Melody Cook
Piano Teacher, Composer, Artist
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Three is a musical illustration of the concept of the number 3. I began imagining this piece twenty years before I developed the idea. It started with a simple melody consisting of 3 chords. I have disguised the melody and incorporated it inot each of the 3 movements. In its original form, the melody appears only once, in a major key, played on the horn during the first movement.
Each movement of Three uses a different family of 3 instruments. The movements can also be distinguished by their uses of 3 different tonal systems related to the number 3.
1. The first movement is played by 3 wind instruments, and is in Phrygian mode, a 3rd above the tonic of the original melody.
2. The second movement is played by 3 stringed instruments and is in Aoleon mode, a 3rd below the tonic.
3. The third movement is played by 3 percussionists, each with a set of 3 similar instruments. It is designed around intervals of Major and minor 3rds.
Rhythmically and melodically, the idea of 3 is emphasized throughout each of the 3 movements. There are 3 specific musical ideas which unify the piece. Firstly, and most obvious, each movement begins with 3 sustained notes. Secondly, all 3 movements share a rhythmic motive of short, short, short, medium, medium, medium, long, long, long. The 3 short notes are usually triplets. Thirdly, the 3 movements of this piece are unified by the melody which inspired it. Disguised in 3 different tonal systems, it is challenging to find; yet it is similar enough to give a cohesiveness to the whole.
Duration: About 16 minutes.
- "
Noctave"
premiered on December 1, 2016, at the UCF Recital Hall in Orlando, FL. "Noctave" is a piano piece for four hands. I created a nine-note scale, which I named a noctave. I experimented with the scale, discovering its distinctive qualities. I created chords, tone clusters, and other patterns which emphasized its best qualities. I used these observations to design the piece.
Duration: about 2 minutes.
Even though most of these pieces have not yet been performed live, I have entered them into music notation software. You can listen to the audio playback of some of these pieces. Please
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- " Loss " - for full orchestra. I wrote this piece in honor of my grandmother when she passed away. The audio of the most recent revision is linked here. I am planning to make further revisions before it is complete.
Duration: about ten minutes.
- " Purple Fire Variations " -for piano.
Duration: about 10 minutes
- " Unraveling " -for flute, marimba, and bass voice. The words to this piece are a poem my sister, Rachel, wrote when she was a young child.
Duration: about three minutes.
- " Grieve" -for voice and piano or guitar. I wrote this during the month after the "Pulse" massacre in Orlando, FL, and made it into a video. The video format of this piece is not for sale. Most of the photos are from a Google images search and do not belong to me.
Duration: almost three minutes.
- " The World Floats " - for voice, violin, and marimba. I wrote this one morning after running 5K. The words describe the almost out-of-body experience, resulting from high adrenaline and exhasution, which one experiences after a hard workout.
Pieces I am currently writing:
- "Tsunami"- This piece is in memory of the tsunami which devestated the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011.
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Scheduled Performances
Premier Performance of "Tsunami"
Date: Fall, 2017
Location: UCF, Orlando, FL
Description: "Tsunami" is dedicated to the survivors of the tsunami in Japan, March 11, 2011. It is a musical representation of the sounds and emotions experienced during the tsunami. I was touched by Kenji Saito's footage of the tsunami in Ofunato harbor, Iwate prefecture, Japan. An event with such staggering loss of life and property should be remembered. Those who experienced it, and their loved ones who were lost, should be honored.
The tsunami begins with an earthquake under the ocean. There is an anxious calm as the water recedes. A clarinet loudspeaker announcement warns everyone ot evacuate to higher ground. The music swells as the water rises quickly, flooding the harbor. Residents, watching from the mountainsides, whisper anxiously as the water breaks over the levy. The water continues to rise, much higher than expected, demolishing everything in its path. The strings, flute, and clarinet reenact the sobs and terrified screams of people watching their homes and businesses collapse, swept away by the rushing current. Water covers the rooftops and slows for a moment. Then churning violently, the current reverses the direction of the music as it returns to the ocean, carrying debris with it. Onlookers watch in disbelief, weeping and whispering to one another. Their landscape is devastated. Homes and businesses are gone. There is nothing left.
Shock.
Grief.
Silence.
Duration: About 11 minutes.
