Improvisation, The Sound of E.

[lostinidlewonder]

I needed to get the key E out of my system for some reason today. This is the result The improv had 2 parts I pasted them together, you might hear the bump where they join, the 2nd part goes for ages and ages, way too long to post so it's only a snippet (I go up the E major scale with the repeated notes, F# [partially in recording], then G#,A ... etc all the way to the E again). Piano needs a professional tune sorry, I just don't see the point at the moment with all this hot weather Australia is having.

In a way this improvisation takes me to a physically cold place but at the same time the reality that it is hot outside today creeps into my mind. Recently South Australia had 37 degrees centigrade at midnight (98.6F)! The hottest evening in over 100 years.

running time: ~6:30

[pianowolfi]

Very atmospheric and sensitive playing, lostin I am every once in a while fascinated by the idea of centering improvisations around one single tone, approaching it from various angles. I have done something similar with "two drips" last year. I remember vaguely that I listened to one improv from you a while ago and found it very profound. Perhaps we can look forward to more improvs from you?

[furtwaengler]

I used to wonder why this was not on the improvisation board, but I don't wonder that anymore...I like it on this board. I also like the the letter E, and the note, and the number 3, and on, and on and on.

There is one struck chord that strikes a chord, and I think it is at the one minute mark...but it could be another minute mark (I am at work...going from memory...)

I was very centered on "E" once "Departures" finally got going. It's buried somewhere in the Improvisation board.

Why not post more? There is interest.

I love Wolfi's drips.

[lostinidlewonder]

Very atmospheric and sensitive playing, lostin I am every once in a while fascinated by the idea of centering improvisations around one single tone, approaching it from various angles. I have done something similar with "two drips" last year. I remember vaguely that I listened to one improv from you a while ago and found it very profound.

Thanks pianowolfi for mentioning your "Two drips"  (https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=34215.0) I like it very much, more othodoxed directions that what I take and also with a touch of "jazz" sounds to it and clean fill ins. I like how simplicity can be binded with somewhat more complicated fill ins, to me it is almost like smudging color in art to highlight a simple form. I also find seeing myself play very strange (as you commented in your thread), the hands from a side on view always looks really funny and you think, wow that looks pretty cool since we are so used to seeing our hands form a predominantly top down view.


I remember you commented here https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,15655.0.html
The inspiration for that piece was a lot more personal, unfortunately it was done on a digital which sounds so bad and my recording tools where poorer back then I find the more emotionally deep you can draw your inspiration from the more colorful your improvisation, the more "moments" it might have.

I find when using a continuous note it is tough to make it fit in if it is loud, so I decided to make it super soft, also it helped me to get into a physically "cold" area for me, because it was frikkin hot that day 42C! (and the West Australian sun burns you, it is unlike the the sun in other parts of Australia, you literally can cook eggs on the road!) I find improvisation allows us to completely let loose, there are no wrong notes, no rules, no mistakes! Sure you will listen back to an improv and say, delete that, should have done more of this, but in the end the most important part of an improvisation is the total creative immersion the player has (which has a very different feel to it compared to playing compositions).

My mind is not really aware of what I am playing as it would if I where playing a composition, it is almost as if I am an observer of the sound and I am playing from the outside, it is hard to explain. But because of this it requires that I think in a particular way, empty my mind from normal play mode (that is what I like to do in improvisations not everyone does that). Sometimes however my mind wanders and then there is some strange oddities creeping into the sound, but I don't mind it, it helps the mind to refocus and find a new direction.

I used to wonder why this was not on the improvisation board, but I don't wonder that anymore...I like it on this board. I also like the the letter E, and the note, and the number 3, and on, and on and on.

For some odd reason I like it when there are patterns of 3 pulse combinations played in some sort of repetition. It just hypnotizes you sometimes! E is a sexy note too ^__^

There is one struck chord that strikes a chord, and I think it is at the one minute mark...but it could be another minute mark (I am at work...going from memory...)

Did you like it? just before the 1:50ish mark is where the repeated E really comes out of its p touch and is emphasized with some chord. I like that part it sorta wakes me up and allows me to accept some of the unorthodox sounds to come next.

I was very centered on "E" once "Departures" finally got going. It's buried somewhere in the Improvisation board.

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=34891.0
Lovely 1st movement, very classical sound to it and really sounds like a well thought out composition. The 2nd movement brings us to a much darker place great turmoil and insecurity. The lone tremolos up the top would have been nice to continue through as you do the other stuff, I know that would be hard to do though! The 3rd part with the arpeggios sounds really 20th century. Then there is almost like a pixie or fairy what have you is coming to save us from the monster in the 2nd part then fights with it. Yep certainly a BATTLE piece I like the "There you go" at the end? Then it's like, no wait, I forgot this little bit here,  Good humor

Perhaps we can look forward to more improvs from you?

Why not post more? There is interest.

Ok sure thing guys


The recording btw was done with a voice recording device (https://www.panasonic.com.au/products/details.cfm?objectID=5110) that I recently got as a present from my father (to record lessons). It is not actually meant to record piano with, but I thought it did not a bad job, even though the only place I could put it was underneath the piano (everywhere else was too loud). Because of that you can hear the pedals sometimes, I tried desperately to do it softly lol. The funny thing is when I look back at the recordings I have posted, all of them are done with a different recording instrument

[furtwaengler]

Okay I'm home and listening. The chord I referred to is at 1:57, a world all its own, one of those moments, just a moment, that imprints itself to the memory, and the mind plays it back obsessively. Such moments are unique buts to hold onto in music.

At 4:20 on it seems to have arrived at that moment of that unconscious (or is it super-conscious) zone common to improvisation...its as if all the E's and what surrounded it in the first 4 movements were at work birthing the world of 4:20 to the end.

A voice recorder, eh? but one that is over $200?! What's the point? Why not just get something meant to record music? You see this is a cloud over my head. Most of the recordings I've posted here are dreadful...recorded on a $60 Olympus I bought at an office store with the great and noble intention (totally, totally ignorant!) to record classes, sermons, and yes music...yes to record music and actually get put it on CD's (I didn't know how to transfer my tapes.). There's an era of my life badly recorded on this little Olympus...some of it quite comical because I don't hold back.

But it sounds good to my ears, your recording. I can't argue with that!

[lostinidlewonder]

Okay I'm home and listening. The chord I referred to is at 1:57, a world all its own, one of those moments, just a moment, that imprints itself to the memory, and the mind plays it back obsessively. Such moments are unique buts to hold onto in music.

It's like a minor of the chord that was played before it. Funny how different parts of the music stand out for different people. When I listen to my recorded improvisations inside my head I often cycle through the bits that stand out to me, I really find that this is a very useful tool for compositions (something I have not focused on seriously yet).

At 4:20 on it seems to have arrived at that moment of that unconscious (or is it super-conscious) zone common to improvisation...its as if all the E's and what surrounded it in the first 4 movements were at work birthing the world of 4:20 to the end.

Those downward moving notes to me sounded like multiple voices (~3) even though it is a single string of notes. I find it difficult to maintain an improvisation with many voices because often inside my head I get confused or listen to a particular one more than the other thus the others fail.

A voice recorder, eh? but one that is over $200?! What's the point? Why not just get something meant to record music? You see this is a cloud over my head.

Yeah well it was a present I would have never bought it for that price! They where over in China so I am sure they got it for a lot less than that. It is actually the best voice recorder I have ever come across, sitting in a room far away from a speaker, this recorder can center in on the voice and amplify it, so if you stand 20 meters from the source or 1 meter from the source there is almost no observable difference. I found it really cool, but for recording piano music it is too sensitive.

Most of the recordings I've posted here are dreadful...recorded on a $60 Olympus I bought at an office store with the great and noble intention (totally, totally ignorant!) to record classes, sermons, and yes music...yes to record music and actually get put it on CD's (I didn't know how to transfer my tapes.). There's an era of my life badly recorded on this little Olympus...some of it quite comical because I don't hold back.

The recording of my INSIDE THE PIANO and the improv attached to that was recorder with a $5 microphone resting right inside the piano. And the quality is pretty good I thought! I have a $300 microphone that I bought many years ago, but my bloody bird ate through the wire (still have to get it fixed lol)!