As an artist I think its good to seize a moment of inspiration when it comes. A friend of posted this musical theme on facebook recently and I was curious to know what the theme would sound like, particularly as the friend in question writes and produces beautiful orchestral electronica.
It turned out to be a rather intriguing and haunting little motif and I decided to have a play at improvising something around it. After one false start which served to give me an idea of the harmonic territory to work in I produced what I think is a rather nice and relaxing musical meditation and such is the marvelousness of modern technology that within a half hour or so, I was able to post up my piece on facebook having popped it onto online here. Shortly after I thought Id go one better and put together this video version:
I found out later the theme is from Steve Reich’s Piano Phase, which is kinda synchronous because a friend gave me a copy of Different Trains (with Electric Counterpoint) around the time it came out (late 80’s) and it had quite an impact on me then. It wasnt until some years later when I started writing piano music with a minimalist vibe, but the seeds could well have been sown back then.
Hope you enjoy it, if you do, please share it 🙂
Rich