Three Improvisitions

by Thom Blum

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1.	Improvisition no. 3 for guitar and marbles 05:25	info	buy track
2.	Improvisition no. 2 for Lafayette Park in SF 05:30	info	buy track
3.	Improvisition no. 1 for jars and lids 06:17	info	buy track

about

"Improvisition": free-form improvisations corralled post facto into a composition

I improvise privately, mostly, as a diversion from the more plodding pace that is composing. But I also improvise to explore the range and utility of a new device, patch, piece of software, etc. I improvise to learn new things and practice some older ones. I record and store almost all of these in-studio "improv sessions". Most are short, about 5 to 10 minutes.

I use these later as reference materials, perhaps sampling a few seconds from here and there in the service and process of composing some specific sound object I have in mind.

But the three short pieces on this release are the result of my wanderings through the collections of references again and finding longer improvisational swaths of two to five minutes, all from different sessions but exhibiting some complementary or shared characteristics.

I found that when overlapped or sequenced in just the right way these selections could compose a clearly audible logic or dialog. In the process the term "improvisition" sprang to mind, each piece being about 75-percent improvisation and 25-percent composition.

credits

released October 18, 2022

©&℗ 2022 Thom Blum (ASCAP)
cover art: "The Secret Life of Data" by Scott Steelman (www.steelmanstudio.com)

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Thom Blum San Francisco, California

Thom Blum has been composing electroacoustic music since 1974.

Recent performances and installations include "[You Are [Here] You [Are] You Here]", a sound installation established in 2022 in the Prelinger Library in San Francisco, and "Telescopic 1 (zoom out)" at the San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2024. ... more

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