appreciated the keyboard sonata as a form. Growing up, I particularly enjoyed the Beethoven piano sonatas. The Eighth Piano Sonata (Opus 13) was a particular favorite of mine. This particular sonata in no way attempts to mirror that one, or even Beethoven generally. If anything, it sounds a bit like Chopin in some places, and perhaps like Rachmaninov in others. Nevertheless, my affinity for the keyboard sonata is directly attributable to the Pathetique. 



Some Notes on Sonata for Keyboard in g minor
This keyboard sonata is a three-movement sonata that mostly follows the classical standard sonata format. Stylistically, I would describe it as neo-romantic. It has some dissonance, some quartals, some blues harmonies, and some minimalist elements, as well. 



First Movement - Allegretto
This movement is in sonata form, where the main theme is in g minor, and the counter-theme is in B Flat Major. It follows the normal trajectory of exposition - development - recapitulation. In the recapitulation, the counter-theme is restated in its original B Flat Major, rather than the native g minor.



Second Movement - Adagio
This is a very slow Minuette. The form is AA'BA (where "A'" is a development section) The exposition moves directly into a development section that isn't clearly distinguished from the exposition itself. The "B" section is sharply distinct from the main theme. Where the main theme is somewhat laconic and soft, the second theme is strident and assertive. The recapitulation, rather than being a full recapitulation is more like an elaboration and completion of a previous thought.



Third Movement - Vivace
The third movement is typically a rondo. In this case, I depart from the norm. This is a fantasia in the following format: ABA'CA'DEA''[CODA]. Stylistically, this movement is an example of American Populist Modernism (in the vein of Copland or Bernstein) The main theme, which is a powerful, asymmetric march-like theme, is asserted, then gives way to a second theme, then comes back and develops, then gives way to a third theme, and so on and so forth. It almost has a Pictures at an Exhibition kind of feeling, although the demarcations between the main theme and the "pictures" are less pronounced. The final section presents the main theme as a more coherent melodic arch. It is also the darkest statement of the theme. The CODA is a brief variation on the main theme; it is significantly less strident than the original theme. The piece dies with a whimper. 

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Windowless Monads
Gottfried Leibniz was a German philosopher who was a contemporary of Isaac Newton. He theorized the existence of Monads. Monads are an object of theory; they are supposed to be particles somewhat similar to our modern concept of the atom (with some significant differences).

The Theory
These particles are the underlying universal substrate. They are self-contained and indestructible. They each contain within themselves the essence of the entire universe, much like a kind of divine genetic code. Nevertheless, they also are distinct from one another, each having different attributes, resulting in the vast variety that we can see in nature.
What he suggests is that the universe is a self-contained thing and that what we experience as a sequence of space and time, is really a coherent whole. He described monads as "windowless;" meaning, not being open to outside forces in any way. They do not take in or emit from themselves anything from or into anything outside of themselves. In this sense, they are similar to the modern atomic idea, in that we now theorize that atoms interact with other atoms, but under normal circumstances, atoms do not change in their fundamental nature.
Leibniz's theory portrays a deterministic view of nature that, in some ways, anticipated Einstein's Theory of Relativity, in that it suggests that the universe is structured in a non-linear way.

What I Find Provocative About this Idea
In absolute terms, modern science has largely invalidated the Theory of Monads. Nevertheless, I find certain aspects of this idea interesting. For one thing, his idea is really quite fractal. This idea that the further you go down into the micro, the more the macro reveals itself is a very spiritual idea, and I think there is something to that. For example, atoms resemble solar systems and galaxies in terms of their basic geometric structure. That's interesting. The idea that each particle has a kind of genetic code that reflects the universe as a whole - that's interesting, too.

Some Notes on "Windowless Monads"
This piece uses an octatonic palate to portray monadic "windowlessness." The octatonic scale is "windowless," in the sense that it has a completely repetitive structure; whole-tone - half-tone, whole-tone - half-tone, all the way up the entire octave. Unlike tonal scales, which have seven scale degrees, the "octatonic" scale has eight. The seven scale degrees in tonal music give it a kind of built-in tension that seeks resolution. The octatonic scale seeks no resolution because it does not require it. It is naturally self-exploratory and does not need to come to any rest. In this way, it is "self-contained," in the same way that monads are theorized to be.
However, I also wanted to portray my "windowless monads" as causing ephemera of time-bound existence. I show this by having the piece transition in and out of tonal sections. True to the monadic theory, the piece ends in a self-contained way - by returning to the original octatonic riff.

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Rooted
A balanced human being takes time to explore his own unconscious self. He does that by engaging in protracted self-exploration. Consequently, his conscious self is rooted in his subject. Lacan talks about how the ego, which is the focus of the objective, conscious self, is alienated from his subjective self. The separation between consciousness and subject is rooted in linguistics.
The subject organizes itself syntactically. It forms sensory associations which reflect meaning, whereas consciousness forms linguistic networks of meaning through the mother tongue and an objective approach to experience. In order for the conscious self to access the subject, it must listen carefully to the associations of meaning that the unconscious forms. The consciousness then discovers new depths of meaning within what is already familiar. The ego recognizes the roots of the objects of its experience, as well as their true, hidden meanings.
Exploring the unconscious subject is necessary. It is necessary for someone to know themselves intimately, and live a balanced, aware life. It is not possible to be truthful to others if, because of self-ignorance, you habitually deceive yourself. One must carefully observe and honestly assess one's emotional responses because these emotional responses reveal the true self.

Some Notes on "Rooted"
This is a solo keyboard improvisation. It is mostly in a minor, although it wanders quite a bit.
This piece is "paratonal." "Paratonal" is my own term. It means that any given bar appears to be (mostly) tonal, however, the harmonic structure of the melody and the piece overall is far from tonal. It tends not to dwell on one key for long. There is a lot of suggested polytonality, as well as some unresolved dissonance.
You can hear a certain impressionistic influence, as well. This piece is not dissimilar to something Debbusy, Satie, or Ravel might have created. There is also a little bit of Stravinsky influence, as well as some Rachmaninov.
I use paratonality in this piece to express a certain familiar weirdness. This expresses the strangeness, yet familiarity of the unconscious mind. I also use a lot of close intervals (mostly thirds) to portray a hiddenness. This makes the piece sound very closed in.

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Flight
"Flight" is about the essential nature of invention. There is, in the most powerful creative endeavors, a process that takes place that the ancient Hermeticists projected as being tied to the nature of existence itself. The creative endeavor is an essential component of life itself as such. All life is the emergence of the new from the pursuit of completion. That's what creativity is.
In Hermetic terms, this process takes place through the interplay of the male and female principles. This occurs on the level of biology, psychology, philosophy, politics, even, one could say, on the level of quantum physics. Consciousness and connected being interacting with one another generate the substrate of experience.
"Flight" depicts the Wright brothers' invention of the airplane. The invention of the airplane is a real-life example of the animating creative process. A colleague of mine once mentioned that one of the Wright brothers was driven to succeed in the face of repeated failure because the woman he was enamored with had lost faith in him. He felt that he had to restore that faith at all costs. I have not verified this story, but it is a plausible one. Because of universal process of completion taking place in the context of the human species, gravity, which once bound by man to a radius of about a hundred miles in his life, was now simply the thing that kept the plane from drifting into outer space, as he enjoys his flight from New York to Moscow.

Some Notes on this Piece
Recently, I've decided to include a guitar track in my pieces. In "flight," the guitar sort of symbolizes the idea of flight that becomes a tangible reality as the piano track transitions from the slow, plodding thinking to the dynamic emergence of the factual projection underneath.
The piece begins quietly and slowly, but it gradually picks up tempo, volume, and body. It rises to a crescendo. At the climax of the piece, the guitar reaches for (and doesn't quite attain) the tonic with a 6-7-6 (scale degrees) phrase. The piece ends with a peaceful decrescendo. The structure of the piece mimics the process of the joining of male and female principles in order to portray the hermetic idea.
The piece is for piano and guitar. It has some jazz and rock influences, as well as some Americana classical influence. Americana classical music is a branch of the classical tradition which features a largely diatonic harmonic content with some moderate level of dissonance, as well as some popular music influence. The two most prominent names of this tradition are Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. John Adams also composed music in this tradition, although he also belongs to the minimalist tradition.

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New Canyons
In one or two of my previous posts, I've compared the emotional experience to a river which cuts canyons in the topography of our future experience of being, in such a way that our sense of self is "pre-paved," if you will, by our present emotional experience.
What you feel today is who you become tomorrow. If you don't like who you are, you can take control of that choosing to change your emotional experience. When you do this, the "river" that is your emotional self, begins to cut "new canyons" in your a priori bound experiential future. So if you don't like who you are, then it is incumbent upon you to cut new canyons for yourself by changing the way you feel. This starts with a conscious choice. You have to choose to take control of the person you are becoming. You have to understand that doing so commits you to an emotional process. Then, it proceeds with changing your surroundings. This presents the stimuli you need to be happier. You now have the power to be happy, regardless of what the objective situation is. When that happens, you become a deep, powerful, effective human being.

Some Notes on this Piece
"New Canyons" shows the process of getting from a place of worry to a place of personal power. Getting in touch with your personal power makes you able to experience confidence and happiness. It opens in g# minor, which, to my ear, is the most unsure, worry-filled key. The piece features, close, restricted minor thirds, further underscoring the anxiety of the experience. As it progresses, it slowly opens up and moves past the sense of anxiety, to much more full, open chords in a major key, with parallel fifths and octaves, suggesting a calm, but powerful sense of self-confidence and personal power. As such, this shows the process of developing new canyons of future experience.

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New Canyons

In one or two of my previous posts, I've compared the emotional experience to a river which cuts canyons in the topography of our future experience of being, in such a way that our sense of self is "pre-paved," if you will, by our present emotional experience.

What you feel today is who you become tomorrow. If you don't like who you are, you can take control of that choosing to change your emotional experience. When you do this, the "river" that is your emotional self, begins to cut "new canyons" in your a-priori bound experiential future. So if you don't like who you are, then it is incumbent upon you to cut new canyons for yourself by changing the way you feel. This starts with a conscious choice. You have to choose to take control of the person you are becoming. You have to understand that doing so commits you to an emotional process. Then, it proceeds with changing your surroundings. This presents the stimuli you need to be happier. You now have the power to be happy, regardless of what the objective situation is. When that happens, you become a deep, powerful, effective human being.

Some Notes on this Piece

"New Canyons" shows the process of getting from a place of worry to a place of personal power. Getting in touch with your personal power makes you able experience confidence and happiness. It opens in g# minor, which, to my ear, is the most unsure, worry-filled key. The piece features, close, restricted minor thirds, further underscoring the anxiety of the experience. As it progresses, it slowly open up and moves past the sense of anxiety, to much more full, open chords in a major key, with parallel fifths and octaves, suggesting a calm, but powerful sense of self-confidence and personal power. As such, this shows the process of developing new canyons of future experience.

Copyright, Philip John Cornell, 2018, some rights reserved. You may download this content freely. If you share it, it must be prominently attributed to "PJ Cornell," and if shared online, a link to the original content must be provided in a prominent location. This audio and video content may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without permission from the copyright owner.

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Sleeping City - Sonata for Guitar and Piano in e flat minor
This is a sonata for guitar and piano in e flat minor. While it is somewhat in the realms of minimalism and jazz in terms of style, it follows the basic classical three-movement sonata form. I chose e flat minor because it has a dark, murky, mysterious quality. F Sharp Major is its relative major (which is used in classical sonata form for the countertheme and second movement when the main key is minor), which, to my ear, has a rich, yet frosty sound to it.

Some Notes on "Sonata for Guitar and Piano in e flat minor"
This piece has three movements. The first movement is a sonata allegretto in e flat minor, the second movement is a ternary andante in F Sharp Major, and the third movement is a quick-paced rondo in e flat minor.

First Movement: Allegretto
This movement moves along at a somewhat leisurely pace. The keyboard opens in the tonic key with a simple ostinato. The guitar then enters mimicking the ostinato before launching into the theme. The keyboards maintain a rhythmic countermelody before shifting to the countertheme.
The countertheme is slower and is characterized, in the guitar, with relaxed slides, and a shift to an acoustic sound pallet. The piano has already entered into the development section before the guitar is done with the countertheme.
In the development section, the guitar returns to an electronic sound pallet in between keyboard solos that explore a few different keys with the theme and countertheme.
The recapitulation is a bit truncated and is really more of a continuation of the thoughts posed by the theme and counterthemes, rather than a full-blown recapitulation.

Second Movement: Andante
This is arguably the best part of the piece. It is in the relative F# Major. This movement is much less rhythmic and much more melodic than the other two movements. It is somewhat modal with a few chromaticisms and whole tones thrown in. The guitar uses an acoustic sound pallet. The theme of this movement is reminiscent of the countertheme of the first movement.
This piece follows a ternary form. The "B" section is a development section, but while the theme explores itself a bit here, it doesn't go too far off afield. The returning "A" theme is a variation on the original theme with a slightly more lively texture.

Third Movement: Rondo Vivace
This movement returns to e flat minor with a main theme that is reminiscent of the main theme in the first movement, but it is much shorter and frenetic.
The keyboard plays the F Sharp Major countertheme rather than the guitar, which plays an accompanying role. The theme is a bit slower than the main theme, but it is not leisurely; it has a moderate pace and emphasizes rhythm over melody.
The first return of the main theme is actually a brief development section. The main theme explores a few different keys before going in the "C" section.
The "C" section is materially different from the rest of the movement. It is somewhat reminiscent of the countertheme of the first movement. It is a brief development section, as well.
The recapitulation returns to e flat minor, and, rather than going into a final "ABA" format, it simply combines elements of the theme and countertheme in what could be considered an extended CODA.


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Vow of Silence

Why is it that many monks choose to commit to a vow of silence? The level of commitment that that takes is heavy. It means that even the most casual and menial effort at communication with others becomes a major challenge. One does not take up such a challenge without the possibility of a significant payoff.

I would suggest that the payoff for such a vow has to do with the kinds of knowledge that are only accessible through the kind of intense introspection that you are forced to engage in when you have committed to not speaking at all under any circumstances.

When you make that kind of commitment, you are forced to listen and observe yourself and others. Unless and until you have chosen to listen and observe more than speak, you are highly vulnerable to hypocrisy and ignorance. So many people view others as their enemies, and sometimes, such an estimation of others has some validity; but what they forget is that they can be their own worst enemies when they fail to attend to the content of their own souls. I think that is what a vow of silence is really about.


Some Notes on Vow of Silence

This piece is a simple improvisation that I did for electronic keyboard. It is mostly tonal, with some whole-tonality sections. The piece is binary, with a musical motif followed by a development section. It is heavily melodic, rather than rhythmic. It does have a shifting time signature. There is very little polyphony; the piece instead focuses on the harmonic content.

I created this piece in such a way as to capture a sense of rich, silent introversion. To do that, I used an electronic keyboard sound pallet, which doesn't have any sharp edges, and I used a musical texture that focused on harmony and melody, rather than rhythm.

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Rokaya

Muslims have a practice known as "Rokaya," which is a ceremonial prayer which cleanses a house of unclean spirits. The idea of this practice is highly suggestive to me. It suggests something rather akin to an exorcism, yet less theatrical. It's more like a center of calm in a person that they find deep within their soul and extends, gently, to their chest, stomach, legs and arms, head, and, finally, their toes and fingers. Consequently, an unshakeable calm saturates their entire body, soul, and spirit. When it does, one utters the rokaya -- assertively, powerfully, yet entirely devoid of aggression or impurity.

Demons, who thrive on soul decay, frustration, aggression, and hatred, are only repelled by the pure power expressed by the idea of this rokaya. It is humble and unassuming. When the one who expresses it encounters others, they set their demons are on the run, and that things in their life are set back in proper order. The rokaya has a cleansing, healing, and comforting effect.

Some Notes on Rokaya

This piece has of a number of intersecting elements. The tonal center is c#, with an initial suggestion of the minor mode, which, in my opinion, is the darkest key signature. It sounds "black" to me. But, as other instruments are introduced after the slow, simple pointillist opening with the solo piano, the harmonies become much more complex.

The guitar, and later, the piano, introduces an octatonic mode. There is complex, florid polyphony, polytonality, and polyrhythm that grows naturally from initially simple threads into twisted sinews, dissolving again into nothingness. The piece begins and ends on the same, simple, unassuming C# right above middle C. This particularly suggests, in spite of the complex, passionate journey of the piece, a stable sense of self. This portrays a sense of reassurance of a beneficent constancy and dependability of essence in the face of the darkness.

Some people can drive out demons by simply seeing the truth. The beholder sees your true self. When you encounter the beholder, your demons must leave. Thoe rokaya cleanses your home. It cleanses your soul.

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This is just a meandering improvisation that I did. I just kind of let my mind wander on this one. If I had to compare this piece to something, I would compare it to a film score by John Williams, or maybe Hans Zimmer. It's mostly tonal, and it's a piano solo. It starts in A flat Major and ends up in B Major.

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