What's "better?"

So, other than laying it all down at once, how does one practice a particular element of improv?  Clearly there are ways to go about it, right?  Exercises, I suppose?

I come from a world where it's fairly easy to break down an idea and repeat it until it's ingrained.  But that's with pre-written music.  What do you do when the subject is so abstract?  Technique is one thing, but I feel like the difficult part of improv is in the snap decision making.

How do you train yourself to think in terms of motivic or rhythmic development?  How do you practice the conscious layering of sound?  I feel like I can do one or two layers, but beyond that, I get stuck.  And once I've played a motive once or twice, how do I change it?  I've tried doing inversions, and retrogrades, and things like that, but I really am lost when I try to take ideas beyond their simpler versions.

Is it better to lead an improv purely how the sound wants to move?  Or is it better to have an outline of what you want to happen?  What makes for a better overall piece of music?  Is it better to go in a direction that feels comfortable and natural, or is it better to take it into some unknown, scary, and difficult place?  Is it better to forget the word "better?"

I've had people tell me that one just needs to let go of everything, and allow whatever is in there to come out.  I can understand that point of view, but at the same time, will you really be able to realize your potential if you don't push yourself beyond what you've got?  And sure, maybe there are people out there that will enjoy what I play for what it is at the moment, but is that selling myself short, and simply being satisfied with something that I consider mediocre?  Ach!  Curses!  The disposition of a classical pianist coming through... that perfectionist attitude is really getting in my way!

I'm putting two on here today.  The first one is an attempt at doing something a little bit more rhythmic, which I haven't really been doing much of lately on here.  I'm not very satisfied with it, but there are a couple of nice moments.  You may hear some Prokofiev in there.  The second one is much more to my liking, but it is so much like so many of the other improvs I've been doing lately.  I suppose there's nothing wrong with that... maybe it's where I have some strength, but I do want to try to have a little variety.  It's more or less self-indulgence into the sonorities of the instrument, which I revel in.  Can't help it.  I love to hear the oscillations of the sound waves.

I had a nine-year old student over the other day for the first time.  He walks in, looks around for a moment and says, "You know, you're apartment is a bit small.  But for the size of the space that you have, you've really done a nice job with the place!"  Nine.

Here we go, Day 31: https://ia700705.us.archive.org/17/items/Improv91411/9_14_119_26Pm.mp3
and Day 31, Part 2: https://ia600708.us.archive.org/16/items/Improv291411/9_14_119_37Pm.mp3

Perspective.

It's all about perspective.  There's a lot I want to write about this, but seeing as how it's 3:08 am on a Wednesday morning, and I've still to do the dishes and get ready for bed, I surely can't fit it all in tonight (today).  Again, I have no excuse, except that I was, and will always be, a night owl.  That is, until I have kids, and then I will just rely on my poor, poor husband to help in the mornings when I become a bear.

But in short, I had a chat with McIntyre tonight, who is not really McIntyre, but was almost a McIntyre, and it was about stuff that I knew, but needed to hear out loud, and in words that held some weight from someone that's experienced it, and validated what I am trying to do, and where I am trying to go.

Vague?

Here we go, Day 30: https://ia700709.us.archive.org/1/items/Improv91311/9_13_117_12Pm.mp3

For the record, this still counts as Tuesday, September 13, 2011.  Because this recording was done on this day.  Just... do this for me.

Hear with eyes. See with ears.

I like the idea of starting with something that starts out just ho-hum, and then evolves into something I love.  I started today's improv without really having anything in mind except that I'd better get it down fast, because I had to leave.  While I was playing, I had thoughts of the northern lights, and so quickly the playing turned into cascades of pinks and purples flashing in entropic wavelengths across the sky, which somehow then evolved into a murky, green swamp where I could see flickers of a gold tail from some sort of fish in the water.  And I tried to show that.  I don't know if I did... but I like it!

Here we go, Day 29: https://ia600501.us.archive.org/8/items/Improv91211/9_12_116_37Pm.mp3

And for my sister's birthday today, a little tribute.  And a bundle of baby peeking out.

What it means to us.

It was a somber day in NY.  I wasn't here ten years ago, but I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news about the World Trade Center.  I don't want to go on too long about this, but I think it's important to mention.  Because that feeling, that hung in the air today, was powerful and potent.  It wasn't energetic or pressing... but somehow trapped our breath.  A muslin atmosphere.

I practiced a lot today.  I pulled out a piece that is very close to my heart: one of Beethoven's last sonatas, the Opus 109.  All of the last sonatas have a special, contemplative quality to them, but this one in particular is, for me, so representative of acceptance, grace, dignity, life, love, beauty, humanity, perseverance.  Every time I hear it or play it, I go inside myself and connect with these raw emotions.

Today when I played Opus 109, it was new.  And I really, truly believe it is owed to these improvisations.  By nature, the piece already sounds very improvised, so in execution today, it really felt as though I could play it from my heart, have courage, and let go of any expectations.  It was as if it were all mine.  And it felt right, and good.

But today's improv is nothing like that piece.  Today's sounds a lot like many I've already posted.  I tried to fight it at first, but it wasn't right.  This is what wanted to come out.

Here we go, Day 28: https://ia700703.us.archive.org/10/items/Improv91111/9_11_117_50Pm.mp3

Yikes!

Another whirlwind! Now that my teaching schedule has started again, I think there are going to be a lot of these.

Here we go, Day 27: https://ia700707.us.archive.org/34/items/Improv91011/9_10_118_09Pm.mp3

achhh!

Tonight is a whirlwind.  Gotta go!!

Here we go, Day 26: https://ia700708.us.archive.org/17/items/Improv9911/9_9_118_28Pm.mp3

Passacaglia.

One of my favorite pieces is the Ravel Piano Trio.  It is utterly exquisite.  I once had a brief discussion about it with a former boss, who was also a pianist.  I said something about loving the Passacaglia (the third movement) the most, and he was surprised.  He said that everyone he talked to liked that movement the least.  That stunned me.

I have loved nearly every passacaglia I have ever heard.  Maybe even all of them.  I'm not sure what it is about them....  Give me Britten's Peter Grimes.  Give me "Dido's Lament" from Purcell's Dido and Aenaes (another all time favorite).  Give them all to me.  They're wonderful.

So today, without really expecting to improvise a passacaglia,

here we go, Day 25: https://ia600702.us.archive.org/14/items/Improv9811/9_8_114_44Pm.mp3