Freedom and Improvisation – a juxtaposition

There are a lot of freedoms in improvisation. There are a lot of improvisations in freedom.

Freedom Is Your Friend

Imagine for a moment that more than 50 people have gathered to celebrate liberty. Now, think for a moment about their connection with piano music created spontaneously in the moment. Suddenly, you have a piano improvisation concert with zero connection to the past.

This is what happened on Friday, November 21. As part of the Fall Of Freedom weekend, I played a concert of piano improvisations inspired by the thoughts about “Freedom is…” written on colorful index cards.

Are You Free to Continue?

And now, thanks to this video, you get to see all of those cards. You can also hear one of the improvisations. But this is not a refined video. Its beauty is in its imperfections.

The audio recording is taken from the livestream of the concert, so it’s rough at times, in mono (recorded on a mobile tablet), and a bit glitchy. (The squeak from the sustain pedal seems particularly loud in this recording.) The video of the cards was captured with a handheld phone camera. That camera’s lens has a smudge on it.

And then there are the imperfections of the improvisation itself. Because I was creating in the moment, it is raw as well. I remember thinking at the beginning of this piece, “I’ve created this chaotic energy, but I have no idea where to take it next.” I wondered if I could remember and add in a familiar song melody.

The Beautiful

Listen for that song coming out of the chaos. At first, it is thoroughly buried in the other sounds and movement. The fragments of the song are short and disjointed.

Eventually, the melody climbs to the top. Still, it is incomplete. I wonder how this is like our freedom.

All of this was composed spontaneously in those moments. And I was so deeply inspired by the people who had gathered in the little hall in Trumansburg, New York, USA. Gathered because they care about the intersection of art and freedom.

Gratitude and Freedom

I am so deeply grateful to everyone who showed up for this concert. Friends and neighbors came, wrote, thought, laughed, and applauded throughout the hour.

Afterwards and continuing for days, we talked about the experience. And, of course, we talk about freedom. What it means to us and why we long for it when it is taken away.

There were dozens of concerts, art openings, theatre productions, and other art forms on the first weekend for Fall Of Freedom. May there be many more as we build our freedoms for the future.