Seachanges is a contemporary piece of music written by Raymond Deane

Raymond Deane

Raymond Deane is an Irish composer of classical music.-Biography:He was brought up on Achill Island and has lived in Dublin, Basel, Cologne, Berlin, Oldenburg, Paris and Fuerth....

 in 1993.

It is part of the Leaving Certificate

Leaving Certificate

The Leaving Certificate Examinations , commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert is the final examination in the Irish secondary school system. It takes a minimum of two years preparation, but an optional Transition Year means that for those students it takes place three years after the Junior...

's Music syllabus along with Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23

Piano Concerto No. 23 (Mozart)

The Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major is a musical composition for piano and orchestra written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was finished, according to Mozart's own catalogue, on March 2, 1786, around the time of the premiere of his opera, The Marriage of Figaro...

 in A major, The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

' "When I'm Sixty-Four

When I'm Sixty-Four

"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and released in 1967 on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.-Composition:...

", "She's Leaving Home

She's Leaving Home

"She's Leaving Home" is a song credited to Lennon–McCartney and released in 1967 on The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. McCartney wrote and sang the verse and Lennon the chorus...

", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is a song written by Paul McCartney , and first recorded and released in 1967, on the The Beatles' album of the same name. The song appears twice on the album: as the opening track , and as "Sgt...

" and Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique

Symphonie Fantastique

Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...

"

The piece is scored for Flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 and Piccolo

Piccolo

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...

 in G, Piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, Violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, Violincello, and Percussion. The percussion includes Gong

Gong

A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....

, maracas

Maracás

Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...

, rainstick, Crotales, Marimba, Cymbals, Guiro and Bass Drum.

Typical of 20th Century contemporary music, it features many experimental techniques:

Compositional Techniques

• 3-note cell
• Subtraction
• Retrograde

Instrumental Techniques

• Con ped.
• Tremolo
  Tremolo
  Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...
  
  
• Left hand pizzicato
  Pizzicato
  Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
  
  
• l.v
• col legno bat.
• secco
• Glissando
  Glissando
  In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...
  
  
• Flutter tonguing
• Una Corda
• sul pont.
• strum
• sul tasto
• modo ord
• molto vib.
• loco
• sempre
• sfffz

Introduction

This consists of a 3 note cell G-A-C played on Piano, Crotales, and Piccolo. The cell is interrupted by an Ab which Deane describes as an "Interfering note"

Main Melody and Inversion

The three note cell is recalled on the piano, and is used to reference Deanes earlier work "The Seagull Dreams of its Shadow" The principle of subtraction is applied to the original six-note phrase, which becomes a five note phrase, then a four note phrase... three note phrase.. two note phrase, until finally only a single note remains.

Section A1 based on Totentanz

The original three note cell is heard again on piano. Chord clusters are used to give the piano a percussive sound.

Canon derived from the Dies Irae

A canon between the marimba and the violin. It is based on the ancient Latin "Dies Irae" (or "Day of Wrath") Medieval organum harmony is used to reference the original plainchant

Recapitulation of Main Melody

The main melody is heard again on piano and flute. A triplet rhythm is used to refer to the danse macabre used earlier in the piece.

Coda including recapitulation of the Totentanz and the Dies Irae sections.

The major ideas are recalled, and the piece ends with all five instrumentalists playing the danse macabre rhythm on the maracas