Finding Momentum

Last night I dreamt again I was playing the piano. It was a melancholy piece, set to raindrops echoing off roof shingles. I was playing by sight, with no direction or closure in mind. It was simple, just: play what comes to mind and to ear.

I played in D# minor, no particular reason except that I've always liked the sound of the black keys and the way they stick out of the keyboard, like landmarks, asking to be touched and played. In my head they're associated with the blues, with the minor scales, with Texture and Difference. So I played them, dragging out their tones with total abuse of the sustain pedal (that would give my piano teacher a fit).

I find a left hand chord progression that I like (it's a minor progression that resolves on a major key) and dabble around with melodies with the right. I'm playing now by my own rules, turning accidental notes into chords that I can't name. I'm not even thinking but imagining this to be a soundtrack and it's filling my head and overpowering the rain, it's echoing through my house and I'm glad nobody's home to hear it.

I wake up, 10AM, grasping at echoes, and it's raining outside.

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