Drafts & Dailies

How does one mourn lost possibilities? A friend recently lost a pregnancy - a life has ended, a life as close as possible to her, yet a person she could never meet.This piece, written for her and her husband, grew out of one my daily pages before it became a fully fledged piece. It is a musical meditation, or maybe better, a catalyst for meditation, for assimilating grief; it is austere, quiet, with some simple processes, quiet chords, and wisps of unrealized melody. It is meant to evoke possibilities, for a listener to possibly imagine more from each bit of melody or lose oneself in extra-musical thought. While revising, I continually found myself conscious of my breathing like I rarely am. The (musical) possibilities fall within some highly prescribed parameters, and all options when taken into account lead to many thousands of different possibilities. There are, to my mind, four types of aleatory combined here. Aleatory in music means “chance” and often comes from a composer asking a performer to make choices, or here, more poetically, it could mean “possibility.” The vast differences from performance to performance while maintaining a highly distinct musical identity is made possible by the variables in:* Form via number of repeats, both of small sections (1-8 measures) or of large sections (for the A section: 12 minutes, played up to five times);* Open instrumentation, meaning any monophonic (mostly one note at a time) instrument, played with or without electronics, with parts for SATB instruments and allowing free octave transposition;* Graphical interpretation - the non-piano players have dots and squiggles that don’t look like normal music notation, which they interpret and play ‘out of musical time,’ or more properly, with or without regard to the regular pulse of the music. For example, they can match the general contour of a line, play one out of a few specific notes of a chord for any length of time, or play short notes, and each of these things can occur metronomically ‘in-time’ or can seem to float out of time;* Small, individual note choices, most particularly in the piano part, where 2+ possibilities for a pitch are given and the performer must choose only one, potentially changing an entire section’s contour, its feel of ‘lift’ or ‘fall’ or meandering. Even if as much as possible (instrumentation, repetitions, location, performers) remains the same between performances, there should be subtle differences in the actual notes played.Elegy No. 5 is for piano / piano with electronics / piano with up to four instruments / piano with up to four instruments with electronics, and is meant for a very reverberant space; each ensemble configuration can play the short (A) or long (sections A + B) version, with a range of options regarding repetition and general tempo, giving valid performances a range of 10-75+ minutes.Nearly Forgotten is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Nearly Forgotten at jonathanrainous.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve been burnt out - but forcing myself to write fun stuff, or at least stuff that is simple, that is low stakes, that doesn’t feel like it’s a make-or-break piece…. that’s helping. Hopefully, it’s a gift to you, but the act of writing is a gift on its own.Maybe this will be the beginning of a large project? Part of me hopes there’s great ROI, but part of me responds, “It’s a gift - let it be a gift.” Anyways, it’s a few minutes I could write and aurally realize in a few hours. On gifts, see below by Ted Gioia.Let me know what you think, and DM if you’re interested in the sheet music! ✒️ Get full access to Nearly Forgotten at jonathanrainous.substack.com/subscribe

Written January 17, 2025.First draft of a string orchestra work, with a split contrabass part (pizzicato & arco). The opening establishes the ostinato (cello, then with viola), with some free elements surrounding it. Pizzicato bass, arco bass, and both violin parts are irregularly sized phrases which repeat, constantly changing their relationship to the ostinato. Later, the viola ostinato part adds an eighth rest, so it is progressively more out of time with the cello, before ending with a return of the free material.Raw audio is played from Staffpad with slight amplification added.Possible revisions in a separate post! Get full access to Nearly Forgotten at jonathanrainous.substack.com/subscribe

First draft of a trio inspired by my children's excitement at visiting their grandparents during Christmas 2024. Two kids became two themes, with surprising moments of calm during the long car ride… Written 12/17/2024 - 1/16/2025.For flute, viola, and bassoon. Raw audio is played from Staffpad, and is not mixed or in any way changed in a DAW or via other editing software.Movements from Pieces of Christmas are each for 2-7 players and subsets of Stravinsky’s ensemble used in 8 Miniatures (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, horn, 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos). Get full access to Nearly Forgotten at jonathanrainous.substack.com/subscribe