REALLY? I can hear dog lovers scream. “Is this the best name you can come up with?” My ninth original piece from the 12 Chinese Zodiac Tunes is dedicated to the dog. I choose the letters D – G and B A G, which spell “Doggy Bag.” The instrumental piece is pentatonic for high G ukulele.
High G ukulele
The high G ukulele has a specific sound, unique to ukulele. It’s also more challenging to write for high G than low G ukulele.
Absolute music
Unlike some of my earlier work in the 12 Chinese Zodiac Tunes, “Doggy Bag” is not programmatic. I am not attempting to describe or show what a dog does, how it moves, how it barks, or how it wags its tail. And “Doggy Bag” is definitely not about asking for a doggy bag for the leftovers.
“Doggy Bag” is absolute music. Not descriptive. But the title IS very important.
Letters in “Doggy Bag”
D x G x x x B A G
As it turns out, there are four major pentatonic scales that contain the three notes D and G. Three of these scales have the notes named D, G, and A. One has the letter B.
There’s only one major pentatonic scale with the four letters in the title of this piece. I create the template for this piece with the four notes in the five note scale.
Choice of meter
As all previous pieces for this suite of pentatonic tunes have followed common time, I decided to depart from the common into the uncommon.
The 7/8 time signature means counting either a triplet followed by two tuplets (1 2 3, 1 2, 1 2) or two tuplets followed by a triplet (1 2, 1 2, 1 2 3). It’s also possible to deviate to 1 2 3, 1, 1, 2, 3 as I end the piece to stress the names of the notes that spell the title of this piece: D x G x B A G.
Minimalism
One of the things I discovered as a performer is that playing minimal music (minimalism) is challenging but fun. I have to count and keep a steady tempo, not lose a beat, not skip a note.
Writing such music is a matter of copying and pasting notes and passages because it is so repetitive. However, the music does evolve gradually. And usually it’s very long (lengthy).
Minimalism is a genre of music born in the sixties from composers like Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass.
I was first introduced to the technique of writing minimalist music in the Netherlands. Simeon Ten Holt’s Canto Ostinato inspired me to write my first minimalist piece for many hands on one piano. First entitled “Five on One” I performed it with four composers at a contemporary music festival (five single hands on one piano) in Tuscany. Later I changed it to “Three on One” and performed it with two pianists on Maui. [Download the sheet music and listen to the audio recording HERE.]
“Doggy Bag” opens with the relevant notes in the G pentatonic scale in 7/8 time. DEG DEG A, DEG DE BA. Repeat. DGE DG AB, DGE DG BA. Repeat.
If you examine the music carefully, you’ll figure out the formula.
The piece is structured in five sections. The second section uses notes from the F major pentatonic scale.
I do not indicate dynamics or tempo in this piece. That will be the next step to complete the work.
Keeping a steady pulse is half the battle.
I got the idea of writing in minimalist style after studying some of the pieces in the New England Guitar Orchestra programme for this season. We are playing contemporary pieces (by living composers) with performances scheduled for May in Long Island and elsewhere. We rehearse each Saturday morning in Boston, Massachusetts.
12 Chinese Zodiac Tunes
All 12 pieces are written for high G ukulele. All twelve are pentatonic. Each piece is dedicated to one of the 12 animals in the 12 Chinese Zodiac Cycle. Hence, “12 Chinese Zodiac Tunes.”
- Counting Sheep, Counting Sheep to Sleep
- Wild Horses, Horse with a Name, Horse’s Mouth, Trojan Horse, Hold Your Horses
- Year of the Snake
- Dragon Born
- Rabbit Hole
- Two Tigers
- Holy Cow
- Rat Race
- Pig Out, Pigs Fly, Guinea Pig
- Doggy Bag
- Rooster – Chicken Feed
- Monkey Business, Cheeky Monkey, Monkey Around, Monkey See Monkey Do
For other recent compositions and arrangements by Anne Ku, please visit the Daily Music Writing Project or scroll through the consecutive blog posts.
