Melsen's Piano Log

This is a sound journal of Melsen improvising on different pianos. Practically everything you will hear is raw and unrehearsed. There will be sounds of life happening in the background, and many of the pianos are not in tune. Mel has been improvising at the keyboard since he was very young, but he began making regular recordings in 2012. This podcast is a curated selection from the larger body of recordings he has made since then. Many of the pianos featured here were part of a public art installation in Boston during the fall of 2013 - "Play Me I'm Yours" - the Boston Street Piano Project.

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 6 08/28/2015

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 6 After playing duets with Dad, and after a rather messy performance of a Chopin G Major Prelude, I wanted to play just one more time before moving on to find our departure gate at the airport. If you're familiar with the prelude, you'll hear how I started there with this improvisation. I think this is the most exuberant one of the day, and a fitting end to the string of Portland public performances. Playing piano makes me so happy, and getting to play for other people even more so. Thank you for listening :) /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3761954

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 5 - collaboration with Philip Carlsen 08/27/2015

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 5 - collaboration with Philip Carlsen Here is the second duet improvisation with my dad, Philip Carlsen (). In this one, I'm playing bass, and he's playing treble. I snuck a peak around us during the middle of this, and a sizeable crowd had gathered. It can be such a relief in a stressful situation like an airport to be able to make and listen to live music! /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3761945

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 4 - collaboration with Philip Carlsen 08/27/2015

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 4 - collaboration with Philip Carlsen And then my dad joined me and we improvised two duets. This is the first: he is playing bass and I'm playing treble. I grew up listening to him compose at the piano, and I have been heavily influenced by his sense of musical adventure and creation. Check out some of his work on his website: . You can listen to clips there and on Soundcloud. Also, there is a professional recording of me playing a piece that he wrote for me, "October", put out by Parma Recordings. Here's a link to the recording on iTunes: (but you can also find it on Rhapsody, and probably other music streaming services) /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3761942

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 3 08/27/2015

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 3 This is the second recording from the Kawai baby grand at PDX, and the third recording from last Saturday. By now, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you'll recognize this style of improvising: fast arpeggiated chords, where the content is a slow harmonic transformation with the illusion of a fast pace because of the many notes used, and where there is often a slow melodic line that sparkles out of the top. After I spent a week on the Oregon coast with the constant backdrop of the pounding Pacific surf, playing in this style took on a special significance. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3761925

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 2 08/26/2015

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 2 This Kawai baby grand piano was just sitting in the terminal at PDX. The security guard said that sometimes they paid performers to play on it, but otherwise it was available for anyone to play. My family and I had a couple hours before our plane left, so my dad and I ended up playing for almost an hour! We did some pieces we knew, but we also improvised a lot. This is my first improvisation on that piano. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3760073

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 1 08/26/2015

Piano Log 2015-8-22 Part 1 I was recently on the Oregon coast for a family reunion, and on our last day, some of us spent some time in Portland. To my delight, we found not one, but two public pianos to play! The first was part of the project, and was installed outside the Portland Art Museum. It was a gorgeous day, and it had the feeling of the Boston Street Piano project all over again. This is the recording I made there. One of the keys had a missing hammer (and therefore couldn't play) - can you tell which one? /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3759582

Piano Log 2015-8-8 08/13/2015

Piano Log 2015-8-8 My partner and I visited my dad and his wife last weekend. He had recently gotten his baby grand piano back, after living in small apartments for a few years. It was sweet to re-familiarize myself with it. I spent hours practicing on it when I was in high school. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3728500

Piano Log 2013-7-12 08/11/2015

Piano Log 2013-7-12 A little over two years ago, my grandmother passed away. I played at her memorial service, as well as many other times that weekend. Here's a recording I made when I was warming up on the stage where we were going to hold the service. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3728486

Piano Log 2015-7-30 Part 2 08/05/2015

Piano Log 2015-7-30 Part 2 I made this recording right after the last one, again with the Sony PCM-M10. It's a bit longer. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3709572

Piano Log 2015-7-30 Part 1 08/01/2015

Piano Log 2015-7-30 Part 1 Trying something new with this recording. I recently bought a Sony PCM-M10 Portable Audio Recorder, which records in stereo. So far, I'm really liking it! I'm able to record in much higher resolution than I did on my smart phone. Plus, this device is able to filter out some low frequencie sounds (like wind or household noises), and it also limits the levels so there is hopefully no distortion at the louder end of the spectrum. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3709443

Piano Log 2014-3-11 Part 1 06/10/2015

Piano Log 2014-3-11 Part 1 I'm considering starting to compose finished pieces using ideas I've explored in these improvisations. I would then make recordings and release them in albums. I would also make the sheet music available for sale. These are grand ideas, and because of the nature of my day job, there are only certain times in the year when I would have enough creative energy and time to devote to such a project, but...it would be so cool, wouldn't it? /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3607210

Piano Log 2014-4-1 Part 1 06/01/2015

Piano Log 2014-4-1 Part 1 Here is one that has a very dreamy quality. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3588662

Piano Log 2015-3-3 Part 2 04/07/2015

Piano Log 2015-3-3 Part 2 Here's another recording from March, released after the fact! It's a long-format one. /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3477581

Piano Log 2015-3-29 Part 1 04/03/2015

Piano Log 2015-3-29 Part 1 This was an improvisation inspired by a piece I wrote in elementary school called "A lot of Jazzy Jazz" (which was itself a variation on an earlier piece: "A little bit of Jazz"). Not sure how actual jazzy this ever was, but it was fun to play with! /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3468801

Piano Log 2015-3-29 Part 3 03/31/2015

Piano Log 2015-3-29 Part 3 March 2015 - Day 31 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3461134

Piano Log 2015-3-29 Part 5 03/30/2015

Piano Log 2015-3-29 Part 5 March 2015 - Day 30 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3457320

Piano Log 2013-10-4 Part 3 03/29/2015

Piano Log 2013-10-4 Part 3 March 2015 - Day 29 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3455178

Piano Log 2013-5-29 03/28/2015

Piano Log 2013-5-29 March 2015 - Day 28 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3453832

Piano Log 2013-9-30 Part 1 03/27/2015

Piano Log 2013-9-30 Part 1 March 2015 - Day 27 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3444806

Piano Log 2008-12-2 03/26/2015

Piano Log 2008-12-2 March 2015 - Day 26 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3446820

Piano Log 2013-9-29 Part 8 03/25/2015

Piano Log 2013-9-29 Part 8 March 2015 - Day 25 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3444797

Piano Log 2013-10-13 Part 5 03/24/2015

Piano Log 2013-10-13 Part 5 March 2015 - Day 24 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3444779

Piano Log 2015-3-22 Part 4 03/23/2015

Piano Log 2015-3-22 Part 4 March 2015 - Day 23 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3442221

Piano Log 2015-3-22 Part 1 03/22/2015

Piano Log 2015-3-22 Part 1 March 2015 - Day 22 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3441802

Piano Log 2012-2-23 03/21/2015

Piano Log 2012-2-23 March 2015 - Day 21 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3439902

Piano Log 2013-10-12 Part 1 03/20/2015

Piano Log 2013-10-12 Part 1 March 2015 - Day 20 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3430397

Piano Log 2013-10-5 Part 15 03/19/2015

Piano Log 2013-10-5 Part 15 March 2015 - Day 19 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3430387

Piano Log 2013-10-5 Part 14 03/18/2015

Piano Log 2013-10-5 Part 14 March 2015 - Day 18, part two! /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3430381

Piano Log 2013-10-5 Part 13 03/18/2015

Piano Log 2013-10-5 Part 13 March 2015 - Day 18 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3430377

Piano Log 2015-3-12 Part 3 03/17/2015

Piano Log 2015-3-12 Part 3 March 2015 - Day 17 /episode/index/show/melsenspianolog/id/3427930

Melsen's Piano Log

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