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Details
Refraction No. 6: “Shake It Off” by Greg Anderson, based on “Shake It Off” from 1989 by Taylor Swift, Max Martin, & Shellback / Two pianos / Full score / Difficulty: Advanced / Duration: 5 mins / Pages: 12 / Copyright: 2015 / Work number: 083
Program Notes
“Shake It Off” is one of Taylor Swift’s most unabashed declarations of defiance. But Refraction No. 6 begins by turning that confidence inside out: at first, the familiar melody sounds vulnerable, uncertain, even a little wounded. Set against strange, prism-like harmonies and displaced rhythms, it seems to search for its footing before gradually finding the irrepressible momentum of the original.
The second verse becomes a tightly interlocking two-piano groove, full of angular rhythms, jazzy bite, and mischievous rhythmic surprises. A later chorus expands through a Mahler-inspired harmonic ascent before suddenly dropping into a bass-heavy dubstep bridge of half-time beats and explosive chords.
After a sudden silence, the final chorus sends both pianists racing across the keyboards in glissandi, block chords, and fistfuls of notes. Accelerating relentlessly toward its final ascent, Refraction No. 6 transforms Swift’s anthem into a four-minute two-piano thrill ride: quirky, rhythmically charged, and exuberantly over the top.
— Greg Anderson
