This morning is all about getting familiar with the theme – breaking it down into its core components. Here it is as solo piano in A major in 3/4 time at 97 beats per minute.

Download audio file (97-gv1.mp3)

Throughout this week and next I’m going to progressively lower the tempo and expand the development of the theme – I can already hear a minor variation – and then develop some string parts. Ultimately I’m looking for a 10 to 15 minute piece of music that takes the listener on a journey – all of it inspired by the New York Jets fight song.

Image Credit: EdYourdon – Flickr

Some days there’s just nothing – even if you’re half humming a theme in the shower, by the time the finger chops are done there’s nothing in the ether – so what to do? This is where the blues come in:

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I almost gave up the piano – I was 12 and I hated it – Chopin etudes weren’t exactly resonating with someone who preferred to play air guitar to Deep Purple’s Space Trucking. I was fortunate to have the experience of a truly magical teacher – you know – those life changing ones that – well – they change your life.

Thanks Phil.

When I’m dry – I turn to the blues – it keeps the creative juices flowing, keeps the finger chops up and just occasionally morphs into something fabulous. Today I was just happy to have somewhere to go.

Tightening up of the overall structure although the minor development is a little “schmaltzy” and I’m not talking goose fat!

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Think we’ll do one more pass at this tomorrow morning at 113 beats per minute and then take it out for a spin over the weekend. With four distinctive themes this should develop nicely into a 15 or 20 minute long piece of music2work2. I’ve got one string melody that will sit on top of the piano nicely but will be looking for some harmonies.

Day 2 and things moving in the right direction – I like how the two themes are starting to stitch together:

Download audio file (103mp3.mp3)

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I’ll be developing this all week at faster beats per minute as we go up the prime tempos: 107, 109, 113 – come the weekend I hope to have an idea of where it sits and then I can do some long form development and bring in other voices.

So it’s into the new routine – up early, scales and arpeggios followed by a little theme development to get the creative juices flowing.

Download audio file (101-321mp3.mp3)

This is a further development of the F9 theme that came out over the weekend – I think I’ll be playing with this all week as I increase the practice tempos. There’s this very “Churchy” theme that wants to come out at the end of this piece – not quite sure what to do with that yet.

Piano & Strings from Saturday night – 61 beats per minute, 8/4 time and the occasional clam.

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The first half of this piece is all driven around F9 – one of my all time favorite ever chords. I wanted to see where it would go – there’s another string track probably – we’ll see. If anyone would like to download and add another track (beats, guitar) please – be my guest – all work on music2work2 is distributed with a creative commons license – if you need a version with a click track let me know.

The first half of the track hangs around the F9 shape for a while before ripping off “The House of the Rising Sun” – the second half has a slightly bluesier feel and is in C minor – I think!

Getting very excited again. Having spent the last 2 months focusing on technical learning and implementation it feels good to be back with a music head on.

Piano, Strings, Rhodes, Beats & Tribbles

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I am actively focusing on developing new beats with reason and using them as the base track to freestyle on – it’s great fun.

The original beat track is in 7 time with a tempo of 42 beats per minute (thank you @DarinRMcClure) – makes for an interesting groove.  I ended up playing with several different beats and putting them through various oscillators and frequency filters – the Tribble sound started off as a chemical beat – go figure!

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Up early again this morning with the metronome dialed in at 61 beats per minute – I love this tempo – it’s “heart rate” music.
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I was thinking of this tiny town in Arizona called Cleater this morning - kind of an old, bluesy feel – I had a C minor, A Dim, G minor progression in my head when I sat down – thought I’d interpret it in this weeks lilting piano style – I like where it’s going.

This morning had me up at 5 and setting the metronome for 71 beats per minute. After scales and arpeggios I sit and play whatever comes into my head – this is how I develop themes. I rather like this melancholy little piece and think I’ll be developing it over the coming weeks.
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