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Hi, does anyone know some old or recent methods / compositions / performers focusing on the mirror symmetry (mirror axis D) of the keyboard? Thank you for your contributions!
Hi, Ameron! And welcome to Piano World! Two composers I can think of that were fascinated by symmetry were Bela Bartok and Vincent Persichetti. In Mikrokosmos 6, Bartok explores symmetrical thinking in several of the pieces. Persichetti wrote an entire Sonata, called the "Mirror Sonata", based rigorously on symmetrical movement from varying pitch centers. Also, I just recently recorded the Sonata #1 by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, many passages of which very clearly use symmetrical relationships.
Thank you for providing these informations! I got aware of this phenomenon by the „9th Etude Inversion“ (Polyphonic Notebook / 25 Polyphonic Preludes, op. 50) composed by the Russian composer Rodion Schtschedrin (*1923), who was close with Dmitri Schostakowitsch. It's kind of strange that the possibilities of playing mirror symmetrically seem to be unexplored so far.
I don't know if you mean music in which every note in the right hand is exactly "mirrored" simultaneously by corresponding notes in the left, but in terms of explorations of symmetry I don't think you can get much more symmetric than say, the canons from Bach's Musical Offering or the "mirror fugues" from the Art of Fugue. In fact, just about anything by Bach is in part an exploration of symmetry. As for exact "mirroring", I can't think of much.
Thank you very much for your answer! I was thinking of mirror symmetric music where both hands use the same type of keyboard key (black/white) at the same time while playing in contrary motion, meaning that the interval structure and the performers haptical sensations on the keyboard are the same on both sides of the body. In the meantime i have read a book on Vincent Persichetti; there is mentioned a textbook regarding mirror symmetrical exercises by Bernhard Ziehn (1845–1912), but unfortunately i couldn't find it online.
I found out, that jazz pianst Chick Corea also augmented his pianistic skills using the mirror symmetry of the keyboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no9UErT-m-k. He mentions mirror symmetrical excercises by Florestano Rossomandi (1857–1933) but i don't know the name of the studies, i guess it was an italian textbook. Perhaps someone who reads this post can provide some information.
It seems that a younger generation of jazz pianists is also aware of the phenomenon of the mirror symmetry of the keyboard. Jesus Molina, one of the rising stars of contemporary jazz, sometimes publishes videos on Youtube, instagram and shows his playing in contrary motion:
Argentinean pianist and USA-based Pablo Ablanedo published a book with short mirror-symmetrical exercises for beginners in 2015: https://www.pabloablanedo.com/new-page-2
Argentinean pianist and USA-based Pablo Ablanedo published a book with short mirror-symmetrical exercises for beginners in 2015: https://www.pabloablanedo.com/new-page-2
Besides the sonata mentioned earlier, Vincent Persichetti also published three other works totally composed in mirror writing. They are the Little Mirror Book, the Reflective Keyboard Studies for Piano, and the Mirror Etudes. The Little Mirror Book is a set of five pieces of no particular difficulty. The Reflective Keyboard Studies for Piano are for more advanced players, and are very short (two or three lines of music, repeated once). I've found them interesting, challenging, and useful. Although Persichetti supplied tempo marking, metronome markings, dynamics, and articulations, he says they are just suggestions and the pianist should change them to suit their needs. The Mirror Etudes are difficult, full-fledged concert etudes.
Persichetti's classic textbook, 20th Century Harmony , has a section on mirror writing. My copy is packed away at the moment - I'm not sure how much of that section is about strict mirror writing for piano using D or G# as the "fulcrum".
Jazz pianist Dan Tepfer has programmed a Disklavier to mirror his improvisation on the left side of the piano while he plays on the right. Very interesting approach:
A kickstarter campaign is currently underway to fund a book containing 16 new piano compositions that address the mirror symmetry of the piano, the pieces relate to the fairy tale "Snow White" and are aimed at the intermediate level:
I think you can benefit a lot from practicing passages mirror-symmetrically. As for the compositions that are an essential part of the current piano repertoire, there still don't seem to be many pieces to choose from.
