I am by no means a trained and accomplished musician. I gave up that prospect nearly 40 years ago when I decided to pursue philosophy, in which I felt I might have more to offer. A short life demands choices. But in the room next to this one sits a lovely Yamaha digital piano which my wife Regina recently got me for a significant birthday. An immediate result? During this tumultuous past year I have been rediscovering the music in me. Moreover I’ve been led in a new direction. Some of the pieces of this year I still think of as songs like those I once wrote since they have (or could be provided with) lyrics, and the played melody could easily be converted into an accompaniment for singing. But others are stand-alone piano compositions, which seem to have no desire other than to be played. Each represents an intuitive experience of relatively short duration in which I respond to the sounds in my head or what’s happening on the keyboard, guided by a sense of what’s ‘right’ or what sounds ‘good.’ Of course once the basic piece is roughed out, refinement begins, but here too I never deliberately think very much. This is all both similar to, and quite different from, the creative work of philosophy in ways I have only begun to explore.
The pandemic has been challenging for pretty much everyone, and this amid the usual troubles of life, such as mass shootings and deaths in the family. When I decided to share some of this new work, I thought one aspect of what I was doing might involve an emphasis on the positive -- something like what I saw others doing who spoke of good things that have managed to find their way through even during a difficult time. But music is of course a friend to all the emotions. And another aspect involves a nod to melancholy and sadness. I have had more than one reason to apply the label 'Pandemic Piano.'
Precisely because of the intuitive nature of my work at the piano so far, I expect that I may still largely be moving to the beat of an assortment of influences (hymns, gospel music, and '70s popular music among them). If I want to do anything of my own, I will need to build on this first layer of effort. But here is a representative sample from that first layer, such as it is!
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Pandemic Piano -- 10 Short Pieces
For Regina (like everything else)
I am by no means a trained and accomplished musician. I gave up that prospect nearly 40 years ago when I decided to pursue philosophy, in which I felt I might have more to offer. A short life demands choices. But in the room next to this one sits a lovely Yamaha digital piano which my wife Regina recently got me for a significant birthday. An immediate result? During this tumultuous past year I have been rediscovering the music in me. Moreover I’ve been led in a new direction. Some of the pieces of this year I still think of as songs like those I once wrote since they have (or could be provided with) lyrics, and the played melody could easily be converted into an accompaniment for singing. But others are stand-alone piano compositions, which seem to have no desire other than to be played. Each represents an intuitive experience of relatively short duration in which I respond to the sounds in my head or what’s happening on the keyboard, guided by a sense of what’s ‘right’ or what sounds ‘good.’ Of course once the basic piece is roughed out, refinement begins, but here too I never deliberately think very much. This is all both similar to, and quite different from, the creative work of philosophy in ways I have only begun to explore.
The pandemic has been challenging for pretty much everyone, and this amid the usual troubles of life, such as mass shootings and deaths in the family. When I decided to share some of this new work, I thought one aspect of what I was doing might involve an emphasis on the positive -- something like what I saw others doing who spoke of good things that have managed to find their way through even during a difficult time. But music is of course a friend to all the emotions. And another aspect involves a nod to melancholy and sadness. I have had more than one reason to apply the label 'Pandemic Piano.'
Precisely because of the intuitive nature of my work at the piano so far, I expect that I may still largely be moving to the beat of an assortment of influences (hymns, gospel music, and '70s popular music among them). If I want to do anything of my own, I will need to build on this first layer of effort. But here is a representative sample from that first layer, such as it is!
----------------------------
Pandemic Piano -- 10 Short Pieces
For Regina (like everything else)
