Part Planned, Part Offhand
This is the sweet spot. Maybe. This is the place where my entire approach to solo piano comes together as a unified cohesive whole. Or not.
You see, this the place where I’ll be putting and discussing that category of my piano music that falls in between the completely written and the completely improvised. So semi-improvised, semi-written: part planned, part offhand. In theory, this should be my best work, but as I said on the main piano page, it is, in reality, just another approach. Another creative choice—one that I use when I need it.
This category several includes several subcategories, which I’ll define as soon as I figure out what all of them are. I do know that there are two larger subcategories under which a lot of sub-subs must fall:
- Improvisations based on my own themes
- Improvisations based on other people’s themes
Which is to say, me and everyone else in the history of the music making universe.
This page, like many others, is a work in progress. I’ll be adding and subtracting as needed (or as I get around to it.) In the mean time here are a few examples, one based on my own theme, the other based on one by Duke Ellington. The former comes from my app/album/ebook Blues, Preludes and Feuds.