- 1 968
- 173 143
The Improvyssey
Canada
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2019
I play a lot of musical instruments, and my default mode is improvisation. This is an improv-a-day-type channel, albeit on the understanding that some days I may just deke out of the improv and go climb trees or something. Who knows? Tree-climbing emergencies happen. Otherwise, I'll try to post relatively frequently. There will probably be a lot of piano here, but other instruments will make appearances too, including but not limited to the accordion, the ukulele, the harp, the pennywhistle, the mandolin, and the toy piano. It is entirely possible that I am enamoured of weird instruments and instruments many treat as toys. My first video features a pink toy piano, just to demonstrate my general level of deadly seriousness.
My only rule for the improvs is that there will be no words in the videos. There WILL be a blurb accompanying each video. What will be in it? Who knows? Uncertainty is exciting.
My only rule for the improvs is that there will be no words in the videos. There WILL be a blurb accompanying each video. What will be in it? Who knows? Uncertainty is exciting.
Pat-a-Pat-a-Pat-a-Pan: Improv 1,972 (Ogden lever harp)
This is, despite the extra syllables in my title, a take on "Pat-a-Pan," a Burgundian Christmas carol I'm particularly fond of. It would actually work well with a drone, but apparently, I was too tired to think of that in time.
มุมมอง: 25
วีดีโอ
The Night Is Devoid of Sound: Improv 1,971 (Hugh Tracey alto G kalimba)
มุมมอง 302 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
I dare not call this well-known Christmas carol by either the common English translation of its title or its actual German title because whenever I've done so in the past, someone has opened a copyright claim on my video. The song in question is long out of copyright. People are weird.
Grammatical Gentlemen Resting Merrily: Improv 1,970 (Loog piano)
มุมมอง 814 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Everybody gets the comma in "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" wrong. So I have mangled the melody to reflect that. Or so I currently claim. For an excellent song breaking down the reasoning for that comma's positioning, go here: th-cam.com/video/sxfxy-3dGz0/w-d-xo.html
Not Quite Angels: Improv 1,969 (Kala baritone ukulele)
มุมมอง 417 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Let's just call this "'Angels We Have Heard on High' in fragments." This is what tends to happen to Christmas carols when I get a hold of them. In other news, yes, my tiny Christmas tree is covered in gnomes. When people think of you as a gnome person, you get a lot of gnomes as gifts. Gnome Christmas ornaments are particularly popular. Some of them are too big for a three-foot tree, but the li...
Leaning Into the Zingy: Improv 1,968 (Sigma mandolin and shruti box)
มุมมอง 639 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
I was going to play the mandolin on its own, but this is an instrument that always sounds as if it needs something underneath it.
Sleepy: Improv 1,967 (Mr Power glockenspiel and shruti box)
มุมมอง 6012 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
I am a bit sleepy, and so is my glockenspiel.
You Pick Yourself Right Back Up: Improv 1,966 (Ogden lever harp)
มุมมอง 7614 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
This one sort of emerged from an exercise my harp teacher set me during my lesson: I needed to improvise on a melody containing only two notes. Obviously, I haven't stuck to that here, but the C and the G I keep returning to were, in fact, the notes I chose for that exercise.
Before the Duel: Improv 1,965 (baglamas)
มุมมอง 11316 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
I imagine this improv as embodying two fencers sizing each other up before a duel. The duel begins once the music ends.
On the Verge: Improv 1,964 (Ogden lever harp)
มุมมอง 3819 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
For whatever reason, playing the harp makes me all emotional. That is all.
Backlit Spiders: Improv 1,963 (charango)
มุมมอง 7021 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
The charango isn't really meant to be a creepy instrument, but I have made it into one anyway.
The Horses Are Watching You: Improv 1,962 (Gretsch dobro)
มุมมอง 89วันที่ผ่านมา
Which horses? THE horses, of course. My resonator is rattling again. *Sigh*
Screaming Into the Void: Improv 1,961 (kazoo and shruti box)
มุมมอง 96วันที่ผ่านมา
I'm in one of my "I just want to have fun, damn it" moods. Therefore, my instruments tonight are the kazoo and the shruti box. Why the kazoo? Because it's there. Due to the fact that the kaboo makes my voice sound even more duck-like than usual, I have added some effects. I use the reverb occasionally anyway, but this time, I've also got an echo in there. Rarely has the kazoo sounded so mysteri...
Emotional Resolution: Improv 1,960 (Loog piano)
มุมมอง 126วันที่ผ่านมา
I've had this cute little piano for a few weeks now. Some further observations: 1. I'm still waiting on the octave changer, which isn't due to ship to Canadians until next week. 2. I asked about the short sustain in the comment section of the Kickstarter campaign, but while the project creators are usually pretty good about responding to questions, mine was disregarded. At least one other perso...
Wuther: Improv 1,959 (MK low D whistle and shruti box)
มุมมอง 57วันที่ผ่านมา
My whistle was giving me some grief today, as you can probably tell by the squealing, but let's just call that "rawness."
Season of Light: Improv 1,958 (Kala baritone ukulele)
มุมมอง 14814 วันที่ผ่านมา
This ukulele may be the least stressful instrument I own. It always sounds as if it's giving me a hug.
Take That: Improv 1,957 (Anglo concertina)
มุมมอง 3514 วันที่ผ่านมา
Take That: Improv 1,957 (Anglo concertina)
The Door Is Never Open: Improv 1,956 (Roland digital piano)
มุมมอง 8014 วันที่ผ่านมา
The Door Is Never Open: Improv 1,956 (Roland digital piano)
Out Into Everything: Improv 1,955 (Vardes piano accordion)
มุมมอง 9814 วันที่ผ่านมา
Out Into Everything: Improv 1,955 (Vardes piano accordion)
Soon There Will Be Snow: Improv 1,954 (Hugh Tracey treble Bb kalimba)
มุมมอง 6314 วันที่ผ่านมา
Soon There Will Be Snow: Improv 1,954 (Hugh Tracey treble Bb kalimba)
Punchy and Determined: Improv 1,953 (taishogoto)
มุมมอง 3014 วันที่ผ่านมา
Punchy and Determined: Improv 1,953 (taishogoto)
Looking Forward to Excitement: Improv 1,952 (Artisan Instruments tongue drum)
มุมมอง 3714 วันที่ผ่านมา
Looking Forward to Excitement: Improv 1,952 (Artisan Instruments tongue drum)
Charming: Improv 1,951 (Loog piano and Kawai toy piano)
มุมมอง 24421 วันที่ผ่านมา
Charming: Improv 1,951 (Loog piano and Kawai toy piano)
Warm Noodles: Improv 1,950 (Kala baritone ukulele and shruti box)
มุมมอง 7721 วันที่ผ่านมา
Warm Noodles: Improv 1,950 (Kala baritone ukulele and shruti box)
The Gnome Infestation Continues: Improv 1,949 (Anglo concertina and shruti box)
มุมมอง 6821 วันที่ผ่านมา
The Gnome Infestation Continues: Improv 1,949 (Anglo concertina and shruti box)
The Strangeness of Everything: Improv 1,948 (Vardes piano accordion)
มุมมอง 9621 วันที่ผ่านมา
The Strangeness of Everything: Improv 1,948 (Vardes piano accordion)
Fall Ends: Improv 1,947 (Hugh Tracey alto F kalimba)
มุมมอง 6321 วันที่ผ่านมา
Fall Ends: Improv 1,947 (Hugh Tracey alto F kalimba)
Ting: Improv 1,946 (mountain dulcimer)
มุมมอง 5921 วันที่ผ่านมา
Ting: Improv 1,946 (mountain dulcimer)
Glaring Music: Improv 1,945 (bowed psaltery)
มุมมอง 6221 วันที่ผ่านมา
Glaring Music: Improv 1,945 (bowed psaltery)
Wistful Pointy: Improv 1,944 (bowed psaltery and shruti box)
มุมมอง 8928 วันที่ผ่านมา
Wistful Pointy: Improv 1,944 (bowed psaltery and shruti box)
And Always Skirling, Skirling, Skirling Towards Freedom: Improv 1,943 (Tony Dixon D whistle)
มุมมอง 10928 วันที่ผ่านมา
And Always Skirling, Skirling, Skirling Towards Freedom: Improv 1,943 (Tony Dixon D whistle)
TH-cam's copyright enforcement system is utterly broken.
Beautiful
Nicely done Kari. The history of that Carol throws up some interesting points about changing language usage. It has often crossed my mind how far back in time one could go and still be understood by the English speaking denizens of that age.
It depends on WHERE you would go. The history of English speakers in Canada (just for instance) isn't long enough that time-travelling back to the beginning of it would leave you unable to communicate. If you travelled back in England--say in London, just to make it easier--you would probably be okayish In Shakespeare's time if you spoke slowly and clarified some of your vocabulary. Not all the pronunciations and grammar would be what you were expecting. In less urban settings, you would have more issues. If you went back to the time of Chaucer, you would have a much harder time making yourself understood. Connie Willis's Doomsday Book provides an interesting look at what might happen if a scholar of medieval English travelled back to 1348. The scholar in the book discovers that the Middle English she has carefully learned in preparation for the journey is completely unintelligible to the people of fourteenth-century Oxford.
@TheImprovyssey It's a very interesting subject. I imagine it would be easy to say something wrong and end up being burnt as a witch/wizard or get the chop as a foreign spy. I've always admired the elegance of 18th Century expression. It's fascinating reading letters from those times.
Merry Gnomemas to you Kari 🎄
I like this a lot. I'm hearing Zeppelin once again, waiting to hear Robert Plant's voice come in.
That sounds familiar
Quite possibly. I'm sure I'm subconsciously influenced by a ton of preexisting music when I improvise. If there's a debt here, it's an accidental one.
To my ears, this sounds like an old Christmas Carol. Nice yuletide song! PS: This makes me feel happy. I've listened to it 3x. That Shruti box, so much like a bagpipe sound to me.
Aw...thanks!
Good to see you digging into the pile of instruments and pulling out ones we haven't seen for a while. 👍
Beautiful!! Keep up the good work!
Nice! I like the theme carrying its way through! And also the left-hand runs and occasional cross-overs!
I love this. Hello from Los Angeles
This is really cool, and that's a great little instrument. The song reminds me of the Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin. It does sound appropriate for a duel.
A bit reminiscent of Charles Bronson's harmonica playing in Once Upon A Time In The West - especially the opening scene with too many horses. (Why YT is converting the movie title to a clickable link in my comment is a mystery).
Oh, that sounds so beautiful!
Music resonates with our emotions and moods. The beautiful soothing sounds of the harp especially relaxes the tight hold we keep on those feelings normally. I suspect it would be hard to remain uptight whilst playing a harp. Releasing that emotional pressure occasionally is very therapeutic and healing Kari.
Pretty! I'm usually not worried about breaking a string on the harp...except when I'm tuning (in which case I'm terrified).
Nice to see people playing instruments from my country Bolivia 🙌 Good work
I enjoy the charango a lot!
That's a lot of strings. Hope the creepiness is planned, personally once I started own attempts at music I somehow drifted into something vaguely spy movie music sounding while having no plans to do so at all.
Well done, you succeeded magnificently. Those sharp creepy notes reminded me somehow of multi-jointed spider legs. Nothing needs to have that many legs. I don't like spiders at all and we have some huge ones here.🙁
slide guitar sickos: yesss, hahaha, YES!
Probably the least goofy kazoo performance in recorded history
Now, THAT'S an accomplishment.
Excellent. What did you use to get the reverb? Software or a speaker?
I used software. Everything I'm playing is acoustic. Basically, I just played around in Audacity a bit (I did the echoes there too).
This is the first thing I heard this morning, and since I had a little nightmare right before waking, this chilled my brain out. Thank you!
Always happy to provide brain-chilling services.
I don't know where my comment went. I hope it didn't bizarrely wind up somewhere else. Anyway, I love it. The kazoo meshes very well with the Shruti box, giving it a sarangi-like quality.
Your comment ended up on the page for "The Gnome Infestation Continues," which I've just noticed is numbered incorrectly. No idea how that happened (your migrating comment, not the incorrect numbering). I blame the robot.
I love it. The kazoo with the shruti box really meshes well, giving it an almost sarod-like sound.
Brilliant.
I see they have a report an issue page on their website and a warranty enquiry process that might be worth trying as well. They ought to respond to your concerns. Your improv sounded fine to me.
This reminds me very much of Native American flute music. I never could cover the E tone hole on the MK due to my skinny fingers, so I sold it. I have a Russian Dante in G, although I don't know if they are available anymore.
Yeah, I definitely have to use piper's grip. I can cover the E hole, but only barely. I actually had to start the video a dozen times because I kept accidentally making a horrible noise a few bars in.
I also like that TH-cam has come up with a transcript for this video in mostly Chinese (I think) characters. I never noticed that before 😮
Huh...how odd. I've seen the captions spit out random words, but they're generally in English.
The big whistles aren't exactly easy to play are they. Life can't always be perfect.
like like
are the octaves fixed or can they moved up or down ,nice vid
The octaves are fixed at the moment. However, Loog does have an octave changer (a separate device) available. I've ordered one, but they won't be shipped to Canadians for at least a few more weeks. Once I get mine, I'll try it out and make a video featuring it.
@ thank you
where does the drone sound come from?
I'm playing a shruti box (a free-reed instrument often used as a drone) via a pedal.
@@TheImprovyssey got it.thanx
This little ukelele is very mellow and you obviously like it a lot. Here's a tough question for you to think about - if you could only have one instrument, what would it be and why. Maybe you could reveal the answer as part of your 2000th improv.
yes I like that idea. Favorite instrument to play reveal. 😊
Internet answers ALL the questions, even "how the concertina equivalent of guitar face looks like"
I get major concertina face. And harp face. And piano face. Really all the faces.
@@TheImprovyssey and up to half of khaen face, coz it kinda obscures the view.
@@ZeeKat True. All my faces give "I am about to go for your throat" vibes.
🎉✨🎈🎆🎇🎄
Thanks for the improv. You're up so late after what must have been a long tiring day.
Your piano improvs are always very relaxing. Say hello to old stripey legs for me.🙂 Good luck with the exam and the snow today.
Great playing ❤😊😊😊
Sounds like you might have been entitled to "widlarize" that phone today. The genius electrical engineer Bob Widlar who designed a lot of analogue integrated circuits was well-known for smashing up electrical equipment and prototypes that displeased him with a large sledge hammer. And that was the mildest of his eccentric behaviour.
This is lovely! I've really been enjoying this piano myself; great for just sitting somewhere comfortable and working through ideas.
Thanks! And yes, it's a sweet little piano that is great fun to noodle on. I appreciate the portability in combination with the not-quite-but-nearly full-size keys.
I certainly hope not! I really enjoy the kalimba.
I actually look forward to the first real snow. I just wish it wasn't going to happen on the day of my course's final exam.
I can't tell if you regard the coming of snow as a good thing or bad. I have no experience with that white stuff. Snowball fights look like they might be fun though. 🙂
I like snow. I especially like taking pictures of birds in the snow. And squirrels. Squirrels get downright silly when it snows. Snowball fights can be fun, though they can also hurt quite a lot. You would probably enjoy sledding.
Nice! I'm hoping to order the Linotte. These have such a great sound.
I missed the Linotte by about a month. Still...this is a neat little hurdy-gurdy.
Your new Table of Tunes seems quite handy. Better than trying to balance things on your lap as you play.
I very much appreciate the table. I'm glad I was able to rescue it; it's sturdy, just the right size, and conveniently foldable. I appreciate you, little table, even if some people don't. (They also threw out two brand new still-in-the-shrink-wrap records.)
@@TheImprovyssey Lots of people are so wasteful. It's criminal what they throw away sometimes.
Wonderful playing
Thank you!
that is REALLY beautiful to hear.. I'm very touched by your music you deserve millions of views... i think that piece of music kind of sums up a lot about how life feels, the potential i had and the complete broken failure i have become...i don't mean that in an insulting way, it just really touched me, the emotion to your piece and how i keep trying but there's always that sadness that nothing i try to do ever really works out well for me i hope things work out Really Really good for you now and in future Best wishes to you from Rolland in Scotland
I'm really glad you found something to connect to in that piece. I do understand the frustration of trying your best but never quite seeming to make it. It's hard to move past the feelings that emerge from that. I have a difficult time with it too. But it's nice to be able to sit down for four minutes and try to make something beautiful. Thank you for stopping to listen.
Thank you
Fantastic! Thank you for your previous advice on the HT Chromatic Kalimba. I love it and I am about to buy my second (30 percent off right now). The first one (15 keys on both sides) was modified to use back tines to extend the diatonic range of the front to E3 and F3 and added 4 higher natural notes than what's on the front. Basically, it extends the range to closely match the range of a 17 key C kalimba plus 5 lower notes . The remaining back tines will remain modifiable for a few accidentals as needed. This increases its versatility for music I like to play without having to switch to a Treble C. The one I'm ordering will be kept in its standard Chromatic configuration with only accidentals on the back for use with more complex songs
That modification is a great idea. And yes, it's hard to stop buying kalimbas. They're like musical candy.
Your gnome infestation is relatively minor compared to Gnomesville in the Ferguson Valley of Western Australia. I think at last count there were more than 7000 outdoor garden gnomes . That's a bit scary - at least yours are the more benign indoor variety. 🙂