CD79, track 2, second half

[ted]

I have not posted any recordings for ages so here is the second half of one from last month. I usually only start to get excited after the first ten minutes anyway. Now that my technique continues to strengthen, I am trying to put it to work by expanding my vocabulary of playing forms, especially in the matter of non-notatable rhythm. My interest in a priori structure of any sort continues to diminish; organic form, on the other hand, I find increasingly vital and fascinating.

[furtwaengler]

Perpetual motion in your improvs, and changes occurring so naturally its hard to mark where one idea ends and the next begins.

[ted]

Thanks for listening. Your observation pleases me because I too have noticed a tendency away from discrete cell boundaries and toward continuous change. In the beginning it was unconscious but now I am working on it consciously. Contrast and similarity are both important, of course. I thought your comparison, some weeks ago, to a river, most apposite by the way.

[fumblefinger]

Hi Ted, I am new here and I am very glad I found your improvisation. I Love it. Wish I could see you perform it, I am very impressed with your technique as well as your freedom of expression on the instrument.

I will try and find other work from you. Also loved the cigar tin thing!

[ted]

Thank you for listening and I am pleased you like my music. Although I wrote a large number of pieces in past years, spontaneous creation suits my sort of mind better, and I have therefore devoted much time and effort to it, especially over the last few years. Thank you for your kind remarks about my technique. I have never had any tuition for that, and have maintained it with my Virgil Practice Clavier. Without forty-five years of using that wonderful device I doubt I would now have the means to rip out ideas as they occur. Alas, a completely home-grown technique is bound to have some deficiencies, one of several of mine being a very inept legato.

Power in improvisation actually comes within a very critical range and balance of freedom and discipline. One without the other is no good, or so I have found.