Piano improvisation by Tom Brier (ragtime)

Yes, he's making this up as he goes along.

I started this recording after tdub1941's camera ran out of tape or batteries. Hopefully he'll post his part of this, then I can set this up as a Video Response, so that you can hear most of the entire improv.

This was laaaaate Sunday night (actually, at about 1:30 a.m. Monday!) after the 2008 West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, California.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ragtime
• folk rag
• rag
• improv
• improvised
• piano

[Nightrazr]

I heard some tunes he might have copied, maybe without knowing.

I can't name them sadly, they just sound horribly familiar.

[Keeper1st]

@Nightrazr There are more than 14,000 known rags. There will pretty much always be something that sounds similar to something else.

[BachScholar]

This is fantastic! But I am willing to bet this wasn't all totally ad lib. In any case, bravo!

[Keeper1st]

He makes stuff up like this with great regularity. It just takes a small idea of a melody and then to play it fleshed out is to him like formulating and speaking a sentence.

[omigoshwayde]

This is brilliant. The music, the outro, the beard. It's all absolutely perfect.

[Grasshoppa065]

@Keeper1st Wel, formi, gn a snatenec is ahrder tehn ti sunods.

[MrBenlus]

sounds like joplin himself

[LordGopu]

I wish there was a transcript of this. So good.

[Mr98giuliano]

fantastic!



[Keeper1st]

At the start of this video, he's in A-flat, but then he switches to D-flat and remains in that key through the final two strains. The last strain starts on a IV chord (G-flat), but the strain itself is indeed in D-flat.

[scottjop656]

actually, there seems to bee several small key changes in the piece, but what the heck! it's still an awesome song!

[xXbelmontXx]

I think that ''WOW'' just about sums it up...