Piano Rhapsody

[Mark Walsen (markwa)]

Hello,

A couple of months ago I recorded a 15-minute improvisation on my Yamaha Disklavier. It has pleased me more than any improvisations I've ever recorded, and probably more than any composition I've written. So, I decided to go public with it at: www.soundclick.com/markwalsen (http://www.soundclick.com/markwalsen)

This piece is in a neo-Romantic style, different from the few other pieces I've shown in the forum. This piece is way off the path of mainstream musical tastes, even among folk who like classical music. So, I don't have high expectations that there will be mobs of people loving this. But if there are just a few folk that enjoy it, then it will be worth my effort to put it up on SoundClicks.

I very much intend to mold this improvisation into a composition. I won't mess with the structure and themes of the piece much. Mostly, I'll fix the inevitable wrong notes in the improvisation. For most ears, the whole piece will sound like wrong notes-- I'm won't be changing the notes that much :-)

Please understand that I realize MidiNotate is generally not used for this kind of contemporary classical music, although it can be. I envision MidiNotate being used by folk like you, and for the wide variety of music styles you all enjoy.

Cheers
-- Mark

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Howdy Mark,

The sound of the mp3 is great. So where's the .not or .mid? Do you mind sharing it so we can watch your progress in molding it, or would you rather wait til it's all done?

ttfn,
Sherry

[Mark Walsen (markwa)]

Hi Sherry,

Well, the notation is too ugly to show until I tap in the beats on top of the performance. As you know, the rhythms for a metronomeless recording are meaningless.

It might be a very long time before I find time to clean up the improvisation and mold it into a composition. For now, it's probably better for me to just horse around on the piano when I have small chunks of time, and if I feel so inspired, record the improvisation. Over the next few years I'll gather some improvisations that hopefully I'll get around to using for compositions, and also orchestrating for other instruments and ensembles besides the solo piano.

Cheers
-- Mark

[David Jacklin (dj)]

Hi, Mark!

Very enjoyable piece -- many moods and lots of intensity. Once again, your keyboard prowess impresses me mightily.

As Sherry said, the sound quality is excellent -- even with the LoFi MP3 that I downloaded with my steam-age modem connection. What miking did you use to record it?

Thanks for sharing it with us.

David

[M G Jacobs (mgj32)]

Hi Mark,

I don't know about "mobs of people loving this." But the potential audience is surely more than "just a few folk." It fits into the clan which includes Gershwin and Ravel, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, Stravinsky and George Shearing, and quite a few others. So I don't imagine I am anywhere near alone in finding the piece compelling.

Perhaps the most striking feature is the profusion of melody. The moodiness is interesting--agitation, contemplation, even gloom, but never a break-out of joy. That, of course, is subjective.

The possibilities for orchestral/piano interplay seem plentiful. It would be very interesting to hear this, or parts of it maybe, developed, although if two hearings aren't enough to see it clearly, I get a sense of a structural unity that makes it complete, as is. The build up to the ending reminds me greatly of the climaxes of Tchaikovsky's Bb Minor, Prokofiev's 3rd, a couple of Rachmaninoffs, Grieg's and Schumann's piano concerti. I wonder if you intended the "Romantic" ending.

I hope you can make more time for things such as this.

all best,
mgj

[Mark Walsen (markwa)]

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

[David Jacklin (dj)]

Hi, Mark:

Had me fooled! The ambience was such that I could have sworn the piece was acoustic. GPO is impressive.

I agree with M.G.: an arrangement for piano and orchestra has lots of possibilities.