Here’s my latest piano improvisation, a short piece that I think I channeled my inner Erik Satie to create.
Again, I’ve used a simple motive, in this case the movement between two chords, and have tried to create a piece that has steady degree on movement without relying on harmonic changes and instead leaning on a repetitive rhythm and dynamic changes to create the mood.
It reminds me of a see-saw, or a sunflower swinging back and forth on a growing and fading summer wind.
I’m happy with the outcome, it’s peaceful.
Enjoy.
Piano Meditation …

Today reminded me that there’s plenty of winter left, though I’d definitely take snowstorms over your average, gray winter day.
When I woke up this morning, a few inches had already fallen, and since the snow was pretty wet it stuck to all the trees, filling my property with scores of white, twiggy knots of snow-caked branches. I ended up taking a walk through the acre of woods I have next to my house, which has seen a lot of its tress fall down this windy winter, to snap a few …

It’s this time of year when I usually start crawling out of my skin, as the winter has completely lost its allure. Now, the icy air just gives me a headache and stiffens my bones. It’s only the beginning of February and I’m ready for the spring, though I have so much more waiting ahead of me. Luckily, I have a few things going on to keep things interesting.
First, my little girl Gwyneth turns nine moths old this month, and it’s such an amazing thing to watch the transformation a …

At last I’ve gotten around to a writing exercise I’ve been planning on trying for a while, something I’ll call “music writing” since I really can’t come up with a slug that explains it any better.
(UPDATE: My Twitter friend @badbadbad suggested “Writing to music,” which of course is the right thing to call these. Thanks, my friend.)
The idea is to listen to an album, a song, an orchestral work, a piano piece, a concert or any other type of musical composition and write as I’m listening to it, trying not …

Tonight’s wine has a very special purpose: It’s my chaser for what I assume will be a sobering State of the Union address, the first given by President Barack Obama. Perhaps I should have chosen a domestic wine, but I chose to go with the other America instead, picking a Carmenere from Chilean maker Root: 1.
I’ve had the Root: 1 Cabernet Sauvignon before and I found it to be a very nice entry-level Chilean cab that had a bit more balance than Los Vascos, the bottom rung, fruit-forward label from …