Music Categories

Greenwood Air and Variations

Play Garritan® Audio Track

Gerry wrote this solo for his daughter Lauren in December 1998. The title is derived from the Wichita, KS home address of Gerry's in-laws, Paul and Marjorie Fleeman. They lived at 1501 Greenwood Ave and for many years, Gerry's family would visit them, especially around the holidays. During these "vacations" Gerry would often write music sitting at their spinet piano in the living room. This solo was written on New Year's Eve. It begins with the piano alluding to the main waltz melody which occurs later. The soloist joins to present the first jaunty variation in the key of B-flat major. After some playful interaction between the soloist and the accompanist, it slows down and it slips into nefarious little section with the soloist wandering around a different key center or two. But after a couple of pauses, there is a modulation to F major and the main "air". This waltz melody is presented a couple times, and the pianist modulates back to B-flat major. The final section is another jaunty variation of the melody in common time. There are more "black notes" in this section, but it is quite playable given the key signature and the tempo setting. Just don't be tempted to go too fast and it's easy to keep under control.

Lauren played this at a solo competition while in 8th grade at Hendrick Middle School and received a "1" rating. Just before the final section, there is a slight reference to a two-bar phrase, lifted from the baby dedication song that Gerry wrote just following Lauren's birth. Gerry will be posting that song in the near future.

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

© 2024 Gerry Shoults Music

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

© 2024 Gerry Shoults Music