Piano Meditations Podcast
Music Podcasts
Welcome to Piano Meditations Podcast by Blake Rowe. For the past six years (with occasional breaks), Wednesday nights have been devoted to creating freely improvised music for about 45 minutes. Known melodies may come to mind and may be explored, but the pieces are primarily “spontaneously composed”. The music tends to follow an arc from introspective to energetic and back again. The first few notes become a motif to be explored; sometimes a piece is more structured and and other times more free form.
Location:
United States
Description:
Welcome to Piano Meditations Podcast by Blake Rowe. For the past six years (with occasional breaks), Wednesday nights have been devoted to creating freely improvised music for about 45 minutes. Known melodies may come to mind and may be explored, but the pieces are primarily “spontaneously composed”. The music tends to follow an arc from introspective to energetic and back again. The first few notes become a motif to be explored; sometimes a piece is more structured and and other times more free form.
Language:
English
Email:
blake@blakerowe.com
Episodes
2-28-24
3/6/2024
I know I've been less frequent with new episodes, and now the next won't be until March 27th. I'm actually leaning towards ending the podcast, and focus on recordings for albums on the streamers. Podcasts are inherently free, and it costs me over $300 a year for hosting. I don't have much hope for true income from Spotify, iTunes and the rest, but something is better than nothing. If you have enjoyed this podcast, please consider a donation, and/or look me up and stream one of my albums. In the meanwhile, here is some new music for you.
Duration:00:41:06
Piano Meditations 1-31-24
1/31/2024
We are having people over every other week for the time being, in case you've noticed the episodes are less frequent. Tonight I played three live looping pieces, but only the last one recorded well, so I'm including it here. The rest is solo piano. Enjoy!
Duration:00:29:31
1-17-24
1/19/2024
This episode only includes two rather long pieces. The second one began sounding like a Baroque melody I remembered, so I explored it without really knowing the whole tune. Afterwards I tracked it down, learning it was a Sarabande by Handel which was used in the movie Barry Lyndon. Go figure!
Duration:00:35:06
1-10-24
1/10/2024
Well, I finally figured out how to record into the mixer while looping in the recording software on the computer. Here are two evenings put together, followed by solo piano as usual. If I were to try and make these into "finished" pieces, I would do some editing and better mixes, but at least you'll have an idea of where this is headed.
In the solo piano section tonight, I fell into Gracias a la Vida by Violetta Parra. Not completely, but enough I should mention it. Enjoy.
Duration:00:56:41
12-27-23
12/27/2023
Our whole family and romantic partners took a sound bath at a local studio. It was very relaxing. Tonight I wanted to try to use the piano as a sound vibration vehicle; much of the music was quite mellow, but of course a couple pieces had a natural build so I went for it. Enjoy.
Duration:00:46:54
12-20-23
12/20/2023
Once again, big crowd! Still asking them not to applaud after each piece so the podcast can be just music. The first four notes reminded me instantly of Danny Boy, so I played with it thematically, and Stephen Foster's Shenandoah got in there for a minute. Tried a ragtime ditty and a waltz, a jazz ballad style and an impressionistic, sort of atonal thing. Hope you enjoy.
Duration:00:44:31
12-13-23
12/13/2023
Small group, but one new person tonight. I kept leaning into a bel canto, faux operatic sound tonight. I think the theme to All Things Considered worked its way in there. I was enjoying hearing harmonies that flipped between major and minor. Enjoy.
Duration:00:50:53
12-6-23
12/6/2023
A bunch of new folks tonight! I must say, the numbers are growing. We still have enough chairs, but it's making me wonder if we will get to standing room only! Anyway, had fun tonight, doing a little more jazz progressions and quirky rhythms. Enjoy.
Duration:00:50:04
11-29-23
11/29/2023
Not much to say this time; enjoy!
Duration:00:44:47
11-15-23
11/15/2023
Small but dedicated troupe tonight. Glad for the presence of people actively listening; it keeps me actively listening as well. In recent weeks I've been attempting to go into harmonies I'm not sure I know what I'll hear, and I have to remain adaptable to split-second implications of the harmonies. It's fun! The results are some surprises and a few thunks. Enjoy!
Duration:00:43:24
11-8-23
11/10/2023
I've had a bit of trouble with the audio signal on this episode; hopefully this will be the last time I'm replacing the episode in the podcast. It was a quiet night with just my wife in the audience; she got the covid. I stayed in a primarily mellow mood, with a few unusual (for me) harmonic explorations. One quote got in there but I don't know what is was, I just know it's something I've heard before! Maybe you can tell me? Enjoy.
Duration:00:47:03
11-1-23
11/1/2023
WE had almost twenty people here tonight! Some new folks too. I stayed squarely in the tonal realm tonight, and did a few genre-specific type pieces. One started off like an old hymn, then became a pompous overblown operatic cliché! I still didn't record it, but I did have a successful looping improv that was meditative, and didn't include any equipment failures. Progress!
Duration:00:40:59
10-18-23
10/18/2023
After the first piece I really felt like stretching a bit, so I did! I'm not sure if the pieces "worked" as well, but it is a good idea to just let the music be what it wants to be. I then did some looping but of course forgot to record it, so tonight's episode is a little short. Enjoy.
Duration:00:26:07
10-11-23
10/11/2023
Our numbers have grown! WE had about twenty people tonight. I was buried in audio cabling issues until right before we began, but I was able to change gears and get into the music. I did a looping piece at the end which went very well; once I figure out how to record everything along with the piano I'l start including it in the podcast.
I did a bunch of straight-ahead improvs, then did one that was pretty experimental. It morphed into progressive jazz/Gershwin kind of thing. Enjoy!
Duration:00:41:47
10-4-23
10/4/2023
Really big crowd tonight! Some new people, and the piano is in a more central spot after we painted and I reconfigured the studio. Consequently the music was a little more all over the place! I kept almost playing a melody of a song I know but couldn't quite bring to consciousness. Maybe you can tell me! Enjoy.
Duration:00:56:31
9-27-23
9/27/2023
Always exciting to have new guests! I stayed in the very tonal realm tonight, and was also feeling pretty mellow; we had our first fire for the fall! Some pieces began very muted but got pretty energetic. Some quotes emerged; "Trials and Tribulations" from Jesus Christ, Superstar, "Bridge Over Troubled Water", Pachelbel's Canon in D, even Dancing Queen, which seems to show up rather frequently...
Enjoy.
Duration:00:46:00
9-20-23
9/20/2023
One piece began in a very atonal, "contemporary piano" kind of way, but then I caught a groove and really dug into some unfamiliar sonorities. Maybe not good for listening while making dinner, but who am I to say?
Staying with piano only for the time being for the podcast; but for the guests who come in person I stop recording after 45 minutes and do an ambient/looping thing at the end. Building confidence!
Duration:00:43:53
9-13-23
9/13/2023
Some new guests tonight; always fun to welcome them! Played some gentle explorations but also some pretty atonal energetic stuff. Not much in the way of quotes, but "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" (melody by Chopin) made it in there for a moment.
Duration:00:46:02
9-6-23
9/6/2023
We are back at it! This begins year seven. I hadn't practiced with the looping since the last episode in June or July, so I stuck with the old Steinway. One friend asked for a piece with the equipment, so I obliged, but didn't record it here.
The music tonight was in several different harmonic realms; sometimes new-age, sometimes pop-rock. The pop-rock one had a bunch of quotes that I couldn't even list; You Can't Hurry Love, Dancing Queen, and others... enjoy!
Duration:00:44:40
6-21-23
6/22/2023
OK! This is a bit of a benchmark episode. I still played solo piano for much of the evening, but I switched to the computer/looping setup and was able to keep the music going without running into tech problems, and today I succeeded in creating a simple mixdown of the different sounds and combining it with the piano recording. I cut out the gradual layering of the percussion instruments, as it takes too long to wait for a melodic element. Enjoy.
Duration:00:37:14