March 2015 – Day 31

Here it is  – the last post for March. I wrote Ocean Squalls when I was in late elementary school. On Sunday night, I read through it a couple times and then put my music notebook away. This is me playing it from memory, and taking a little artistic liberty. I hope you enjoy!

March 2015 – Day 30

Only two days left in March, including today! I’m trying to decide how frequently to continue posting to this podcast. I recently went through all my files, and I have more than 200 recordings. They are not all ones I would want to share publicly, but many of them are. If I continue to record a few new piano logs every week, I should be able to post at least two every week for a long time. Stay tuned! What I’ve learned through the course of this month is that I love doing this podcast, so it shouldn’t be hard for me to continue!

Yesterday, I went through my tiny composition notebook from when I was very young. I was born in 1982, and there were little pieces in there from ‘87 to ‘92. My dad is a composer, and most of them are written in his handwriting. Many of them are very much in the style of the beginner pieces I was working on. The first one is “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, but with “Mel Bass” instead of Alberti Bass. The last one is a piece called “Ocean Squalls”, which I was very proud of. I recorded that one yesterday as well, and I’ll be posting it tomorrow.

March 2015 – Day 29

This piano was in a little courtyard at Harvard Law School. I had the feeling of being in a sort of room, even though I was outside. It felt oddly private. Perhaps as a result, I think this improvisation ended up sounding more introspective.

March 2015 – Day 26

(Throwback Thursday!)

This was one of my first ever recordings of piano improvisation. Up until 2008, I had improvised so much, but I had never thought to record. It had been my way of warming up at the keyboard, relaxing, or even practicing techniques. But that was all. I didn’t take it nearly as seriously as my classical training.

So, here it is – my first attempt at recording. I had no idea what was going to happen when I hit the record button, and I guess I still don’t!

March 2015 – Day 25

This is the last piano I played on the first day I ventured out to play street pianos. It was a baby grand sitting out in front of the MFA, and it was decorated with an easel and tubes of paint!

March 2015 – Day 24

My friend Maggie was dancing to this improvisation. You can see a video of this and many other street piano performances on YouTube.