All Episodes

This was the first time I played for an entirely virtual audience! The debates are on (and I'm about to tune in) so I wasn't surprised. Interestingly, I definitely had a bit harder time getting past my go-to default sounds, but I think there were some good moments in there. Enjoy.

Had some fun tonight with folk-type melodies. We all have these archetypical tunes in our heads, so how to play with them without being stereotypical of the archetypes? You decide if it worked!

Sometimes you have to break something to break through to something. I was feeling like I was plagiarizing myself, so I took the playing to a kind of crazy place, and then, true enough, came to a place that felt authentic, where I could just let the music evolve as it needed to. 

Kept hearing a little buzz tonight; stopped and started a few times but ultimately had to just embrace it and keep going! Maybe I played a little louder tonight to compensate. Had some fun with bluesy and Broadway sounds. 

Glad to squeeze an episode in tonight! Had some new listeners too. Just came off a week playing for dancers at Noyes School of Rhythm (www.noyesrhythm.org) so the music may be a little more "elemental". You be the judge; enjoy!

Once again enjoying the fresh tuning by master tuner and pianist Victor La Gamma. Whenever it's so perfect I automatically fall into playing lots of basic triads and simple harmonies because it just sounds so sweet. Enjoy. 
No Piano Meditations next two weeks.

Just family in the audience tonight; my mother-in-law asked for some Scott Joplin and I happened to have a rag in the repertoire. I sort of kept with the "oompah" bass for a while, which turned into a version of the jazz tune "Black Orpheus", and in honor of Independence Day did a medley of "America" mixed with John Lennon's "Yesterday". Enjoy.

New guests tonight! Kind of went all over the place; tonal, twisted, waltzy. Sometimes I just felt like being a little random...

Just hanging with chord progressions. Enjoy!

Still really digging into the romantic; I'm having a good time exploring counterpoint with double melodies and inner voicings. Some kind of musical theater thing showed up, too. Enjoy.

Audience of one! But that's who's actually in my living room; seeing some nice statistics of the podcast! 677 listeners yesterday, 4577 just this week. Keeps me motivated. Tonight I made more "mistakes" but I was also more "into it"; following the energy and really feeling involved in the music. Enjoy.

Apologies if you tried to listen with a previous upload; something happened where it was shortened and/or was playing part of another night's music. This should be the whole evening. I'm going to listen all the way through to make sure! 

For the first time tonight I wasn't feeling a desire to play; I knew people would be watching on FB Live, so I didn't just blow it off. But then two people from the neighborhood came! Sure enough, it was great to just focus on making music for 45 minutes. Enjoy.
 

Still in a "romantic" phase; channeling my inner Puccini or Verdi! :)
It just feels so good to play these rich chords and linger on them; I can't help it! One piece I tried to have some percussive hand switching with repeated notes, but I could really feel my limitations rhythmically. Still kept going even though it felt awkward. I've learned that most of the time when I listen back it doesn't sound nearly as terrible as I think it does when it's happening!

I seemed to tend towards "romantic" sounds tonight; it could just as accurately be described as schmaltz, sappy, sentimental, etc, but I think I'll stick with "romantic". At a few points I was imagining the melody being sung by an operatic tenor, so, there you go. Enjoy.