Meddlings: Movement III and Vlog (Post 3)

Complicated accompaniment is complicated...

Hello! Welcome to Movement III!
As this is project is fast approaching its climax, a number of things are going to be happening!
First and foremost, I need to start working on my TED-talk. The presentation is in the near future (March 17-19), and I need to get prepared so that I can have time to practice and make a presentation and all that. I'll be talking about that a little bit more.

And by talking, I mean literal talking. This post will be containing a vlog (video + blog), where you get to "meet" me. I'm gonna talk about a number of things, including more about the state of the project, my origins as a musician/why I chose piano improv as my project topic.

It's not perfect. It might be a bit long. And my voice might seem a little congested. And I look away from the camera to consult my computer which has a teleprompter running. The jump cuts and video insertions may also seem a bit random. Again, not perfect... but I wanted to add the bit of personal narrative. I did my best to offset the length with a bit of humor and music... though I'm still not quite sure I've succeeded. I hope I'm not acting too silly at some points... Watching myself over and over again has desensitized me, and I have no idea if others will find this good, or will find it immature... I hope you enjoy nonetheless...
Edited on iMovie. Teleprompter: Cue Prompter

Phew. Got that over with. (Sorry it's YouTube again - the file size is once again too big for Vimeo to embed). Indeed - the process of procuring good recordings can lead to... insanity. And "so on."

Moving on, to this week's recordings. I know that there are only two of them, but I was a bit pressed for time, what with recording the vlog as well. If given the option, I would have probably redone them... but overall I am satisfied with how they turned out. And, now, for the results of the poll:
In a stunning and complete (but not all that surprising) turn of events: live video of my hands has won by... a lot. 5 votes to 0. Thank's for your input!

The main focus was to increase the complexity of my left hand's movements.Now that's a very abstract goal - after all, how does one define "complex" without using their own opinion? What I've been doing up until this point is playing whole chords (for the most) with my left hand - whole note, whole note, maybe a few other rhythms thrown in there too. Additionally, in the past, I have improvised with a constant movement of the broken chord in triplets or in eighth notes.

To add "complexity" this week I strove to play broken chords of varying rhythms, in an attempt to weave the left and right hand together into a more cohesive piece. This includes interjecting notes between hands using syncopation, swapping melodies (briefly) between hands, or playing transitional notes outside the chords between phrases of melody or chords in the progression. There wasn't much research involved in the making of this piece - just listening to music of varying genres gave me a few reference rhythms, but the rest was purely experimental. I'm pretty satisfied with end result. I hope you are too. Enjoy the fruits of my labor.

The Coming of Spring - A kind of bouncy tune keyed in C Major - It starts off a little scrambled, like flowers finding their way through snow... (maybe) and resolves with some nice chord-choruses near the end. A little jaunt-of-a left hand melody switch as well.

Rain - A bit of a melancholy tune - kinda like a rainy day. Set in G Major - with E minor harmonies to offset the major key. I really tried to intertwine each hand's part - and not trip over my own fingers in the process.

Note: Both were titled by my Mom.


See you guys for Movement IV soon!
- Josh