The third sample of video statements created from 2018-2019, to help explain the twenty-nine stream-of-consciousness solo piano improvisations on my 2002 CD, "A Glassful of Doubt."
First and foremost, I am a composer. With the advent of YouTube, it became apparent that adding visual imagery would garner more interest in my work then a static audio presentation. I’d already created a body of photography and visual art that I could draw on for this purpose. To this I added video clips, the purpose of which was to help listeners better understand the context of my vision.
"It is pianist and composer in unison. A combination of Liszt and Monk at work. What Mr. Spicka gives us in A Glassful of Doubt, is a self-contained, bold declaration of belief in the creative spirit." - Mark Yacovone, Program Director, WDUQ-FM - Pittsburgh
First and foremost, I am a composer. With the advent of YouTube, it became apparent that adding visual imagery would garner more interest in my work then a static audio presentation. I’d already created a body of photography and visual art that I could draw on for this purpose. To this I added video clips, the purpose of which was to help listeners better understand the context of my vision.
"It is pianist and composer in unison. A combination of Liszt and Monk at work. What Mr. Spicka gives us in A Glassful of Doubt, is a self-contained, bold declaration of belief in the creative spirit." - Mark Yacovone, Program Director, WDUQ-FM - Pittsburgh
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Not Now"Not Now! I'm Busy." I imagine this is what I will say to the Grim Reaper when it shows up. There's just too many things to learn about and experience. Come back in another 100 years or so.
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SomedayThe promise of hope: Things will get better - Don't give up - You can do it - etc. ... A Glassful of Doubt - #24
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WastelandThere are so many of them, especially when you consider our planet's ongoing geology and climate variations. Volcanos, floods, tsunami, earthquakes, deserts Of course, that opinion depends on who's doing the observing.
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A Glassful of DoubtTitle Track (#26) for this particular group of stream-of-consciousness piano improvisations. This was a particularly difficult time with the depression. If one were to compare my drawings at this time with what I had been doing previously, they were mainly a bunch of meaningless scribbles .. In a way, it was a precognition of what lie over the horizon ...
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DenialOne of any number of means we use to hide from reality, collectively gathered under psychological defense mechanisms. Those calls for "Change" are generally meaningless, because it is often the one calling for "Change" that needs it most.
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Yellow ThoughtsBesides being track #28 on my stream-of-consciousness CD, "A Glassful of Doubt," what are yellow thoughts? When I lived in Fork Maryland, yellow was my favorite color because it reminded me of the morning Sun shining in through my bedroom window. As the improv suggests, over the years yellow took on a sinister aspect. The optimism, hope, and naivety of youth crushed in a cold, non-caring world. And yet idealism persists in the stories we read, the movies we see. Grabbing for the brass ring cannot remain elusive through all eternity ... or can it.
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GlimmerYes there is always that, as untenable as that may be. Things will get better, the grass is always greening. A carrot dangling from the end of the stick, Hope.
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Unclaimed MelodyThe detritus of composition? A theme so awful as to be intolerable? Or perhaps a motif ahead of its time. #21 - "A Glassful of Doubt."
