Bob Scher

Traveling Bob Scher

Improvising is composing, only there's no time to stop and Polish. My aim has been to create music that has structure-at least a beginning (sometimes the searching part is left in), a middle, and a conclusion - and that can sometimes touch something truly deeper. Within this structure there may be many themes that play off one another and interweave. Most of these works come into being the way a plant grows, the full blossoming, which may be quiet, usually coming near the end. Each piece has it's more special moments, but all of the surrounding music prepares the way and is part of the drama, so that an arrow might arrive that penetrates further. Almost none contain edits. I determine only where to begin and where to fade out. I also never think about words when improvising. The titles come after, though some seem uncannily corresponding--e.g., 'The Transfiguration of a Chrysalis,' "The Cranes Are Flying into Summer," or "Journey to the Secret Garden.' The following quote that I found turns out to be a precise description of how I approach this work: "When I'm no longer trying to do something, I begin to feel I am led, as if my brush was just following a definite path. I am just following something which I merely initiated. At that point I am open to something which I was unable to express before, when I wanted to direct it. And strangely enough, the best moment, and the best result, is when I am here in front of the painting, and the hand is so to speak free. I am not imposing. At the same time it is me who paints. But it is as if I were following a kind of secret indication. I am no longer fighting. The struggle has taken place before this moment, when I was at the point of giving up. And at that point if I'm open enough, then something occurs, something completely new, something which seems to be true." from 'The Transmission of Content, An Interview with Paul Reynard,' Parabola, Vol. 13.1.1998. Recordings were made on an old upright with an old microphone. For these piano improvisations, "imperfections" lend a sense of place, of actually being present at the time.