…from Pianisms.

Continuing in the humorous vein of the pieces in this suite, the title “Chak-onne” is a bit of silliness. A “chaconne” is a traditional musical form delivering a set of variations written over an ostinato or ground bass which is repeated throughout the piece. (See also “Passacaglia” — historians have had difficulty making distinctions between the two.) Since my tradition in this suite of piano pieces is to include some musical quotation from elsewhere, I decided it would be fun to find something from the world of popular music for this one. The ostinato figure is the bassline from Rufus’s “Tell Me Something Good,” a descending scale passage in the key of A♭ major which uses (and ends on) G♭. Rufus started the career of its lead vocalist, Chaka Khan. (I’m guessing the “silliness” is now visible!)

Of course, the ostinato is only barely recognizable at the beginning, and there are radical changes of rhythm and chordal feels as the piece progresses. I have, however, stuck to the chaconne “repeated bass line” throughout, at least in principle.

As is true of the previous piece, Errant Waltz, I wrote this piece organically, letting the variations flow as they came to me.

[…Will add to this narrative, and include excerpts below, as the piece progresses!]