| A lot of new age piano music consists of | | | | only a few chords, but interest is maintained |
| repeating patterns, or textures in the left hand | | | | through the improvised melody. In my piece, |
| while the right hand improvises a melody. This | | | | Flashflood, from Anza-Borrego Desert Suite, I use |
| approach is really a good one! It frees you up to | | | | the same technique. |
| create in the moment. First you decide what | | | | I start by playing an ostinato in the left, than add |
| chord or chords you'll be using in the left hand. | | | | in the melody in the right. I keep playing the |
| You then create an ostinato or arpeggio that lays | | | | ostinato for as long as my intuition says, "this |
| the foundation for the entire piece. | | | | sounds good," then add in some contrast, either |
| It's like the background a painter uses before the | | | | by changing chords, or by adding in new material. |
| foreground is drawn in. In the case of music, the | | | | It's important to realize that complete textural |
| background would be the textural patterns in the | | | | backgrounds can be created using the left hand |
| left hand. Then the right hand comes in "to paint" | | | | alone. In fact, entire pieces of music can and have |
| in the rest of the picture - in this case, the | | | | been created using this very versatile approach. |
| improvised melody. | | | | It's especially suited for new age music. So, here's |
| George Winston used this approach in the piece | | | | a step-by-step procedure for creating textures: |
| "Rain." First you get this beautiful textural | | | | 1. Choose your chords - These can be triads, or |
| background created exclusively by the left hand. | | | | Open Position Chords, or any chord structure |
| He covers more than an octave with the left | | | | 2. Create a pattern for your left hand |
| hand using the thumb to reach past and make | | | | 3. |
| the music sound fuller. Now, in this piece he uses | | | | |