A Podcast That Deconstructs the Story Inside of the Music

“Improvisations on The Ledge is a must for musicians, composers, music fans, artists, and indeed anyone with an interest in and appreciation for organic music and creative expression in their purest forms.”

Rebecca Cullen
Stereo Stickman

IOTL is a kind of performance art. In each episode, Saltzman tackles a particular subject—a genre, music trends, problems creative musicians face—and the riffs on it with both words and improvised piano music.

Peter draws on his extensive background and knowledge in multiple genres: jazz, classical, pop, and more. But IOTL is not a lecture; it’s a creative deep dive into the soul of music.

Improvisations on the Ledge is not just about music. It is music.

Episodes:

IOTL Season Two About to Launch

Apr 3, 2020 | IOTL, Music

It’s been a LONG wait, but season two is just about ready to launch. With an exciting new format and several new features, it will be well worth the wait! Coming April 15th…or thereabouts.

IOTL #28: A Variation on Theme and Variations

Dec 20, 2019 | IOTL, Music, Piano

What if I came up with a theme in the morning, then improvised variations throughout the day? What would that add up to? Call it a variation on the theme and variations idea, but in the form of a diary of a single day in the life of Peter Saltzman.

IOTL #27: What Not To Think When Improvising

Dec 6, 2019 | IOTL, Music, Piano

Do you ever think about what you’re thinking about? Of course you do, and I often think about what I’m thinking about when improvising. But when I pose this question to the great French pianist-composer Jean-Michel Pilc in this episode, his answer is sort of along the lines of…a kind of nothing. Sort of.

IOTL #26: The Improvised Sonata

Nov 25, 2019 | IOTL, Piano

For years I’ve had this thought that I should be able to improvise a full 4-movement piano sonata. Is this just another example of me being completely out of touch with my times? Well yes. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work.

IOTL Short #6: And a Plane Flew By

Oct 23, 2019 | IOTL, Music, Piano

...Or how musical order insists on materializing out of seemingly random occurrences... A random musical thought occurs while parking the car, which circuitously leads me to a final chord at precisely the moment when a plane flies by in the same exact key. I don’t...

IOTL #25: Improvisations with Play-by-Play Analysis!

Oct 21, 2019 | IOTL, Music

Yes, that’s right, improvisations with sports-style play-by-play analysis—including instant replay! (Where else but on IOTL..) It may seem like a sacrilege of sorts to do an analysis of my own improvisations, thus robbing of some supposedly idealize pure, unfettered...