Donkey Liberation

You have to play three pieces at a grade exam. All three of my pieces are jolly and they are all in major keys. One of mine is by Handel. It consists of semiquavers from beginning to end and it is a test of endurance. Somehow or other I have to keep up the pace and not miss a note. Played up to the speed recommended by the Board it sounds quite virtuosic but I am not sure that I am going to be able to play it at that speed. The second piece is by Grieg. This is romanticism in full flight with lots of chromatic passages and fast broken chords spanning more than an octave. What I like about this piece is the way it goes right up to the top A on the keyboard and then finishes on the bottom A. However my favourite is definitely Le Petit Ane Blanc by Ibert.

Staccato semiquavers trot more or less right the way through the piece. The beginning section and the end section are mostly lyrical with a stacato semiquaver passage work in the left hand. These passages really soft with dynamics ranging from p to ppp but the middle section becomes loud and discordant. The first time I heard the piece I thought the middle section was atonal but having had a look at the score I see that Ibert was keeping well within the diatonic range. There is reason behind his discords. The piece just invites you to let rip in the middle and so that is why I have dubbed this piece the donkey liberation theme tune. There is one bottleneck where I can't seem to be able to play up to speed. I gave it loads of practice today. I think it is going to need a lot of attention over the coming months but the rest of this piece is shaping up nicely. I'm loving playing it.