Miniature No.2

Description

Miniature No. 2 was written in 2007 by Andrew Sidwell. A miniature is simply a short instrumental piece, and true to the name this one is compact. Details about the composer and how the work came to be written could not be confirmed.

It is in D major and 2/4, lasts about 1 minute 18 seconds and has 309 notes. Compared with the same composer's Little Toy Lost it is roughly three times as long and as busy, and its range is wider, from D2 up to E6, though it still fits on a 61-key keyboard. Over a light two-beat pulse, it fits changes of character into a short span.

It is rated intermediate. Duple time tends to make the downbeat heavy, so the task is to avoid hammering the start of each bar and to keep the phrases flowing. The wide range means the hands have to travel; check the left and right parts with the hand colours, and practise stretches with a lot of movement in sections using the A-B loop. Play through once with the speed slightly reduced to locate the changes of mood, then return to tempo.

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