Vase

Description

Vase, a long piano piece from 2006, has more notes and a wider range than any other work by Ravi Kumar on this site; the title is the English word for a vase. No reliable information has been found about the composer or how the piece came about, and the work does not settle how the title relates to the music.

The data leaves both key and metre unstated. It lasts nearly nine minutes with 2,239 notes, a little over four a second on average. The range runs from F1 to F-sharp 7, more than six octaves, using the keyboard from the bass almost to its top end. Over its long span the notes are spread across a wide compass, and the contrast between high and low sonorities is one of the things to listen for.

It is rated intermediate, but nearly nine minutes and so wide a range demand stamina and an overview of the whole to play it through. Divide it into sections, practise each with A-B looping, then join them up. Where the music moves between the extremes of the keyboard, lower the playback speed and use the hand colours to see which hand takes the high and which the low notes. Including the top F-sharp 7, the full range fits within 76 keys.

A broad collection of standalone piano pieces not belonging to any specific set, offering hundreds of varied character pieces to explore and compare.