CONRAD

WINSLOW KEEP AN OPEN CHANNEL

for piano solo

duration: ca. 3.5 minutes
edition 16 August 2022
Performed in Homer, Alaska and Berlin, Germany, and
recorded in Mount Vernon, NY by Conrad Winslow in
2021.

PROGRAM NOTE

Keep an Open Channel was composed in 2021 for the

celebration of my marriage to Michael Amico. It is linked
to the ongoing conversation between Michael and me
about principles of communication, and about what
openness really means.

On a technical and structural level, Keep an Open

Channel is an etude in wide-compass cantabile playing,
using the extremes of the keyboard to stake out
broadband harmonic spaces. Each phrase contains a
simple exchange of voices, sometimes bright, sometimes
penumbral, sometimes threatening to crack apart, always
responding, always seeking to create an open space.

It is also linked to a childhood memory of sitting with my

mother by the single sideband radio in our cabin waiting
for the appointed time to contact my father, two hundred
miles away in Bristol Bay, Alaska, during the herring
shing season.

In 2020, my Aunt Becky Desmond, a music therapist and

life-long lover of classical music and passionate supporter
of my endeavors, passed away at the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic, blindsiding my uncle Timmy. He
subsequently became a licensed ham radio operator and
enjoys communicating with speakers around the world.
This piece is dedicated to the memory of Aunt Becky.

PERFORMANCE NOTE

The performer must remove or place the music stand to

facilitate quick access to the strings of the bass register.

© 2021 by the Winslow Inn. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
 in memory of Becky Desmond

KEEP AN OPEN CHANNEL

Conrad Winslow


2021

    sim.
 = c. 88 Tracing lightly, tempo essibile

   
 
          
  
  


                  

basso sempre sotto voce

    
    



   
    
     
5

      

    
          
  
  
   


  

 
    
rit a tempo

  
10

    
 
       
      
più forza

    
   
  


 
             
Più largo rit

 
15

   
       

   nebbioso
            

s.v.

    
  
  
© 2021 by the Winslow Inn. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.

2 Winslow » Keep an Open Channel » 2022-08-16

  
      
a tempo

  
        
20

   
 
         

      
           
         
   
  
 


   
poco accel. a tempo


                 
26

   
       
  

               
       
s.v.

  
  



   
  
  
              
A

     
 
 ombroso e uente

 
    
              

    
   
  




     
      
              
38

 
   
             
         
poco

   
     
     


Winslow » Keep an Open Channel » 2022-08-16 3

 

   
    
  
     
43

          
     
   
            
     

     

    


     
    
         
   
   
48

      
    
     
              
 
     
   
   


                  
B  = 72 Misurato

         

   
    
53 

 
   meccanico
       
   

 
  



            
accelerando poco a poco

    
 
57

 
 
  
    
    
 
   

  


4

      
Winslow » Keep an Open Channel » 2022-08-16

          
accel. accel.

     
 
 = 88  = 96

     
61

 


    
   
        


 
   

  
   
 
 


              
accel.

          
accel.


 = 112

    
 = 104
 
65

  
  
   
 
      
     

 

    
   
  
 
  


      
 = c. 88 Più largo

                   
         
69  = 120
 
 poco 
      
   
           
      

 
 


          
   
   
        
 
72

 

  
        
    
 


 

 5


Winslow » Keep an Open Channel » 2022-08-16

 
C  = c. 63 Tempo essibile

     
         
76 LH stops string, all notes taken by RH

         

  espressivo
   
      


    
 
(8vb)

 al ne


    
        
81


       
  
(8vb)    


           
87 poco ritardando

      
   
 

   
shift harmonics higher


        
             
 = c. 100 Girando
  
91

 
4x 3x 4x 4x

 dentro la risonanza
      


   
            
 9 JUNE 2021, BERLIN