'Dreaming' -- Improv : Mayla

[Mayla]

Well, somehow this says things I want to say, so I am posting it for the great abyss to swallow up in one gulp .  This was improvised about 2 hours before I am posting it now; recorded on my Yamaha C7  with my Edirol R09 by Roland.

Cheers !
Mayla

[pianowolfi]

"Yum" says the great abyss See, wasn't it good we sent you practice yesterday? Otherwise who knows if this would be here now.

 I listen to it on my stereo and the sound of the C7 comes over as if this grand was right here in my room, very clearly and plastically. I think you found a good solution for your recordings.

To me this improv has a bit the form of a Rondo in which the refrain is always influenced and changed by the preceding episode. The first two minutes to me are representing a nice, idyllic dream, but successively you lead us down to the lower regions, where at about 2.00 the new section (episode) begins with heavy and dark chords, a serious mood in your dream is reached, which leaves its marks in the following refrain (from about 3.00), causing some sharp dissonances within the lovely arpeggio motif.
 At about 4.00 a new motif appears, a more instable and unsure mood seems to take over, the distance between very high and very low regions of the piano suggests a certain anxiousness. Facing the abyss? In the last episode it seems to me that there is some kept back motion, everything tends to go slower and gives the impression that the dreamer has to cope with heavy resistances, even hesitating if he/she shoud go on. And the dream ends with an open question.

Once more I admire your subtle and tender touch in the p parts, the breathing phrasing and the strong full sound in the f parts. Keep posting! 

[Mayla]

Well, I had some anxiety about posting this for a lot of different reasons -- but right now my whole thing with piano-playing is about getting over my sense of fear and of limitations and to be willing to just be me, right where I am at with it all now - I have spent enough time feeling bad because of and guilty over not knowing "enough" yet.  So, even though there is this part of my brain that says all sorts of things about how bad this improv is and why, and about how bad my skills are  , I am not going to focus directly on that/those voice(s) for now.  I am taking a little step out of the cave  .  Why am I saying this ?  I guess it somewhat reminds me to just be me and to go ahead and take what feels like a risk.  Even if this one does not speak to 'the people,' if I keep going and keep letting myself free, maybe something will one day .

Thanks for your detailed comments, PianoWolfi.  I appreciate them .  Even though this improv came after all my practicing for the day, I actually don't think it would've come had I not practiced as much as I did yesterday -- and actually, I listened to it as I went to sleepies last night  ; it sent me into my dreamy night (which dreams I don't remember).  So, yes, for several reasons I am quite happy that you guys sent me to my piano .

[opus10no2]

This is beautiful.

I love what you do, it's a completely different approach to the way I improvise.

You play with sonority and vertical harmony.
You play with your ear, I play with my fingers, it's a different approach, but I'd love to one day play like you do here.

The way it sounds to me, is just like dreaming- the body staying in the same place, but the mind wandering.

If you'd like to hear an old improvisation recording of mine, I could post it, for you to hear how our approaches completely differ 

[opus10no2]

http://www.sendspace.com/file/jypa2g

Pt 2 of an improv from about a year ago, excuse the randomness(not a serious recording) and excuse the sound, because this was before I bought a microphone(I used headphone-out on my digital). Anything above mezzo-forte becomes somewhat distorted.

[opus10no2]

Don't be afraid to listen 

[Mayla]

Sorry, it won't at all come through ... it's just all garbbley.    I mean, maybe that IS the improv  , but, I am guessing not  .

Thanks for your comments, btw, they actually really hit me.  When I sat down at the piano last night and did a little more improvising, I was doing things differently this time, I mean, there was something different about my approach and it's because of some of the things you said up there.

Anyway, cheers !
Mayla

[opus10no2]

You are most welcome.

Try opening it with the program I used to record it - windows sound recorder, should be under 'accessories'.

I love the art of improvisation, and I always try to add to my vocabulary, to prevent a kind of musical 'incest' if you understand..(?).
An inbreeding of ideas leads to a stale musical mind, and ideas end up being repeated after a while, so they must be perpetually expanded upon.
But never lose yourself completely 

I love what my idol Cziffra said about improvisation, that it is a perfect medium for those musical thoughts that aren't quite prepared for eternity

[pianowolfi]

Sorry, it won't at all come through ... it's just all garbbley.    I mean, maybe that IS the improv  , but, I am guessing not  .

harzh 

Well I listened to it and though it sounds often overmodulated it has the temperament and charme of a Hungarian Rhapsody or dance and I also like it somehow. I think it is of course obvious that you have a different approach in improvising than Mayla. I respect both. Though I personally need to say that something like "dreams" can make my day, like it did yesterday when I listened to it for one or two hours after I got up, to get an impression that makes me able to comment it. Don't misunderstand me I like random things, i sometimes LOVE them And maybe I am biased. But to me "Dreams" and similar music makes me think, makes me ponder, makes me feeling like life has a deeper sense. And I need this, I starve sometimes for it; rather often even . Just a few thoughts at a late hour and after two or three glasses of wine

[Mayla]

harzh 

Hey, now.  I did not mean to be harsh.  It's just that with the technological stuff people are doing these days, I did not want to heartlessly dismiss what may have been an honest self-expression -- that's actually true.

In other news, thanks very much for your further comments, Wolfi.  They are quite meaningful to me.

[opus10no2]

Well, it's messing around with an unfocussed form.

Thanks for the comparison though, I have respect for her restraint and focus also.

I have a fire inside that I can't yet tame and restrain  

[pianowolfi]

Hey, now.  I did not mean to be harsh.  It's just that with the technological stuff people are doing these days, I did not want to heartlessly dismiss what may have been an honest self-expression -- that's actually true.

Okay I see

I have a fire inside that I can't yet tame and restrain 

Well I guess that's what all of us three have in common

[Mayla]

Well I guess that's what all of us three have in common

Yeah, except for the fact that right now I feel like burning down the world 

[opus10no2]

Some fury?

I'd like to hear you improvise in this mood 

[Mayla]

Some fury?

I'd like to hear you improvise in this mood 

Well, I suspect that to those besides myself it would seem completely and utterly nonsensical 

[opus10no2]

Your feelings? Without for information..yes, though I wasn't kidding about wanting to hear you improvise with your inferno 

[Mayla]

Okay, Mr Opus.  I did it.   My poor piano    I will post it.

[opus10no2]

Does my file work yet?

I appreciate your new recording also. 

[bat]

Mayla, I love all your improvisations, I hope you will record and post more soon....

[Mayla]

Thanks, bat . 

Does my file work yet?

Okay, I opened it in windows media and it worked.   ha ha... I have been sitting here for moments now, searching for words.  I don't know what to say.  I will admit that my first response to any music is primarily emotional, and of course your improv is a little on the 'stong' side.  And, that is good, other than it being too much for your microphone to handle. 

Well, it's difficult for me to not compare some things (which I guess is exactly why you posted it, as you stated).  But, I am trying not to do that right now with my playing in general, so I am just going to quietly go back to my yamaha.

Thanks for sharing  .

[opus10no2]

Did you like it though? 

I thought it would be enlightening to us both to compare them and compare our approaches.

I might do some more sometime if I knew I had an enthused audience, like you have  .

[quantum]

Mayla, this is really enjoyable stuff. 

I'm hearing that you really do have a feel for using space and filling it with sonority.  Your harmonies and melodic structure have a very organic feel to them, yet seem organized in another sense.  You give motifs freedom to wander and at the same time preserve a sense of direction.

Also notable is your sense of form, and compositional unity.  You picked a simple idea and just let it grow, with many new ideas stemming from the original.

The section around 4:30 sounds Messiaen inspired.

Mayla, did you recently obtain this C7?  I haven't been on PS for a while but vaguely recall you having something like a Nordiska?  Or am I dreaming?

[Mayla]

Mayla, did you recently obtain this C7?  I haven't been on PS for a while but vaguely recall you having something like a Nordiska?  Or am I dreaming?

No, you are not dreaming, funny person ... hee hee.  I did used to have a bluddy Nordiska  and I got my 'beauty' C7 this last October -- by some fate.  Okay, it's not everybody's dream piano, but for where I am at in my life currently, it's like an absolute dream for me .  It is tickly just talking about it .

The section around 4:30 sounds Messiaen inspired.

I hate to say it, but unfortunately this does not bode well for Messiaen that people have said this to me, because it is definitely not an influence by him unless one counts the fact that I have heard him once -- perhaps I am impressionable (okay, I AM quite impressionable because he did make an impression -- though it was not in a way that I can describe).  The thing is that I have next to no kind of conscious skill in organizing my harmonies -- there, I said it --  whereas he did.  I mean, I know there is something going on in myself when I am doing this, but it's not coming from an ultra-harmonically-informed-place within my intellect ... exactly ; whereas with Messiaen, it is, I believe. 

But, maybe I should just quietly accept these things instead of spouting off the kind of thing that I just have.  I am learning as I go, I guess.

Anyway, quantum, thank you very much for listening and for your comments .


And, yes, Opus, I did enjoy your improv .

[opus10no2]

'I'll go my own way and and reach you in the end'

It is not necessary to be exposed to the same ideas to come to the same conclusions.

Being self-taught, I have made my own way, and when looking through what many people have been taught by teachers, and after reading books, I discover I had came to the same solutions by autodidactic intuition.
And there is a difference between discovering something and being taught something.

Glad you enjoyed mine, I'll do more sometime, with you in mind 

[Mayla]

Glad you enjoyed mine, I'll do more sometime, with you in mind 

Yes, more please .  And, you know, I appreciate your post.  Thank you for saying it.