Improvisation "Fire"

[williampiano]

A new improvisation of mine. I hope you enjoy.

[williampiano]

*bump*

What do you guys think? It didn't get overly positive reception over on PianoWorld. What about here?

[pianoguy711]

very eclectic! jazzy in some spots, rock-like in others.  Using the same harmonic progression over and over makes it hard to explore other territory though; it can be done though, like in a Bach Chaconne.  You have to work on that pedaling! Don't use it as a crutch, your harmonies start to blur to much.  The tone you created at the 10 min mark was very nice, I cant see if it was true legato but work on achieving that more.  Also, you can be percussive on the piano without banging.

[jamesplayspiano]

Very nice, williampiano!

I like the variation and "drama" that unfolds. Nice combinations of styles, as pianoguy711 pointed out. Has a "Tim Burton" (meaning Danny Elfman) vibe to it, to me. I agree that it comes off as a little "loud," but that could be the recording. If it's not just the recording, I'd submit that the "bigger" parts can sound even bigger if we have quieter spots to contrast them with. It's the whole "the mountains look high only because the valleys are so deep" kind of thing.

Another thought, for what it's worth: I hear you playing a lot with the #4 note (C#). I think that's a great thing to explore in minor pieces like this, calling to mind certain dark classical works and also elements of jazz (because of the #4 in the blues scale). If I had to guess, though, I'd say that you may have been thinking of it in sort of bluesy terms sometimes, because you often resolved it upwards to 5 (D), in a way that seemed sort of "independent" of the harmony (as blues players, in effect, often do). This is not always a bad thing, but I kept hearing one sort of "trap" that you seemed to fall into. Your basic chord progression was centered around i VI ii° V in G minor, which was great. However, when you go to the VI (Eb) chord, that pesky #4-5 thing can be problematic. Playing C# makes the chord sound like an Eb7, but playing D makes it sound like Ebmaj7. They're both great chords to use in this context, but for whatever it's worth, my ears kept being "disturbed" by the ambiguity here. I kept wanting you to pick, either EbMaj7 or Eb7, at least for that particular "pass." You could change on the next pass, but I didn't like how that note (the seventh of the Eb chord) didn't feel very "stable." That is, often, a single pass felt like:

| Gm | Eb7ormaybeEbMaj7 | Am7b5 | D7 |

And that was because your right hand was shifting between C# and D.

Just my two cents! Either way, good job on a nice piece!

James