I wrote this music with the intention of showcasing the circle of fifths. The circle of fifths is a rather magical way of playing in all 12 keys by moving one by one in a particular order.That order follows one simple rule: each time you go to a new key you either go up four letters or down five letters. This tells you where you want to go next. You start with any key and proceed in that exact order. The result is that there are exactly 13 moves until you are back where you started.
When I originally wrote this etude, it was half the length. It started and ended in C major. Later I added a repeat modulating to E, the Trinity modulation. At the time I wrote this I have not yet coined the label "Trinity modulation".
I also thickened the sound a bit by adding octaves to the chords in the RH and went a bit deeper in the pedal tones.Small changes like this allowed me to immediately double the length of the piece in a way that has been 100% standard for several 100 years.
3 окт 2024
