Month: July 2016

The last of the three improvisations I recorded at Rice is unlike the previous entries in that it is tonal. Or at least within the confines of scale.  To be completely honest about the recordings, they are actually from a second night of recording rather than my first go at the instrument.  The card in the recorder ran out of space on the first night and I went back for a second go at some of my original improvisations.  It is an interesting exercise to recreate an improvisational idea that was completely spontaneous with a new instrument.  I suspect that my first attempt was better, but this is what I captured in a recording.

The eighth Evening Improvisation incorporates something a little fun for me as the performer.  Organists have added elements outside of the notes of the keyboard.  Nicolaus Bruhns was well known for accompanying himself with his feet while playing the violin.  So why not do the same?  It’s pretty easy to figure out what I’ve added and having time on the organ at Rice makes it all that more fun.

Sometimes my own excitement gets the better of me.  I say that because the last post was of the brilliant organ at Rice University.  If you follow the numbers though, I went from Evening Improvisation 5 to Evening Improvisation 7.  And here is the 6th Evening Improvisation from St. Paul’s Monastery in Pittsburgh.

I have mentioned in previous posts that I find it wonderfully challenging to improvise on a single sound for as long as possible – liturgically, it can be fairly doable.  This video contains three individual improvisations, something akin to movements using three different timbral combinations.  I originally was going to use them separately but I recorded them at the same time and felt that they made a nice suite.  Here’s the order:

I. Mutations

II. Flutes (2:13)

III. Reeds (5:13)

 

Last week I was in Houston for the AGO National Convention and what a blast.  In the coming posts, I will include a recording of the Bayoubüchlein piece performance from the convention.  It will not be the actual performance from the convention as the recordings are exclusive to the convention.  That is an aside though to today’s post!  Because I arrived in Houston a few days early, I was able to get into Rice’s amazing organ recital hall and have a go at their magnificent instrument.

This particular improvisation should be reminiscent of an earlier improvisation where I treated the organ as a percussion instrument.  The Fisk/Rosales organ at Rice is a tracker which allows for a different sort of treatment in its percussive qualities.  I do think the improvisation lacks an awareness of all the subtleties of the instrument – I did only have a few hours after all.  My favorite moment though happens around the 2:45 mark when it sounds like something just fell on the ground.  The next several posts will be more improvisations from this most excellent instrument.