Song improvisation

I'm great at singing pop songs. I know the lyrics to a couple hundred, and it's quite often that I make it all the way to the bridge before floundering on a the last verse. When I shift my hands on the piano over into improv mode, I flounder immediately. I realize just now the reason. I don't know what it is that I'm listening for. When I play pop tunes I'm trying to recreate the way my brain hears the song. Would it be possible for my brain to come up with something it wants to hear and then mimic that on the piano? Some improvists must perform from that motive; when I try to tinker around and make a noise that my brain likes I inevitably repeat the same lick to try to make my brain remember it.

I was going to use the first paragraph to segway into something more interesting, but my written improv apparently fails me the same we as the musical when my brain hasn't decided what it wishes to put to pen. Maybe I'll go diary for a paragraph or two, copying that which my brain has already observed and processed, and reproduce it in an entertaining manner.

This past weekend was my 32nd birthday. I have to say it was one of the best birthdays I've had. First off a Saturday birthday is great because it can be legitimately celebrated from Friday afternoon through Sunday, especially when that Sunday is Easter and that means that the nice restaurant on the corner has an unusual number of empty tables. The surprisingly wonderful thing about the weekend was that I got to see most of the people in my current life in several settings and altering quantities and intimacies. From hot tubs to crowded concert halls to fancy upstairs dining, it was really a varied petting zoo.

I don't worry much these days about the future. I figure as long as I'm not in prison or defending the rear flank in some crazy combat mission that I'm in pretty good shape. I suppose disease could bring me down in a hurry, but otherwise things will be just fine for me for a while. I'm especially excited about a little bit of camping momentum that started with some kayak camping a week ago and continues with some bike camping this week's end. I'm declaring a bi-monthly camping trip that migrates further and further north, following the last green grass that dies away so soon around home.