Here is a new composition based on an improvisation I did back in January of this year. My works tend towards complexity, but this one does the opposite and is boiled down to its bare ‘essentials’. The sheet music is available below both as original and easier versions.
Original Version
Easier Version
Boiling an improvisation down to its essentials is harder than writing something complex – the complex version lets you hide behind the notes. I improvise with words rather than keys (a few months of freestyle rap practice), and the same law holds: the simple version exposes every weak choice. Offering the easier sheet music version alongside the original is a generous touch.
Thanks for your thoughts, MC. Totally agree. That’s why poetry is so difficult to write vs. paragraphs. I find that over the years I’ve geared towards complexity with my writing but now when I improvise the music just flows and then I can bring it into a polished work like this one; although it’s simpler, it’s more ‘me’. People seem to like it more too. It’s taken many years to get here.