counter)induction

“Basic Training was written for Steve Drury as a tribute to Margaret Ott, a wonderful pianist and teacher based in Spokane, Washington. The piece was commissioned by the Friends of Margaret Ott for performance at a concert in her honor in May, 1995. Basic Training loosely (and not really linearly) traces the development of a pianist from the Neanderthal-like, noise-producing thuds of first contact, through a number of textures and variations, finally achieving something of a sophisticated intimacy with the instrument. The piece also has as one of its primary ideas the development of a strong sense of space. This sense of space occurs both horizontally (often through the use of silence) and vertically (through hard juxtaposition of registers).” -LH