solo piano 7: Improvisations for a New Age

(Note: the Jamendo uploader broke on me, and that's why there's only 115 — instead of 176 — tracks. GO HERE for the others.)

Contained within for your senses is solo piano 7, a broad palette of mostly-relaxing piano music, the summation of a lot I've learned thus far. I've received previous (precious) comments that earlier installments of solo piano were amenable to being played in shuffle mode and one would blend into the next. This is even more true here — 6 hours of beautiful music for FREE!

Nevertheless, there's a rich diversity to be found, even with one basic piano sound running throughout the entire collection: a variety of tonal tasting, eclectic chromaticism, and an abundance of styles which I've interpreted in my own, flavorful "composite alloy" way. If you're not sure what that means, this is it: I've influenced (and namedropped) certain great pianists who've come before me taken what I liked most about each of them and added it to my own wealth. This in turn gets shared with you!

From cascading arpeggi to building chord progressions to spaced-out moments suited for a cosmic beach of the mind's ear, it's all here. From stalwart minimalism to muted tones spanning octaves to flowing, pastoral delicacies, it's all here. From tightly-timed lock-'n'-stock rhythms to flexible melding of jazz + classical minds, it's all here. All of these were improvised live, with perhaps only a fleeting glint of ideas acknowledged beforehand, before I put my fingers on the keys. And most of them are de facto miniatures, 2-something minutes or less in length. (There's a good reason for this, keep reading!)

So, why 176? The story harkens back to the very first solo piano album, my first foray into sharing original music in quite some time. If you've noticed, I have an affinity for the number "4". I realize it's bad luck in some Asian cultures because the word for it sounds like death itself, but superstitions be danged, I've created my own culture.

A piano has 88 keys. Half of that is 44, which was the same or close to the same # of pieces included in some previous solo piano releases. And what's 4 x 44? 176.

Continuing and growing in the spirit of my previous solo piano outings, there are virtually no usage restrictions on these: please feel free to listen, relax, enjoy, use them in open source podcasts/commercial films/etc. and share them uninhibited-ly.

Even better — and HARK! if this applies to you! — if you can and would like to treat (or any of my other piano music) these pieces with electronic glitch/DSP effects (similar to the wondrous pairing of Ryuichi Sakamoto + Alva Noto), or simply remix them in any other fashion, as they say, be my gracious guest. Just promise to show me what you came up with! I may very well blog about it.

But if I were to be strict, since this music is free, do not resell it or the "curse of the number 4" will come true! Check out the Creative Commons license, yo.

Finally, for those of you who know — and enjoy — my other creations, notably Second Life video tutorials, it's due mention that the works of solo piano 7 have and will be used as soundtracks for future vidtuts.

Special thanxies go to my beloved wife & pet JennifeRavenelle, who's so incredibly supportive of my creation that it keeps me going — her early "beta testing" shaped the direction of this series — Jeroen Wijering for the kickass embedded media player, Wynter Bracken who did the painting for the fab cover art… and to you in advance for listening!

There's a lot here, I understand. Explore at your own pace, comfort… tell me your favorites, and if this music helps your life, I'd appreciate knowing.

All the very best in your love and life,