May 22nd Improvisation. "Prelude" in D major. Ends in E major.

[Derek]

Here's another one, only a couple minutes long. I played it live for my girlfriend...we both had our headphones hooked up while I improvised it. 

[jlh]

Very nice!  Would you say this is D major or E major officially?

[ted]

It's beautiful. There's not a lot more to say, is there, but I suppose I had better try. I am noticing increased variety in your figurations. You are using many more double notes than you used to - thankfully irregular ones - the trap with using too many regular ones is that everything turns into a finger study. If you hadn't told me about the keys I wouldn't have known. Firstly, I haven't the faintest idea what I'm listening to half the time and secondly, I don't clutter up my response with useless facts.

[opus10no2]

girlfriend... hooked up

  respect fo this alone

[Derek]

Thanks! I didn't know what key it was in either. I had to pick it out on the piano after the fact to find out. I still don't understand what a tonal center really means (except perhaps in the very local context of a single scale...for an entire piece the concept has me totally baffled. I can't remember what the tonal center was 5 minutes ago when listening to a piece. maybe not even 30 seconds ago). Would this piece of mine be any better if it ended in the same key? I personally don't think so, but that's just my opinion...

jlh, I don't think it's officially anything. Those are just the keys the piece started and ended in. I have no idea where else I went when I improvised it in the "development" section, haha.

Thanks guys. 

[pianistimo]

you both had your headphones hooked up?  i suppose it is rather hard to play with her sitting on your lap.  but, why did she have to listen through the headphones?  i'm sure she liked it.  was it for her?  or do you just tantalize people this way?

[Derek]

Well, I have a Roland F-100 which is a digital piano (as I'm sure you could tell by the tone). I've found there's something wonderfully intimate and private about a digital piano. If you want, nobody else in the world can hear your music, just you....or just you and at least one other person =). Yes, I improvised it for her. She requested it. Amusingly, I didn't even feel like playing that day.