Unfixed

Description

Unfixed is the shortest of Ravi Kumar's pieces on this site, written in 2006; its title is English for not fixed in place. No reliable information has been found about the composer or how the piece came about, and the work does not settle what quality of the music the title refers to. Short as it is, it packs its material tightly.

The score data names neither a key nor a metre. It lasts about one minute twenty seconds with 346 notes, a little over four a second on average. Where most of Kumar's other pieces here run from three minutes to over ten, this one gathers its material into a short span. The range covers just over four octaves, from F-sharp 1 to A-sharp 5.

It is rated intermediate. Because it is short, it pays to listen through several times and fix the rise and fall of the piece in your mind before starting to practise. Movement at around four notes a second is easy to follow with the playback speed lowered a little. Check how the hands divide the work with the hand colours, and repeat any stumbling spot with A-B looping. It is also a convenient way in before tackling Kumar's longer pieces. The lowest note, F-sharp 1, lies below a 61-key keyboard as written, but an octave shift fits every note on 61 keys.

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