Improvisations on The Ledge
50 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsIn "Improvisations on the Ledge," award-winning composer-pianist Peter Saltzman searches for universal truths by stumbling upon them—both with words and music. The basic premise is simple: he improvises on the piano, then talks about what the music tells him. Then makes music about what the talking tells him. Then...well, it goes on like this. Droll, funny, dramatic, musical, short.
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Episodes
Themes Alive: Musical Structure From a Single Note!
November 19, 2021 16:12 - 33 minutes - 77.9 MBLeave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/story/ckw6kzm991rm90878rsjk4zli?m=comment The moment a theme is stated, it wants to do something. What? Like all lifeforms, it wants to replicate, mutate, transform…become something. That something is musical structure. How we get from a single note to a theme (motif), to a full-blown musical structure (song, free improvisation, symphony) is seemingly a mystery. And yet it's not. Due to a naturally occurring acoustica...
The Theme Dream Machine
November 03, 2021 20:54 - 29 minutes - 67.9 MBLeave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/story/ckvk002b34j0c0938go4chdbo?m=comment Musical themes seem to emerge from the sonic abyss almost by their own volition. But where do they come from? Are they elusive attempts to describe the moment? State of musical mind? Emotion translated into sound? Or are they just, as I discussed in the previous episode, a form of musical memory (and forgetting.) After working through this episode, I must admit that while the pr...
S3-E2: The Many Layers of Musical Memory—and Forgetting
October 22, 2021 20:57 - 26 minutes - 61.5 MB"The Many Layers of Musical Memory—and Forgetting" is an episode about how listening to music, and performing it, are really acts of thematic memory—and forgetting. And sometimes the forgetting is part of the creative process. Or maybe it's just forgetting. In any case, I take a deep dive into the many layers of musical memory that go into improvising or composing. But also into the listener's experience of any given piece of music. There is the short-term memory of what happened earlier ...
The Many Layers of Musical Memory—and Forgetting (S3:E2)
October 22, 2021 20:57 - 26 minutes - 61.5 MB"The Many Layers of Musical Memory—and Forgetting" is an episode about how listening to music, and performing it, are really acts of thematic memory—and forgetting. And sometimes the forgetting is part of the creative process. Or maybe it's just forgetting. In any case, I take a deep dive into the many layers of musical memory that go into improvising or composing. But also into the listener's experience of any given piece of music. There is the short-term memory of what happened earlier ...
S3-E1: Theme is the Theme
October 08, 2021 14:05 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBAfter an extended layoff, I've decided to get back to Improvisations On the Ledge by sticking to the theme—literally. The entire season—including this episode—is devoted to musical theme: how we create, perceive it, and make music out of it. In the pilot episode for season three, I randomly stumble upon a couple of themes, including "My Funny Valentine" and "Money, Money, Money", then proceed to create a show out of them. Along the way, I delve into what a "theme" is in musical te...
Theme is the Theme (S3:E2)
October 08, 2021 14:05 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBAfter an extended layoff, I've decided to get back to Improvisations On the Ledge by sticking to the theme—literally. The entire season—including this episode—is devoted to musical theme: how we create, perceive it, and make music out of it. In the pilot episode for season three, I randomly stumble upon a couple of themes, including "My Funny Valentine" and "Money, Money, Money", then proceed to create a show out of them. Along the way, I delve into what a "theme" is in musical terms. ...
Theme is the Theme (S3:E1)
October 08, 2021 14:05 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBAfter an extended layoff, I've decided to get back to Improvisations On the Ledge by sticking to the theme—literally. The entire season—including this episode—is devoted to musical theme: how we create, perceive it, and make music out of it. In the pilot episode for season three, I randomly stumble upon a couple of themes, including "My Funny Valentine" and "Money, Money, Money", then proceed to create a show out of them. Along the way, I delve into what a "theme" is in musical terms. ...
Rearview Mirror
August 15, 2020 00:53 - 40 minutesUsing jazz educator David Bloom's metaphor, musicians need to look in the rearview mirror and remember the theme if they wish to move forward. But when you look back, you are not just remembering what you played at the beginning of an improvisation—you're remembering all of that music that got you to the point of even being able to look back in the first place. Powered by Firstory Hosting
Planned Chance
July 31, 2020 19:15 - 19 minutesMy intent was to dive into Part 2 of my “End of Melody Episode,“ but by planned chance, I rolled the dice and came up with something completely different. Unplanned, but fated to be this way? Possibly. Powered by Firstory Hosting
The End of Melody, Part 1
July 16, 2020 14:57 - 53 minutesMelody. As a creative musician, you're either born with it or not. Or maybe everybody is born with it but some choose to suppress it. Why would anybody do that? Powered by Firstory Hosting
The (Un)Quantifiable Mystery of Music
June 18, 2020 18:35 - 37 minutesMath, science, and logic can explain a lot but not everything about how music works. The strange thing, though, is that great music almost always has a perfect logic to it. How is that possible? Powered by Firstory Hosting
Maximal Minimalism: Me v. Philip Glass
May 26, 2020 19:03 - 34 minutesIn this episode, I do battle with Philip Glass and, by extension, the entire genre of minimalism. To my surprise, though, I found that even while I reject the aesthetic as a whole, there’s plenty I can take from it creatively—but only by adapting some of its techniques in ways never intended by its practitioners. Powered by Firstory Hosting
Everything's Related to Everything Else (Again)
May 14, 2020 21:30 - 24 minutesAfter I finished recording this episode, I remembered that I had already done one early laster season on the same subject. Thus the "again". I didn't go back and listen to that because I gotta believe this one's completely different. Or is it? Powered by Firstory Hosting
The Seinfeld Episode...Or How to Make Music Out of Nothing
May 08, 2020 21:28 - 15 minutesI was watching Jerry Seinfeld's new standup release on Netflix the other night and it put me in the mind of nothing. Specifically, how we build music out of essentially meaningless sound events that end up adding up to...something? Powered by Firstory Hosting
S2-E1: CoVidious Improvisations on Covert Thoughts
April 23, 2020 19:02 - 30 minutesSeason Two is finally here but it’s not at all was I was planning. Befitting the title of the podcast, Improvisations on the Ledge, in fact, resists any serious planning. And yet, for this premiere episode of season two, I can’t avoid the elephant in the world-sized room: CoVid-19. The central theme of this episode, then, is how the crisis changes the way we go about making art—if at all. Powered by Firstory Hosting
Season Two Trailer/Teaser
April 03, 2020 19:59 - 2 minutesIt's been a LONG wait, but season two is just about ready to launch. With an exciting new format and several new features, it will be well worth the wait! Powered by Firstory Hosting
#28: A Variation on Theme and Variations
December 20, 2019 17:34 - 33 minutesWhat if I came up with a theme in the morning, then improvised variations throughout the day? What would that add up to? Call it a variation on the theme and variations idea, but in the form of a diary of a single day in the life of Peter Saltzman. Powered by Firstory Hosting
"#27: What Not to Think About When Improvising-Featuring Jean-Michel Pilc"
December 04, 2019 17:50 - 1 hourDo you ever think about what you’re thinking about? Of course, you do, and I often think about what I’m thinking about when improvising. But when I pose this question to the great French pianist-composer Jean-Michel Pilc in this episode, his answer is sort of along the lines of...a kind of nothing. Sort of. Powered by Firstory Hosting
"#26: The Improvised Sonata"
November 23, 2019 22:07 - 39 minutesFor years I’ve had this thought that I should be able to improvise a full 4-movement piano sonata. Is this just another example of me being completely out of touch with my times? Well yes. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work. Powered by Firstory Hosting
IOTL Short #7: Mid-Afternoon Nocturne
October 28, 2019 21:30 - 6 minutesIn the interests of busting yet another musical myth, I improvise a nocturne in the afternoon. At least it’s relatively dark in its sweetness. Powered by Firstory Hosting
IOTL Short #6: And A Plane Flew By
October 23, 2019 18:25 - 8 minutes...Or how musical order insists on materializing out of seemingly random occurrences... Powered by Firstory Hosting
#25: "Improvisations with Play-by-Play Analysis"
October 19, 2019 17:59 - 37 minutesYes, that’s right, improvisations with sports-style play-by-play analysis—including instant replay! Powered by Firstory Hosting
#24: Venting in Two-Part Inventions
October 08, 2019 16:39 - 35 minutesIs it possible to make beautiful music with just two intertwining melodies? Bach did. Can I? Powered by Firstory Hosting
IOTL Short #5: Just the Piano, Ma'am
September 27, 2019 18:06 - 15 minutesIt's Friday, so in honor of Joe Friday from Dragnet I give you these three unrelated (both to each other and the TV show) improvisations. Back next week with a full episode... Powered by Firstory Hosting
IOTL Short #4: Fake News!
September 18, 2019 20:19 - 5 minutes...Another short, wisp of an episode to fill in the gaps between the long, meandering yet highly focused main episodes... Powered by Firstory Hosting
#23: Originality vs. Perfection—Pick Your Poison
September 10, 2019 17:53 - 29 minutesYou can create nearly perfectly executed music in this world—as long as it’s not original. Powered by Firstory Hosting
"#22-Improvising Classical Music: Is That a Thing?"
August 23, 2019 18:25 - 38 minutesBack in the day, the great classical composers were brilliant improvisers. Are they still? Is it even possible? Powered by Firstory Hosting
IOTL Shorts #3: Organized Chaos/Disorganized Structure
August 16, 2019 18:25 - 5 minutesYet another mini-bonus episode, which can only mean one thing: I'm working on a BIG episode. Until then...Enjoy! Powered by Firstory Hosting
#21: A Minimal Take on Minimalism
August 05, 2019 18:12 - 14 minutesTo be brief: I never much cared for minimalism until I minimally did. Powered by Firstory Hosting
#20: Giant Steps, Small Thinking
July 31, 2019 22:34 - 26 minutesIn which I do battle with the almost perfect symmetry in John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” to try to create something a little messy and asymmetrical. Powered by Firstory Hosting
IOTL Shorts #2: Monday, July 29, 2019
July 29, 2019 16:32 - 4 minutesAnother short episode for your listening pleasure while I work assiduously on two full episodes that are driving me crazy. (Hopefully, they won't drive you crazy.) Powered by Firstory Hosting
IOTL Shorts #1: Saturday, July 27, 2019
July 27, 2019 15:17 - 3 minutesThis episode is the first (possibly the last) in a series of short daily, or every-other-daily, or even less frequent "podisodes" to go with your morning coffee or afternoon tea or evening drink or right before bed. Powered by Firstory Hosting
"#19—Free Will, Free Improvisation: Are they Real?"
July 22, 2019 14:27 - 32 minutesAre free will and free improvisation really free, or am I deluding myself? And is deluding myself a necessary condition for free will/improvisations? Powered by Firstory Hosting
"#18: Nocturne out of Context"
July 15, 2019 12:48 - 16 minutesIn an era when musical context has been subsumed in a sea of listener playlists, on-demand streaming and the general obsolescence of the album, who creates the larger context for a single piece of music? You do! Until I do. Powered by Firstory Hosting
#17: The Bottle Episode
July 08, 2019 15:20 - 19 minutesThe episode in which anything can happen but mostly doesn't... Powered by Firstory Hosting
#16: Patriotica from the Left
July 03, 2019 14:11 - 14 minutesLeft-leaning improvisations on patriotic tunes for (what’s left of) Independence Day. Powered by Firstory Hosting
#15: Avant-Garde for Wimps (Like Me)
July 01, 2019 15:24 - 14 minutesI'll never dive fully into the avant-garde, but dipping my feet in that pool can be quite exhilarating! Powered by Firstory Hosting
#14: Sad Movie Theme Gone Bad
June 24, 2019 13:11 - 19 minutesWhy am I a lousy film composer? Could it be because I'm a composer? Powered by Firstory Hosting
#13: The Avant Garde Jazz for Dummies Episode
June 18, 2019 14:04 - 13 minutesYou may hate the avant-garde but, dammit, you need it more than you think. Powered by Firstory Hosting
Episode #12: The Emperor Has New Clothes
June 10, 2019 11:00 - 16 minutesA bluesy improvisation on the theme from the slow movement of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto inevitably leads me down the path of the inevitability of noninevitability. Powered by Firstory Hosting
Episode #11: Art ± Technology = Art
June 06, 2019 12:30 - 9 minutesMy recording equipment was flipping out (or maybe It was me). Which may seem like a hindrance to artistic expression, but then I realized that the flipping out was part of the flipping art! Powered by Firstory Hosting
Episode #10: This is A Blues?
June 03, 2019 21:47 - 12 minutesWhat is a blues? A genre? Musical form? A scale? It's all of those things and more because the blues is a fundamental musical structure with infinite possibilities for making musical statements. Which I find out here... Powered by Firstory Hosting
Episode #9: Not What I Intended
May 29, 2019 00:32 - 11 minutesWhen a free improvisation doesn't go the way I planned it leads me to the conclusion that sometimes the best-laid plans are the unlaid plans. Powered by Firstory Hosting
#8: Everything is Related to Everything Else...and so what
May 17, 2019 16:15 - 11 minutesMelodies aren't infinite, so don't sue me if my tune "sounds" somewhat like "yours." Powered by Firstory Hosting
#7-Fear of Musical Simplicity, Part #0
May 08, 2019 13:53 - 10 minutesThe last episode was a rant in defense of musical complexity; this one, of course, takes the opposite view. Sort of. Powered by Firstory Hosting
#6: Fear of Musical Complexity, Part 1
May 06, 2019 16:49 - 8 minutesPart 1 of a rant (that will undoubtedly have many parts) on why we are so afraid of musical complexity. Powered by Firstory Hosting
#0: Trailer (show overview)
May 03, 2019 17:57 - 59 secondsA quick overview of what you'll hear on "Improvisations on the Ledge"... Powered by Firstory Hosting
#5: Inappropriate Chords For Church - 4-28-19
April 29, 2019 16:45 - 7 minutesA simple hymn-like tune gone wrong...because that's what I do. Powered by Firstory Hosting
#4: Appropriately Appropriating
April 26, 2019 20:46 - 13 minutesIn this episode I dissect one of my pop tunes from the 1980s and the way in which it appropriates multiple styles across the world and centuries—which is not only a good thing but completely natural. So get over it... Powered by Firstory Hosting
#3: Game Winning Shot (or Not)
April 24, 2019 21:17 - 6 minutesA reboot of Improvisations on the Ledge as a solo act (for now.) Somehow I conflate my free improvisation here with Damian Lillard's game and series-winning shot the other night. Powered by Firstory Hosting