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Bonus Episode! I am a pianist at the Noyes Rhythm camp in Portland, CT for over 35 years, and I offered a Piano Meditations evening as an auction item for a fundraiser. The person who was highest bidder decided to open it up to the whole community, so I livestreamed it on Facebook. At the camp, the evening activity is a "Playtime", where the dancers come down to the dance space (the Pavalon) nestled in the woods and open on all sides. Kerosene lanterns light the floor and the pianist plays jazz, ragtime, classical music and improvisations on the grand piano. It's truly magical; so tonight the music was meant to evoke that setting and provide the impetus to dance. Enjoy.

Happy Inauguration Day! I for one am very happy to have a new administration. It also happened to be my birthday.. Tonight's music was for dancing and feeling good! 

Ok back to (mostly) mellow. A number of tunes crept in tonight; see if you can spot them! Some are actually the tune, others are snippets. Tonight's last piece was a riff on the melodic shape of Bach's Prelude #1. 

Sometimes you have to shake it up. "Meditations" doesn't necessarily mean "mellow". I make bigger mistakes when I'm playing fast or in uncharted territory, but that's half the reason I started doing this in the first place. And as my old improv teacher Anne Farber once said, "There are no mistakes in improvisation, just new directions". So there you go.

Well, I took a break, and I sort of thought it might be time to move on to other musical projects, but I missed the process! Plus, by now there are many subscribers to this podcast, and I have to believe people are enjoying the music, so, let's keep going! 

Happy Holidays and first day after the Winter Solstice! Tonight's music had a few familiar tunes circling around, and I went for some sparkly sounds and bell chimes. I love how "Ain't Misbehavin" and "Santa Claus is Comin' to town" have the same chord progression. Enjoy.

I'm still not sure if i'm back to a new episode every week, but it actually feels like I'm missing something if it doesn't happen! I personally enjoy listening back myself, so it's almost like I buy a new CD each week...
I know a lot of people enjoy listening to the podcast while cooking, doing yoga, having tea, etc, so I tend to not get too bombastic; plus, when I really start playing fast I can't truly hear where the music wants to go, and I fall into "rote" phrases that I know I can play rather than listening deeply to the direction of the music. In any case, enjoy!

I decided to take a break from making a new episode weekly, as you may know. At this point I may repost a previous episode, or make a new one! The piano was just tuned by the great Victor LaGamma, so naturally I wanted to share the beautiful richness that this piano has. Enjoy.

I asked my wife if there was anything she'd like to hear tonight and she said she'd like to hear the kind of brooding minor sounds from "Game of Thrones". We also talked about Cinema Paradiso tonight, so the theme was circling around. Whatever was happening in the moment I tried to let it go where it willed, but every now and then brought back a main chord or motif. I'm realizing I should change the intro, too, by the way. Aside from the piano being badly out of tune, friends and neighbors don't come over, we don't have wine, and I actually never go for an hour. OK, I'll get to that soon.
 

Really feeling dance phrasing tonight; Four bars, chord progressions, predictable melodic contours, the whole thing. Naturally, a lot of songs suggested themselves so I explored them a bit. "Michelle", a touch of "Yesterday", a melody from Jesus Christ Superstar, I think even the theme from All Things Considered. In any case, I was imagining my dancing friends from Noyes School of Rhythm who sometimes use these evenings as their "Playtime". Hope I made you move! Enjoy.

Went a little out there tonight! Hope this isn't being listened to during a spa or actual meditation! Even so, I gotta break out a little now and then and work my fingers into some unfamiliar territory. And who knows; it happens rather often that I think I'm going crazy when I'm playing, but listening back it actually sounds like it makes sense. Go figure. There's plenty of mellow stuff in tonight's episode as well. Enjoy.
 

My sonic palate seems to be centering around a set number of "archetypical" approaches; I don't feel as if I'm copying myself, and I do get into the emotional feel of the music, so I'm certainly not bothered by it, but at the same time, I'm not trying to push boundaries or stretch my technical abilities. Part of me feels like I'm being lazy or getting into a rut, but the other part is like, "I'm playing exactly what I feel like playing, so what's wrong with that? Absolutely nothing!" Enjoy.

Knowing I have a few friends who like to dance to Piano Meditations definitely influences what I play sometimes! Tonight I played around with seconds (as in notes next to each other) and triple meters. It felt more "dancey" so of course I just went with it. I tried a little bouncy two-step at the end. Those can be hard because they pull so strongly into "functional harmony" which tends to box me in, but it's a fun challenge nonetheless. Enjoy.

Felt a little off tonight, but I know better than to judge it while it's happening! The humidity is making some notes stick and I have a squeak in the pedal, so I may have just been distracted. In any case, tonight music went pretty mellow for the most part. A few quotes worked their way in; "Still Crazy After All These Years", and some camp song about the Titanic going down. Go figure...

Had a few family members come for dinner and stay for the music. Opened all the windows for the best ventilation, so of course tonight's music became a duet with the sounds of nightlife outside. Enjoy!