Ron's blog on piano improv and the role of music in our lives
You know what makes me happy? When I can show someone how to play the piano the way they’ve always dreamed. As young children, we experience the joy, beauty, and excitement of music wholeheartedly. Looking at a piano, we can fully imagine ourselves making great music, just the music we hear on recordings and at … Read More
It’s Monday, and I’ve decided to try something different this week: write a daily blog post for 7 days. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re used to seeing a new post every week or so, whenever I get “inspired” to write about a piano improv-related topic. Here’s a recent post, about Paul … Read More
Did Paul McCartney invent the modern pop piano accompaniment style? After 30 years of playing piano professionally in jazz clubs, Broadway orchestra pits and even Carnegie Hall, I’ll admit that I never thought of this question before. But the other day I was listening to the Nicki Minaj song “Grand Piano” and the thought hit … Read More
Do you ever get so overwhelmed by all the things you “should” be practicing that you end up not practicing anything? If so, you’re not alone! The mere glance at a long list of tunes to learn, or a book of difficult pieces to master, is enough to cause many pianists to “go numb” and … Read More
A piano student recently asked me if improvising musicians play exactly what they hear in their heads. Yes, this is the ultimate goal, and it’s very possible to do this, at least at times. However, this topic is more complex than it first might appear, and interests me more and more these days. I’ve been … Read More
What exactly happens when we memorize music? What are the processes involved? Why do some people memorize music easily while others have to work at it? Why do we sometimes forget music that we used to know by heart? Do we understand music better when we memorize it? I’ve been interested in these questions for … Read More
I’d give anything to hear some of the great composers of the past improvise. We know from eye-witness accounts of the time that Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven were extraordinary improvisers, and enjoyed sitting down and making up great music which was never written down. Or was it? In May of 1747, the elderly Bach was … Read More
Once upon a time, all classical pianists improvised. Some improvised well, and some badly, but they all spent at least some of their time at the keyboard creating spontaneous music.* Although improv has been largely absent from the classical music scene since the late 1800s, many classical pianists now want to re-claim this grand tradition, … Read More
Bernie Williams played a beautiful, solo guitar tribute to his friend and former Yankee teammate Derek Jeter, as Jeter marked the end of his long, illustrious baseball career. At Boston’s Fenway Park, Williams performed a hauntingly beautiful and highly personal version of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” that was both emotionally direct and … Read More
Keith Jarrett is one of the world’s most famous improvising pianists, and has inspired countless musicians over the years. His playing includes jazz, gospel, blues, rock and classical, and he generally performs either solo or with his trio. Let’s take a close look at his groundbreaking 1975 recording, The Köln Concert. On January 24, 1975, … Read More