Meditation 1

Liner Notes

Improvisation and Recording

Let me say I have been conflicted since the beginning, about recording any of these improvisations. Improvisation is in the moment, and can, and does change every time something is played, even if it follows a general structure, the actual presentation and delivery is naturally different and follows the flow of the moment.  I felt that recording and replaying froze the "performance" and pushed it in the direction of just that, a performance that would be repeated when the recording is played back.  Playback is not improvisation. But it (the process and delivery) is rather difficult to describe in words, what I mean, and I don't always have a keyboard or piano nearby, so I started to record some items so I could show people what I mean. Sharing them remains fun for me, and hopefully enjoyable for some.  I did get some early feedback from early sharing which was a great clarification for me, that this is "not for everyone":  the response was "your piano is out of tune and it hurts my ears."  So I moved on to sharing with others., some have expressed they did enjoy the playing, others perhaps too kind to say that they didn't like it.

Origin Story

Early in 2023, I was visiting a friend at an assisted living facility, and had some time in the lobby, and I just played these improvisational threads for about 10 minutes.  I remember it was based on the chord sequence for Pachabel's Canon in D (but shifted down to C because the fingering was all on white keys and so much easier). After I finished and we were saying our goodbyes, someone came over to say "thank you for playing".  People do that to encourage visitors, I think, to play music, and if it's pleasant, to play there again.  What followed was that they said "I could not stop crying the entire time you were playing."  Wow.  Something must have triggered an emotional memory and brought up an emotional response. That's when I decided I should just go ahead and record some more improvisations and share them more widely, in the hope that one or more of these will evoke something, maybe not tears, but a degree of comfort and calm for someone.

And Even Before That

I had come across this way of improvising by watching and reading the material related to "Improvise for Real" and its related YouTube content. There is a free newsletter, but the breakthrough for me was purchasing the book and reading it through.  (It's available in many libraries, so check it out if you're not sure.)  I have only scratched the surface of the content, but I am completely sold on the idea that anyone can improvise by following their method.  The result are these two improvisational albums of piano playing. Thank you, David, for starting me on this path.

It's All I Can Do

It's all I can do to play relatively slowly, because I don't think that quickly.  And perhaps it's time to explore something new entirely.  But for now, please do enjoy these calming, meditational improvisations. I hope they help you relax at the end of a long day.  I tell people "the most work you should be doing when listening to these tracks, is to reach for your cup of tea."  Am I pushing myself? Should I push myself harder?  Perhaps, or perhaps not, but then it would depart from the whole point of calming.