I suppose it is about time I reintroduced myself. I am a fifty-eight year old man from Auckland who obsessively plays and creates piano music. I am not quite sure why or how, as I lack most measurable musical abilities, am a complete primitive of my own making in theory and only had lessons for a few years in my youth. Improvisation, much of which I record, virtually dominates things now but over the years I have also amassed a large heap of compositions in many idioms. Contrary to the usual pattern I see of people becoming set and conservative in their musical ways with age, the older I get, the wilder, madder and more eclectic my music is becoming. In fact, I appear to have reached a sort of permanent, retarded, musical adolescence.
Very early in my life, in order to preserve my freedom of expression, I decided not to earn my living through music. This decision annoyed and disappointed a few people close to me but I am now convinced it was the correct one. I have been a programmer and IT manager for almost thirty years but I am now phasing myself out of the workforce. Musically, I work in isolation, know hardly any professional musicians or pianists personally and, all things considered, this is probably a blessing, both for them and for me. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed the odd post here and on Pianoworld over the last four years, and I flatter myself that I have been able to help one or two particular players achieve a greater personal freedom in their music.
Topic: Introduction