All Episodes

I had the great pleasure of making music tonight with my friend Jennie Fong, flutist. We kept to the "no plan" approach and explored several different tonalities and feelings. I edited out the dialogue in between pieces, so you may hear the applause stop abruptly. Enjoy!
 

We had a completely different evening for this week's episode! We hosted the Vera Quartet, a wonderful string ensemble that began at Indiana University and is poised for success. They shared more music with the audience, but it was not recorded due to copyright by the composer. It was an amazing experience to be so close to the musicians and be able to catch the tiniest nuances in the music. A big Thank You to the musicians! Please learn more about them at www.veraquartet.com. Look them up on Facebook and follow their progress!

Had some new guests tonight; I felt the impulse to give them something satisfying, and as a consequence it felt like I was covering familiar territory so it didn't feel quite as spontaneous. I didn't make the mistake of stopping midway through a piece however, and tried to stay with what seemed to be happening with the music. 

Went a little "out there" tonight, had fun. Enjoy!

Tonight's music went to familiar and unfamiliar places; I fell into a rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and played a Blues, but in other pieces there were some harmonies I found tonight that were surprising. I enjoy exploring melodic lines that are spread between the hands and each have their own direction; you never know what sounds will happen. In another piece I took the shape of Bach's Prelude #1 and made new harmonies. Enjoy.

Tonight's episode begins with the sound of rain, says my friend Phil. Another piece is a free frolic over just a few chords, and another is a chorale that goes every which direction. There's a sort of Samuel Barber sounding piece, and I ended with a minor key honky-tonk thing reminiscent of "Turn Back, Oh Man" from Godspell. Enjoy!

Glad to be back to Wednesday night Piano Meditations! I took a break for three weeks to act in a show, "The Secret Garden" at Bedford Community Theater. 
I used my phone to stream tonight's music live on Facebook, but forgot to record the piano using my high-quality digital recorder, so I had to download the video from Facebook, extract the audio and upload to the podcast, so tonight's episode may not sound quite as good. In any case, here it is!
 

Tonight was a wide mix of modal ruminations, frenetic chromatic turbulence and introspective ballads. Feel free to fast-forward if a particular piece is not what you're in the mood for! All I can say is, it comes with the territory!

Went out on a limb a bit tonight with the first piece; I wanted to try a more contempory sonata-type structure, and then contrast it with two more movements. I was challenged technically in trying to reach for what I was hearing, but it was definitely fun to go for it! The rest of the evening was "wildly melodic" as our friend Lee put it. Enjoy.

The humidity is making several of the piano keys "lazy". so tonight I was more focused on watery, dreamy sounds. It's fun to get going with a certain feel, then just literally go with the flow. The last piece is cut short because the batteries ran out on the digital audio recorder! Most of it came through.

I had heard some groovin' Keith Jarett earlier today and had to start with a nod to my hero. Tried some atonal dancey stuff and definitely went for the shmaltz at one point. Enjoy.

It's nice to be playing at home again on the Steinway Model B. Tonight we had hints of Debussy, Pachelbel, a touch of Spain and maybe Dr. John! Enjoy.

This episode was recorded in CA at the community center on September 13th, where we had the memorial service for my father two days later. You can hear the pedal squeaking a bit, but I think it still came out very nicely. It was impossible to upload it to the podcast until we came home. You just can't move 45 minutes of audio through the free wifi at Super 8...

Tonight's music is dedicated to the memory of my dad who just passed away. The music had some intended feelings and/or memories, but also unconcious connections or associations. 

Tonight the energy was a little more subdued and tended toward the romantic; longer melodic lines and more traditional harmonies. Enjoy!