Technical details

in answer to questions about the technical process of recording and posting my daily improv log:

i'm recording at my grand piano, in my living room, with the street noise and cats running around. i won't say it's low tech, but compared to my professional standards i'm slapping this stuff together. i'm using a stereo AT825 mic through the stock pre's of my m-audio mobilepre. (which i DO NOT recommend as an audio interface, but i own it, and there it is...) recording to my laptop using Peak. I fly the audio into my desktop station, add a bit of eq and compression for the conversion to quicktime. make a quick movie of the still and audio in imovie. export as quicktime .mov. upload to my blog. it takes about 15 mins or so, once i've got it down.

DailyImprovLog12-18-09

DailyImprovLog12-17-09

DailyImprovLog12-15-09

Circles

This one feels like circles spiraling inward...

Ken Burns effect

I'm trying this one as a static shot. mysterious.

Mirrors

I do get a kick out of my daily log. Today's image put me in mind of intervalic mirroring, and the symmetrical inversion of intervals. For those of you scoring at home...

Changing my mind

I go through a process on every show I write for, and with each of my students. It begins with a response that's pretty direct and unmediated. I just feel a certain something. Then I begin thinking about it. I get input from others, my director, a parent, designers, the history of the piece or person... data begins to accrue around the initial response.

Success with a show or project can come down to my skill in weighing and balancing the intuitive hit against the intellectual cloud. Writing on a piece, teaching a particular student over the course of a year, becomes a series of stepping stones, intuition and affect to sculpted reshaping, and/or thoughtful planning to impulsive action.

One opens the space for the other.

Gigging

I don't gig very much anymore. I used to play shows all the time. regular club dates, parties and events, accompanying. In a couple of weeks I'll have my 50th birthday, and driving an hour to a strange venue to either struggle with a crappy piano (or) lug a bunch of electronic gear (or) both has become less and less appealing.

Last night I played a trio date with some old friends. It was a book release party at the Berkeley City Club. Mixed reviews in my own head about the experience. Standards of the American song book are a staple in my musical background. For years I breathed them daily. Now, not so much. Here's the thing. I hold myself to a high production standard these days, and this type of gig is by its nature pretty sloppy. No rehearsal. Don't know the bass player very well. Audience inattentive at best. It could make a classical musician scream and sob. But oddly, by the third set, a certain amount of magic began to precipitate from the fog. I do love to get out on the tight-rope and jump up and down. And when it's beautiful, it's so satisfying. Listening back to my portable recording of the gig, I can confirm that there's about 15 per cent of the 3rd set that's actually listenable. Is that enough for me? For last night, yes, it was.

DailyImprovLog12-6-09

a musical response to today's image at topleftpixel.com

DailyImprovLog12-5-09

a musical response to today's image from topleftpixel.com

first post

in an attempt to minimize my facebook time, i'm beginning a blog.