It has been a while since I have posted one of these improvisations and I check that too – the last time I uploaded a liturgical improvisation was about a year and a half ago. And before that, it had also been quite some time. Part of the reason was the decline of the instrument I use to play at the Monastery and for my current job, I just haven’t had the wherewithal to review the improvisations I occasionally do. BUT, this week was something special and fun and it was recorded by one of my choir members and I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts about it.
Quick story: for a short period last fall, I was playing a few weeks of Couperin’s music and during one of the postludes (Offertoire, from on of the Masses, I think) and a big ole cypher went off. Whenever that happens, the ear perks up and the brain is trying to assess what is going on and I remember pausing for the briefest moment, figuring out it was a C reed in the pedals, Tromba specifically, and then improvising in that key in that French classical style to undo the cypher. Then I cadenced and was able to continue into the next section without dropping a moment. The funniest part was telling folks that I had done that and no one really noticed! They all thought it was just a part of the music.
In my estimation, that one marker for a successful improvisation: fooling people into thinking that what they are hearing is the real thing. I won’t claim to be a master at this all of the time, but every once in a while I have been able to do so. That brings me to this morning: I forgot my score at home! When it came time to the postlude, I remembered that the Marchand was in D minor and like a lot of that French music, it uses a lot of suspensions. Outside off that, I used a simple tonal outline of D minor – F Major – D minor to get me from beginning to end. I think the result is pretty solid and I hope you enjoy it!