{"id":69,"date":"2010-08-21T15:27:27","date_gmt":"2010-08-21T19:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/?p=69"},"modified":"2025-11-23T16:28:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T21:28:47","slug":"69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/69\/","title":{"rendered":"Improv Sonata, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In June of 2009, the Bloomingdale School of Music presented a composition of mine which I called ‘Sonata for Improvised Piano’. An excerpt appears above. The piece exists in two versions, one completely written out, and the other written with a combination of graphic and conventional notation. The piece was designed as an entry way into composition for classically trained pianists who may never have improvised before. In this particular concert, the piece was presented three times. Bathsheba Marcus Conley and Katy Luo, both fine pianists with an interest in contemporary composition,\u00a0 each played an interpretation of the piece. I played the piece in its written-out version. Neither Bathsheba nor Katy had ever improvised publicly, and neither had heard the other or me prior to the concert. To my ears they were both a smashing success, and it was great fun for me to hear 3 entirely different but related performances.<\/p>\n

The program notes follow, as well as 3 audio versions of the first movement.<\/p>\n

Composition Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 3 pieces all began life as improvisations. Over time themes emerged \u2013 but not necessarily musical ones. For example, early in the development of the first movement, I became interested in a childhood memory of what may have been a migraine headache which partially blocked my vision for a short period of time. I was young enough not to have had language for this, but listening to my improvisations brought back these memories which I had not thought of for years. I began improvising to verbal directions and images, such as the following:<\/p>\n

Trying to see<\/p>\n

quietly feeling your way<\/p>\n

Erratically<\/p>\n

stop<\/p>\n

catch your breath<\/p>\n

poised to dive\u2026 Go!<\/p>\n

You\u2019re safe<\/p>\n

step lightly<\/p>\n

almost lose your balance<\/p>\n

falling awake<\/p>\n

drag your feet<\/p>\n

The finished pieces are the result of a kind of dialogue between improvising through these images, and composing through them.<\/p>\n

Performance Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 3 pieces are separate, but together constitute one \u201cdream\u201d with 3 episodes. The verbal directions are meant to be the main guide through the piece. They do not form an entirely coherent narrative, but flow from one image to the next as in dreams. They are a combination of visual image, feelings and active-verb directions. To play the pieces, the performers are following the verbal directions and images, as well as using musical material I have provided. There are specific musical instructions to be carried out, which appear in the score in boxes, and suggested material which appears between the boxes as the player reads through. It is as though the boxes are \u201cislands\u201d, and the player\u2019s job is to swim from musical island to musical island expressing the verbal directions as she goes.<\/p>\n

In each improvised movement, there is a passage written in standard notation which I ask the performer to play exactly as written. Since this afternoon\u2019s concert will contain 3 performances, these will be \u201cislands\u201d for the listener to grab on to as well!<\/p>\n

*********<\/p>\n

Here are three versions of the first movement from that performance. The first two are improvised, the third is from the written-out version. This movement is quiet and slow moving, with lots of open space.<\/p>\n

1. <\/a><\/p>\n

2. <\/a><\/p>\n

3. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June of 2009, the Bloomingdale School of Music presented a composition of mine which I called ‘Sonata for Improvised Piano’. An excerpt appears above. The piece exists in two versions, one completely written out, and the other written with a combination of graphic and conventional notation. The piece was designed as an entry way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects","tag-projects"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s9ohMj-69","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/notes-and-music-from-playing-through-solo-piano-concert-from-2009\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":0},"title":"Notes and Music from \u2018Playing Through\u2019, Solo Piano Concert from 2009","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"August 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In December of 2009, I presented a concert of solo improvised piano at the Bloomingdale School of Music. Here are the program notes from the event. I have posted a few mp3's from the evening, as well. Program Notes Unlike the magician\u2019s art which is betrayed by divulging its secrets,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Projects"","block_context":{"text":"Projects","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/projects\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14153,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/watching-music-hearing-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":1},"title":"Watching Music, Hearing Movement","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"May 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A collection of video about music and movement. https:\/\/vimeo.com\/societymusictheory\/smtv072leaman Nice piece of scholarship about Bach, Balanchine and the 'divisions of 12' from the Society for Music Theory. Margaret Beals has been performing as improvising dancer for many years. (She is actually a friend of Dawn's.) 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Some like to watch in class\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/swan1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":452,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/a-class-for-5-6-year-olds\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":3},"title":"A Class for 5-6 Year-olds","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"January 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So many things can happen over the course of a Dalcroze semester that you can often get a better\u00a0idea of what a class has been doing by simply describing a single class in detail. Here\u2019s a description of a recent class of exceptional 5-6 year-old girls that I am fortunate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12984,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/picturing-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":4},"title":"Picturing Music","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"February 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been thinking about representation lately. No, I don\u2019t need a lawyer. I\u2019m talking about how we \u2018picture\u2019 music. As an experiment last week, I asked my kids to draw a picture of rhythms we were working with during the session. I didn\u2019t ask them to use notation. 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