Thursday, March 20, 2008

23 Jan 2008, #11. "Baseball Cap" - 5m20s

This was the last piece of the day for me, and I needed a little relaxation. I started with a tune cribbed from a Joanna Newsom song, and soon found my way into what was close to a straight cover of the end of Part I of Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert. I'm not surprised that his music finally showed up so plainly in my improvs. Like I've said, that record is by far the biggest influence on this work.




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Recorded on January 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Recap: my favorites...

90 days into my project, I have posted 36 pieces, almost 190 minutes of music. Some of them I am even quite fond of. You and I surely disagree on what the best ones are, but I'd like to offer my opinions now. Here are my favorite improvisations from the four sessions so far, recorded over the past three months:

"Nunavut" 6m43s

"Ophelia" 9m28s

"Beret" 7m22s

"Beatrice" 5m30s

"Juliet, part II" 6m38s

"Cowboy Hat" 5m30s

P.S. The Flash program I was using as an embedded .mp3 player is sounding funky, so please just use the direct links to the files. They sound much, much better.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

23 Jan 2008, #10b. "Captain's Cap" - 3m30s

This piece (and its partner, "Panama Hat") is performed with the sostenuto pedal depressed to keep the lower half of the keyboard undamped. I tried to get as much resonance out of the piano as I could. If you notice, this is basically three and a half minutes of florid plagal cadences. IV-I, IV-I, IV-I. It's a pretty good cadence.




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Recorded on January 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.

23 Jan 2008, #10a. "Panama Hat" - 4m30s

This piece (and its partner, "Captain's Cap") is performed with the sostenuto pedal depressed to keep the lower half of the keyboard undamped. This provides some interesting sonorities. Again I went for consonance, and stayed within C major.




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Recorded on January 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Correction! "Newsboy" and "Fez"

I had linked to the wrong improv in the two previous posts – they are now corrected. Please do give the new files a listen!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

23 Jan 2008, #9. Fez - 4m10s

After "Deerstalker" and "Newsboy," I needed some consonance, some tonal simplicity. This whole piece is E flat Ionian (major scale).

It is also a good example of my least favorite tendency as a pianist, which is to rush things. If you listen to this (and many of the other improvs I've posted), you'll hear a marked increase in the tempo over the course of the piece. I get excited — I don't know if I can help it. I wonder if I should play with a metronome next time.




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Recorded on January 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.

Monday, March 3, 2008

23 Jan 2008, #8. Newsboy - 3m49s

I stuck with the dark mood for this piece – a lot of tri-tones, a lot of borrowed notes. I tried to increase the unsettling nature later by jarring the rhythm. The piece didn't have anywhere to go, so it didn't go far.

(Note the Debussy reference at 2:42. Who can name the piece I'm paraphrasing?)




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Recorded on January 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

23 Jan 2008, #7. Deerstalker - 3m51s

Today's second post is far more interesting. The right hand plays the same figure again and again (with only a few minor variations). It is almost like a pedal tone, while the left hand explores different harmonies beneath it. It is an unusual inverted relationship, and so I like it. I also like it because it is unabashedly dark, unlike so much of what I've been playing.




download (option-click for Mac users, right-click and save for PC users)
Recorded on January 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.

23 Jan 2008, #6. Beanie - 0m31s

First of all, let me apologize – it has been too long since I last posted. So I will post twice today. However, the first post is a mere palate-cleanser, a 31 second amuse-bouche.




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Recorded on January 23rd, 2008, at Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, OR, with a Zoom H4 Digital Recorder. Edited with Audacity music software.