Oh my gosh – I have not posted an improvisation in a very, very long time. I just looked it up and it has been two and a half years! It’s not as if I haven’t been improvising this whole time, but recording them has been a total crap shoot in regards to the tech as well, oh, I dunno, the pandemic. Since beginning my position at St. Andrew’s, I have tried to perform as much repertoire as improvisation. Unlike my position at St. Paul of the Cross Monastery where I played nine Masses from Friday to Monday, I only have one Mass at St. Andrew’s.
That doesn’t matter though! Most of the improvisations I have posted in the past several years have been in the Evening Improvisations, the more experimental side of my experiments. It was so nice to improvise in a liturgical context and enjoy it and it was recorded! Those three things have not always lined up and I am more than happy they did for this one.
Here are a couple of thoughts in my preparation for this improvisation: the first is that it is in F major. The opening hymn was in F as well as the closing hymn and postlude (not nearly as good as this prelude). This led me to a “Pastorale” like texture due to J.S. Bach’s Pastorale in F. You can here that influence in the opening of the improvisation. I think what I like the most about the improv is its simplicity: the progressions are fairly typical for my kinds of improvs/compositions but I believe this particular improv is really satisfying. I do love a 6/4 chord as a transitional chord to get things moving in interesting.
All things being said, I am happy to share an improvisation that I find satisfying. I would love to hear thoughts about this topic broadly, but also specifically. I am working on a document that puts my thoughts about improvisation into a single place. Keep making great music my friends!