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 28

In 2013, this young person passed away after a tragic bicycle accident. I played thinking of him, and thinking of the people he left behind who grieved his passing. Often, music can express things when words aren't helpful. And also, I'm not a traditionally religious person, but sometimes for me, playing music is the most direct and raw way of connecting with something larger than myself. I don't really ever choose to attend religious services, but I am always so willing and grateful to be able to play music for them, because I believe I'm helping to hold that open space for the people who are listening.

March 2015 - Day 27

I drove over the river from work in Watertown on my lunch break to play this piano. It was unusual in that the keys were painted in addition to the cabinet.

March 2015 - Day 26

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. Which is perhaps entirely appropriate.

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.

March 2015 - Day 23

For this one, I focused on a left hand melody with right hand accompaniment to start. I think it has an eerie quality.

March 2015 - Day 22

I recorded a few piano logs today - here is the first! More to come throughout the coming week...

March 2015 - Day 21

Spring has come! And there are only ten days left of March! This is a recording from 2012, when I didn't have a home acoustic piano to play. My Casio keyboard really saved the day during those months when I wanted to keep playing.

March 2015 - Day 20

This piano had no working damper pedal! So I made the best of it. What follows is a very upbeat, staccato improvisation, with many sequences. Sequences can be very satisfying!

March 2015 - Day 19

My second recording from the South Station pianos. I had at least a couple spectators - you can hear them in the background!

March 2015 - Day 18, part two!

I launched into this jaunty tune. Seemed very appropriate for South Station. There were actually two pianos set up next to each other there, which was unique.

March 2015 - Day 18

I'm releasing two recordings today: this first one is tiny - it's just a clip of a woman I met who had been hanging out at the South Station public piano for multiple days, hours a day. She was trying to amass signatures for a petition to save the pianos. I wonder what became of that?

March 2015 - Day 17

Here is the rest of that improvisation I posted yesterday. This one is much longer. I think there are many cool sounds that emerged...enjoy!

March 2015 - Day 16

This one is from earlier on last Thursday. I thought that I would try to shake things up by trying to intersperse unexpected and odd chords with my more habitual flow of improvisation. You'll hear more things than usual that could sound like mistakes, but I try to run with them and see where they lead. This is really the first of a two-part recording. I stopped recording, then decided I wanted to continue, so started again where I left off. You'll hear the second part tomorrow.

Also, I have now officially made it halfway through this one-recording-per-day project for March! Woohoo!

March 2015 - Day 15

My last recording of the night on Thursday. I had tried some improvisations earlier with a relatively large concentration of random chance chords and sonorities (you'll hear these ones soon). In this last one, I gravitated to one lovely, dependable key: the fabulous F major! Enjoy...

March 2015 - Day 14

Here's one from the Esplanade at night. I was pretty close to the hatch shell. What a fun, weird experience to play a piano outdoors in a park. I somehow think this improvisation even sounds like night music...

March 2015 - Day 13

This is one of 17 recordings I made on October 5, 2013. As you have heard previously on this podcast, I started at Old North Church right after tower bell ringing practice. I then made my way down the greenway, over to Quincy Market and the old State House, back by Government Center, by this park, then over to the Chinatown gate. Quite a long tour!

I liked this piano because I thought it sounded a lot like a hammer dulcimer.

March 2015 - Day 12

Here it is - the improvisation I had to do directly following Professor Souhad Zendah's presentation. I was haunted by the image of her at 17, having to spend 4 hours in an ever-narrowing tunnel, walking past countless sniper guns and enduring constant shouted threats from unseen soldiers on speakers, waiting to get out of Gaza into Israel, so she could travel to the West Bank for university, not knowing she wouldn't be able to go back home - to this day.

Something I noticed about this recording - it starts with a repeated F, eventually moves to a repeated G, and then a repeated A at the end. Throughout, the motive incorporates those three notes as well.

Somehow, I hope this conveys the message of hope Professor Souhad was sharing.

March 2015 - Day 11

This is the third recording from last Sunday's service at the Community Church of Boston. I played this one after community announcements, joys, and sorrows had been expressed. This was paving the way for our presenter, Souhad Zendah. See Day 9 for a longer description of the service.

This is another one in the arpeggiated style. After listening to it, I think it references "Become Ocean" by John Luther Adams, performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. I've been listening to that recently. That is a very cool piece, and I really recommend seeking it out!

March 2015 - Day 10

This is the second recording from Sunday's church service. See Part 1 for a longer description. It was the first official music offering in the service.

March 2015 - Day 9

I just attended an incredibly intense and heartfelt talk by Tufts Professor Souhad Zendah about her experiences growing up in Gaza, her life afterwards, and the lives of all the people who live there now. I do not have words to convey this adequately. I have learned some about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict over the years, but I really had no idea it was this bad. Simply, it sounds like Gaza is a prison. And I'm terrified for the people who live there. My heart goes out to them.

I played for the service at the Community Church of Boston, and I ended up making 4 recordings. You'll hear them all. The first three happened before Professor Souhad spoke. The last one happened directly after. I had to close my eyes to keep from crying. I'm going to post them in order, starting today.

This recording was the opening music, calling people to come sit down and get ready for the service.

March 2015 - Day 8

This was arguably one of the most populated places I played during the Boston Street Piano project. You can hear all the people moving around and talking in the background!