Here’s a piano recording to contrast the YouTube version below.
Download Quicktime file (9.2 MB)
For a class assignment last week, I was to incorporate the the Academy of Art’s logo into some work that was related to my major. AAU is the acronym for the school, and while both letter A’s are perceptible in the logo, you could infer the letter U in the bottom contour of the circle… reaching a little, yes. Each letter is sung and the music is organized into three accompanying parts.
Abm9 was the first chord that my fingers fell on when I sat at the piano to write. I challenged myself in a conscious effort to steer the harmony and progression away from something predictable. There’s a kind of ii to V progression in F# Major for the first letter A sung, and then down to another V to ii in F. The next few chords use substitutions I haven’t taken the time to logically name, but they lead to the F7(#9), which brings us to an end on Bb^7. Bb felt like the underlying tonality throughout the short tune, and it was only convenient that the vocal melody for the first two letter A’s of the acronym use the notes A# and A– if the note U existed, I would have used it.
