Yorgos Nousis : 6 Pieces of Joy and Melancholy : Doberman – Yppan

Yorgos Nousis

Doberman – Yppan : 8 pages

Here is an interesting set of pieces by this Greek player/composer/arranger. They are useful, melodic and not too difficult to play and so could be enjoyed by a multitude of players.

I must say that the opening piece Danceuphoria has something in it that I have NEVER seen before in my 63 years of playing the guitar, the time signature of 27/8, that opens this piece! t is alternated with several bars of 7/8., and just in case you are interested the groups of notes in the 27 quavers are 4, 3, 2, 2, 3, 2, 4, 3, 2, and 2.Set at a speedy 192 crotchets a minute in E Major, it is always on the move and does rely on offbeat rhythms throughout much of it, just to keep you on your toes!

No2, Melodic Sorrow, sounds exactly like you’d expect. It is set in E minor with a rising and falling triplet idea first before closing with the melody in block chords and has some very nice ideas in it.

Lifeness, No3 , s also in E Major and 68 beats a minute with a pleasant melody and nice harmonies , most of which is in 3 voices .

No4 Meditation is in A Major with a dropped D 6^th, and is slow with long base notes underneath a very slow moving melody line above.

No5, Hope is in A Major with a middle section in A minor and 4/4.It is almost completely in semi – quavers and flows nicely throughout, with one or two momentary harmonic clashes just to beef things up a bit.

The final piece Cascading Waltz is set in A Minor and is in two voices throughout with occasional chords to help the harmony work and is a nice close to what is a very enjoyable set of little pieces. It is worth looking at!

Chris Dumigan