Sketches for Piano

[ranjit]

Tried to create a set of shorter improvisations here.

[ted]

I am about half way through this and so far I find them quite charming. Simple yes, but there is a coherence and definition which wasn't there previously. Aside from its purely physical aspect, which has improved,  your left hand is becoming part of the musical idea stream. So many improvisers think through one hand, usually the right, but thinking through both is so much more interesting, almost as if there is one hand with ten fingers, any of which is liable to do duty anywhere. 

[ranjit]

I'm really glad to hear that the increased coherence comes across! I remember about a year ago, I realized from one of your messages here that my playing simply wasn't coherent enough. I find that working quite traditionally ironically helps my creativity more than trying to be creative. Perhaps I should take up fugue composition.

I find that a characteristic of mine is that whatever classical music I work on finds its analog in my improvisations. And recently I'd been working on a Bach prelude and fugue, which is where some finger substitution/multiple voices ideas in the left hand come from, as well as the increased ability to think and phrase.

[ted]

I forgot to mention that you are also starting to allow certain notes to “sing”, to stand out, through either volume or displacement, which gives the music a vital, “three dimensional” quality. This was pointed out to me regarding my own recordings by a fellow improviser. Uniformity and smoothness, while traditionally fine ideals for purely physical execution and technical practice, can be destructive to idea generation and rhythmic life in free improvisation. Moreover, which features should stand out doesn’t seem to be amenable to conscious decision in improvisation in the same way as it is with playing a piece. It just seems to happen, which is a puzzle, at least for me.