Grand Entrance - Piano Solo - 2:11 - May-20-2009.

This is a piano improv, recorded live, with no pre-planning or chord structure. I made it up in the moment. It requires a kind of "quick thinking" that I find satisfying. The goal is to create a song with no "blue notes." Blue notes, according to Mrs. Vollmer, my music teacher (in my youth), are notes that are mistakes. No blue notes here.

This song (Grand Entrance) evokes graduation, a grand procession, a coming of age.

This song is my personal homage to three composers: Satie, Debussy, and Richard Wagner. Wagner is courageous in his compositional structure; going from predictable tension to predictable resolve, and doing it sooner than expected and more compositionally dense than most others who use familiar tension and resolve patterns. Satie is my bow to simple complexity. Debussy? I love his mind!

The piano is a Yahama 5'8" baby grand - model G2 - Year: 1960. I especially like its ivory keys.

I recorded "Grand Entrance" in my living room with a Zoom H2 - under the piano - about 4" below the soundboard. My hardwood floors help to reflect the sound.

Zoom H2 digital audio recorder settings:
Mic Gain: Middle
Recording Level: 65
Mic: Surround/2CH (All four mics active)
MENU SETTINGS:
LO CUT: OFF
REC MODE: 44.1/16
AGC/COMP: OFF

I loaded the file into my iMac, into Soundtrack Pro.
I added three seconds of silence to the beginning and the end.
I normalized (from -9 db) to 0 db.
NOTE: I like my recordings to "come in" to the computer at -8 to -12 db. I normalize to 0 db, which provides me with a volume consistency. The -12 db recording level helps eliminate the "note overload" problem.

That's it. No limiting, compression, reverb, or other sound reinforcements. I like a "live" sound.
Saved it as an AIFF file, loaded into iTunes.
iTunes Visualizer: default settings.

The Visualizer Effect: The song drives all the colors and movements on the screen. The pauses in the song allow the computer fractal generator to "reset" to "silence" for fractions of a second. This is startlingly apparent in the video. Each and every note: its volume, release, use of pedal, and pairing with other notes... all of this shows on the screen.

I find "stock/commercial" recordings to be somewhat boring when driven by this visualizer. There are seldom SILENCES in the songs. No chance for the visualizer program to "reset." I like the organic "conversation" I see in this video.

iTunes Visualizer Recording:
I recorded my computer screen (full screen mode) with my Panasonic mini-DV camera.
Loaded into iMovie
Synced with the original audio AIFF
Volume OFF on imported video, leaving the "clean" AIFF audio to play in sync with the visualizer video.
Published to MEDIUM movie for YouTube.

That's it! Enjoy.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• piano
• improv
• solo
• improvisation
• original
• improvs
• music
• song
• solos
• songs
• itunes
• visualizer
• Zoom
• H2
• audio
• recorder

[horniradu]

i swear im not int-o this kind of music.. but i just can't add anything... sweet keep it up ;)

[mgwhitney]

@horniradu Thanks for the kind words.



[xomybrokendreamxo]

this is really good! :)

[mgwhitney]

@xomybrokendreamxo Hey, thanks alot!

[araystudio]

This is a touching piece whose counter points are subtle and powerful at once.

Dream on!

[xomybrokendreamxo]

@mgwhitney my pleasure!

[ThePhobiaViewed]

No such thing as wrong notes, just new musical styles :p

I like this improv, 5 stars