Piano Rhapsody

Hello David and M.G.,

Miking? I recorded this as MID, not audio, I on my Yamaha Disklavier, the luxurious toy I bought for myself 12 years, and which my wife still reminds be about :-) Actually, she doesn't begrudge me that piano, she just thinks I should get rid of my other Yamaha grand I bought just a few months before I met her about 25 years ago, just in the knick of time, as it would otherwise had been a down payment on a house, which we could not afford for another 10 years.

But I have digressed.

I sent the MIDI over the cable to recording by Composer. Then I played back the MIDI through GPO's Steinway samples.

I could have my Yamaha Disklavier play back the MIDI, and I have heard the acoustic playback of this piece several times. Unfortunately, my Disklavier is in pretty bad tune right now, so the sampled Steinway actually sounds better than a live playback from my Disklavier. Also, the playback on my Disklavier seems to want to hold the pedal longer that I thought I was playing. Or, maybe I'm heavier on the pedal than I realize. I'm always complaining about other pianists that use too much pedal.

M.G., I surprised myself that the 15-minute improv had the sort of structure that I wish I could develop in slow-time composing. More than anything else, this experience showed me that if I put my head into it, which I was doing during the improvisation, I can tackle the larger structural goals at the same time that I'm working at the details. Because the improv flies by so fast, I can't be obsessed with every little detail (hence a lot of wrong notes), otherwise the more important bigger pieces are lost. I'm not claiming that I had any idea what the structure would be when I started the improvisation. But as a piece evolves, certain structural things need to happen to achieve some desired balance between recalling the familiar and branching into new territory. For most ears, there is probably way too little recalling of the familiar and too much seeming randomness. For me, however, this was just the kind of balance I wish I could accomplish every time I sit down to improvise.

I'm pretty certain that I'll work this into a composition, initially just for piano. I won't be capable of playing it, unfortunately. The notes "fit the hands" well for an accomplished pianist, except for some rapid chord sequences going up and down the keyboard-- they're killers pianistically, although they have some musical logic that will make them easier to memorize. After cleaning this up as a piano composition, I would also like to orchestrate it; but I don't know yet whether the piano should be in the orchestration. It would be a good exercise for me to leave the piano out, as I'm too piano-centric.

Cheers
-- Mark