Piano Improvisation with Cards

[kentokhromatic]

Hi! Recently I've been returning to my improvisational roots for composing by recording improvisations. I have started making Youtube videos actually, where I have randomly generated rules, such as a theme based on randomly selected pitches, or a chord progression based on card selection. Additionally, I'm going to record "conceptual" improv videos, where either a particular musical element or experiment is the basis of an improv, or to add randomness, ask a random stranger to select some abstract, like what their highest value is, and use that as the basis for an improv video.

I like this move on composers especially to get in touch with the improvisation side of composition as well, because I agree with the observation that I think Takemitsu made that American composers tend to be very structure & form-oriented in their compositions. I'm making a move a little back towards admiring nature as a model for art, that is, to make music organic and intuitive as well as achieving higher symbolic or structural purposes, or using structures as a mean for compositional innovation.

I'm still working on putting a great connect between my compositions and improvisations, by trying to extract and understand the intuitive structures taking place in improvisations. I was curious what you guys thought of when analyzing these pieces as COMPOSITIONS. Of course, the left hand would be inevitably more repetitive than other pieces, but I still find that subjectively interesting, and also how it is diffused in the improvisational intuition. I'm trying to better understand these elements, hopefully with the help of a third perspective from other musicians. =)