[Improvisation Archive] Menu: Solo Improvisations -- Dialogues - Duets --Accompanimental -- A-Tribute Ensemble -- Bartok "Mikrokosmos" Project

Prepared piano. I like to make myself at home when I play. (No pianos were harmed in the course of any of these performances.)

Improvisation in Classical Music

Ryan is currently doing research on developing a pedagogical method for improvising within the classical style, and the recordings below can be considered examples of the methodologies developed during the last few years of his studies. Improvisation allows for the musician to personalize their experience of music making and express themselves through their instrument in their own way -- learning the rules of music in the manner of learning a language.

---

---

Solo Improvisations

---

Improvisational Suite for Prepared Piano (2007)
Performed by Ryan Tanaka (piano and preparations [books, keys, wallet, cell phone]). July 4th, 2007 @ CalArts Roy O' Disney Hall

1. Invention
2. Mountains Collapsing
3. One Night Out
4. Treadmill
5. The End

Recent recordings of improvised prepared piano.

Solo Improvisation in Four Parts (2007)
Performed by Ryan Tanaka (piano and preparations). March 14, 2007 @ CalArts Roy O' Disney Hall

1. Lots of Stuff Happens
2. Some Time to Digest the Stuff
3. Comic Relief
4. What's the Point?

The traditional four-movement structure is designed to guide the listener through certain ideas in the music -- the movement titles play on the idea of how each section functions in terms of its form. (Fast, Slow, Fast, Medium-Fast.)

---

---

Dialogues - Duets

3/14/07 Andrew Tholl (violin), Ryan Tanaka (piano)
3/14/07 Daniel Corral (accordian), Ryan Tanaka (piano)

---

---