Reverie

Using a succulent Steinway piano patch in Logic, I recorded myself doing an improvisatory piece. It was sort of like how Julio would have Aaron and me try writing out words or sentences without actually thinking about them. I can’t remember the actual term for the process, but I sort of applied that to a composition last night. I had the idea and the title for Reverie many months ago, but I never tried it because I was originally hoping to record it on my parents’ out-of-tune piano. I got tired of waiting for the chance, and I decided I should just use the best sound I had instead of the worst.

Let me tell you about the “performance instructions.” First of all, while it is semi-conscious improvisation, you still can’t allow yourself to cite other material. By keeping originality, this hopefully turns into an exercise in intuitive development of motives or pitch classes or something. Second, other than what I stated above, just do what comes naturally; the music reflects the wandering of the mind. Third, triads should be used sparingly. Make it sound like it’s not improvised but simply structured organically. Basically, it should sound like an actual “art” piece that some pretentious bastard actually did write out. Fourth and finally, set a stopwatch or an alarm at eight minutes. When you reach the eight-minute mark, it’s time to wrap it up. Otherwise you could go all night!

It’s an interesting experiment and I recommend trying it. Reverie ended up with a running time of 9:54.