Warmup improvisation

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Getting my fingers working

before the audience arrive..

[lelle]

Awesome skills man 

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Thanks  Always a pleasure to improvise pre-concert!

[lelle]

Does it get you in the mood or in the zone for playing well in concert?

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Basically it's just a form of relaxation, and I'm doing what comes naturally to me. I'm usually far more likely to be nervous actually playing repertoire pieces, no matter how much I've worked on them. Tbh I've seriously considered starting a concert with an improvisation.

[ted]

...Tbh I've seriously considered starting a concert with an improvisation.

If it's good enough for Jarrett it's good enough for you, I say try it. I realise your primary purpose was physical and mostly technique but the exquisite moment at 2:05 to 2:09 is a drop of the "Wright" stuff I like to hear.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I keep meaning to make improvisation a definite part of a recital, but for reasons outwith my control, concert opportunities have not been at their best of late..

[lostinidlewonder]

Nice job ronde! That's a mean "warm up" to say the least haha! I like your arpeggio fill ins, they sound tasteful and nice dramatic melodic lines!! ^_^

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Basically I'm just appropriating a very Lisztian type of texture with the arpeggios. I forgot to add some thirds into the technical mix! 

[quantum]

Well that sounded very relaxing!   

I sense that good ideas tend to pop up when one's mind is in a state that it feels at ease letting the music lead the direction.  When one does not have to feel pressured into producing formally.  It is a warm up after all, but such elegant music is a delight to the ears.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I sense that good ideas tend to pop up when one's mind is in a state that it feels at ease letting the music lead the direction. 

Yes, I think that is very true. I increasingly incline towards the idea of starting a concert with such an item, because I think it will put me in the optimal mindset for performing, better even than doing this, then having to go fiddle around with equipment and hide backstage for 15 mins 

[ranjit]

I really like the way you work with three-hand textures, and it's something I've tried to appropriate for my improvisations as well (sadly, I can't process things quickly enough to pull it off most often). It does indeed sound very relaxing, and this is the kind of thing I do a lot to loosen up at the piano too.

[gipsypiano]

sounds great.
some time ago i also recorded a moment of warming up

stay young.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Thanks to both of you.

I really like the way you work with three-hand textures, and it's something I've tried to appropriate for my improvisations as well (sadly, I can't process things quickly enough to pull it off most often).

Maybe I can make a suggestion here. In three-headed textures, a good general rule (eg Thalberg Moses) is that on the strong beat (ie the first of the bar) the bass is the lh, the melody note is the rh, and elsewhere the melody is in the lh. You can practice this technique *without* the arpeggios so that you get the feel for the mechanics, then all you have to do is train the rh to do the filler arpeggios or scales or whatever (arpeggios are of course the most common) over the top of everything. I think it helps to view the rh arpeggio as a gesture which takes up a unit of time equivalent to a bar, rather than breaking it down into 32nd notes or whatever the number of notes in the arpeggio.

[ranjit]

Maybe I can make a suggestion here. In three-headed textures, a good general rule (eg Thalberg Moses) is that on the strong beat (ie the first of the bar) the bass is the lh, the melody note is the rh, and elsewhere the melody is in the lh. You can practice this technique *without* the arpeggios so that you get the feel for the mechanics, then all you have to do is train the rh to do the filler arpeggios or scales or whatever (arpeggios are of course the most common) over the top of everything. I think it helps to view the rh arpeggio as a gesture which takes up a unit of time equivalent to a bar, rather than breaking it down into 32nd notes or whatever the number of notes in the arpeggio.

Thank you! Yes, I definitely see how that makes sense. I've realized more recently that there typically is one predominant hand which plays the melody, playing over 80% of the notes, and the other fills in the rest.