Buddha's hand (2018)
from Orchard
 
Duration: ca. 3'00"
 
Program Notes
Buddha’s hand takes inspiration from the citrus fruit of the same name. Buddha’s hand is a fragrant fruit characterized by it’s sprawling, finger-like segments. When writing this piece, I imagined what it might sound like if Buddha’s hand was used to play the piano, resulting in a work that exclusively uses extended techniques such as plucking, muting, and harmonics. 
 
Performance Notes
This piece is performed with at least one hand inside of the piano at all times. Notes with "x" noteheads indicate that the string is plucked. 
 
Notes with "+" indicate that the string be muted. There are two types of muting: 
1) Pitched: mute the string close to the hammer, resulting in a tone with pitch. 
2) Un-pitched: mute the string so that no pitch is recognizable. 
 
The harmonic should be performed by lightly touching the string of the attacked note anywhere (the resulting sounding pitch will be higher than the attacked note and is up to the pianist what it is).
 
The boxed figure at the end of system three should be performed by repeating what is inside the box until the sound of the low A in that measure is entirely gone. 
 
This piece is exclusively made up of musical gestures and should be performed as smoothly as possible while switching between the various extended techniques.The performer may perform the piece rubato throughout to accomodate any difficult movements.