Christopher Watson
Pianist, Vocal Coach, Composer & Music Educator
Piano Diary
My piano diary is a series of short improvisations for solo piano. Originally intended to be a month-long musical journal, the project's strapline was '30 days, 30 moods, 30 improvisations'. I set myself the daily challenge of sitting at the piano, improvising a short prelude-style piece based upon my mood at the time, and then later preparing sheet music which could be collected into a complete volume. As is so often the case with extended projects, I found there were some days I simply couldn't commit the time to recording an improvisation, and other days I might manage several pieces (and indeed several moods!), so the tenet of the project has changed somewhat into an open journal with no rigorous schedule. The goal is still to reach 30 improvisations, and produce Volume 1 of the diary. Sheet music singles and an album of the whole journal will also become available in my online shop in the near future.
I recommend an improvisation project like this for all pianists. It teaches you brevity, and encourages you to commit to a musical thought and work a little more quickly than a freelance (and so often self-critical) composer perhaps usually would. Some days a theme and a particular key spring to mind before even sitting down to record, whereas other days inspiration might not come quite so readily and I find myself playing what are effectively short variations on existing themes - e.g. 'Little Wooden Head' from Disney's Pinocchio (Day 6), or the famous melody 'Greensleeves' (Day 11).
As ever, I welcome comments on the pieces I write, and as and when each diary improvisation becomes available as sheet music, you will find it in my online shop, at Sheet Music Plus, and over on my Facebook page. To hear more than the twelve diary entries on this page, or for a playlist of the entire diary, head across to my Youtube channel. Thank you for your support.