All Episodes

Interesting note to self; whenever we have newcomers I seem to go towards more bombastic playing. Not necessarily all louder or faster, but more insistent and driving. Maybe I don't want to put them to sleep. In any case, most of the music tonight felt very "traditional"; just going with chord changes and harmonies that supported simple melodies. Enjoy.

Most of the evening was devoted to standards. I'm teaching piano and music theory to someone who has been coming fairly regularly to Piano Meditations, and she was saying she planned to make requests, so I pre-empted her by playing the few standards I actually know! I finished with a few free improvs. Enjoy!

I'm finding a kind of sound and way of playing that is yielding new territory but is still comfortable to play; namely, giving my left hand less to do so I have more mental space to explore with the right hand. It's amazing how just a simple repeated note in the left hand can be enough of a foundation to give the melody plenty of support. 

Quiet night tonight with two new guests. I felt like I was playing it safe, staying in comfortable zones, playing phrases and chord progressions I've done before. And yet, even so, whenever I feel this way, it's always just "new enough" that I didn't feel like I was plagiarizing myself, which is a good thing. The one "cocktail piano" style piece I did really didn't feel like it went anywhere, but you be the judge. Enjoy.

Update: yesterdays' post of this episode only included 18 minutes; here is the full evening.
It's funny; after a two week hiatus because the house was being painted, it felt like I was going to have no clue how to dive in and improvise. But there is something about having an audience that changes the whole equation; knowing people are listening changes my own listening, and once again music appears out of nowhere. 

Had a new visitor tonight; this is starting to happen more frequently!
I am editing out conversation and applause so the podcast is just the music. Also, tonight I tried a cool idea; i took an app on my iPad and mirrored it to Apple TV which sent sound through our stereo speakers, and then played a cello sample on the iPad while using the other hand to play piano. Fun! Then I gave the iPad to a friend in the audience and we did a duet. On other pieces I tried playing in 5/8 and 7/8. That's always challenging for me to stick with the meter and not shift it to something more "regular". 

Nice crowd again tonight! We're going with a "hold applause till the end" format, so the recording includes whatever time is between the pieces. Tonight's music tended towards one particular feel; I didn't try to mix it up for variety's sake. 

Big audience tonight! We had new guests and others that had said they would come someday, and voilá! The piano is still purring with new tuning and voicing; really went for the impressionist sonorities tonight, as well as a crazy waltz. Enjoy.

Starting the second year of Piano Meditations with the Steinway just tuned and voiced by master tuner and pianist Victor LaGamma. On some pieces I just felt like listening to the sound of chords ringing in perfect tune! We had a new guest which is always fun. The first piece is a rendition of Simple Gifts in honor of Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

Okay, tonight marks a full year of episodes! I started in August 2017, but with vacation and other stuff it took more than a year to get to this point. My phone was on low power and didn't make it through the night recording to Facebook, but you podcasters get the whole thing. Enjoy!

I wanted to focus on "groove" tonight; to try and get into the rhythmic pulse of the music and follow it from there. It felt a little strange not "developing" a theme, and just improvising over a couple of chords or a steady beat, but it also felt free, which I guess is the point! 

50th episode! We had some new folks tonight. It's an interesting process just allowing the music to unfold the way it wants to without worrying whether I'm keeping listeners engaged. At some point it could become too self-indulgent, I guess, but so far people seem to stay with it. The last piece was very slow, then went into an atonal contrapuntal frenzy before returning to slow, simple chords. While it was happening I began to wonder if it was maybe becoming a little boring, but after it was over the consensus was that it still held their attention. 

Interesting evening; felt very distracted with everything else going on in life and I didn't feel particularly inspired with what I was improvising. So, I mixed it up and went with some very different approaches, and ultimately was able to get into a flow with the music. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes a struggle, but that's what makes it interesting for me, and hopefully anyone listening!