Three short pieces in one

[Derek]

More and more I'm learning that my best improvisation actually involves preparation. Not for specific "whats" but my "how" seems to do better when I "practice" it for a while and then make a recording. It doesn't seem to just work well out of the box, always. At least this seems to be true for the romantic style, which in my case, I find that I enjoy working pretty hard to absorb the language of the great masters. However, I also find this does not seem to take away from "derekness." I recently realized that I'm a "mimic" in many ways, I also unwittingly imitate people's voices and mannerisms in person (so far nobody has taken note of it, but I imagine it probably annoys sometimes). I'm also good at imitating accents. So what I'm realizing is that, imitation is a natural part of who I am musically, but at the same time, I think I have my own unique fingerprint.

[utterlysneaky]

Listening to these now, very soothing cuz it's 1am over here. I especially like the first piece,
it could actually be a Scriabin prelude from his op11. And then again it couldn't, because I hear more of your own sound-world..

[rachfan]

Hi Derek,

I very much like all three miniatures.  They're wonderful improvisations!  Very ecletic in style too making them sound fresh.  Sometimes I would hear the polyrhythms of the late romantics, a touch of Orientalism here or there, but mostly your own creativity.

Practicing an improvisation has benefits, as I think about it now. It becomes more formalized in the mind of the pianist enabling more focus on specific musical intents which come across in the playing.  And by giving it more precision and polish, it's almost certainly going to be more convincing to the listener.  

Poulenc was one of the greatest improvisors ever.  For his improvisations he especially liked, he would carefully practice them and then present them to some of his musician friends in an informal recital at his home.  If one or two drew a lot of praise, he'd then later add some more structure, write out the score to transform it into a composition, and send it along to his publisher.  

Excellent improvising!

David

  

[kolme662]

Hi Derek,

I absolutely adore your improvisations. These three are calm and peaceful, they seem to flow forward meaningfully and dynamically. You don't fuss here and there (as I tend to do), you listen to yourself and pick interesting harmonical passages AND you have your own sound. A little impressionistic, but still in the tonal frames. I wish I could find some of your peacefulness. Thank you!

Emma

[Derek]

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it. 

[chopinatic]

Prep. has paid off here, i felt some emotions in your music that i have honestly never heard in your music before, there were parts that i cant pin point, due to being involved in what i was hearing, that really sent a chill down me. Gorgeous melodies and harmonies and beautiful. Thanks for this derek!

[Derek]

I'm not sure everyone understands what I mean by preparation. No music in the actual recording you hear was prepared or thought about beforehand; I simply mean warming up to a particular feeling or style or technique...in a vague sense. Perhaps it is better called "warming up" than preparation...

[lostinidlewonder]

Wow so good very good, you really hit the nail on the head for the first one so well that it sounds like a composition. Some people would puzzle for a long time to come up with some of the beautiful connections you made between the hands and the choice of progressions. The 2nd one took a little bit to wake up so to say, but as it grew and became wonderful to bask within it all of a sudden ended! The stepping sound of the 3rd was interesting and it would have been nice to hear some deeper registry to bring it up to some climactic point. Your first pieces outshines the others so much so that they sounds so much lesser in my opinion, however if they where posted away from the first they would be outstanding!