Music in this episode:

• (0:00) "Improv in NYC - 1" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKeHgnoadyQ
• (15:30) "My Song 37 Longer" by Noah Fechtor-Pradines (I am in love with this song!)

Noah Fechtor-Pradines is a quantitative researcher living in New York City who composes and plays the piano in his free time. Most recently he has also picked up the violin and started taking socially-distanced lessons! We talk about his creative process, music theory as the "grammar" of music, and improvisation as the "immersion" of becoming fluent in the universal language that is music.

• I was 11 years old I think.

(0:30) That’s when Noah first started playing the piano. 

• Sometimes I hated lessons and practicing but I loved the piano.
• I think it was something my parents suggested as something I should consider, and I was like sure! But then I loved it and continued.

(0:50) His first exposure to improvisation was at the end of high school, at school assemblies, when people would come in and out of the auditorium for the national anthems.

• I went to a British school so we'd sing the British and United States national anthems.
• And afterwards, I’d stick around, just playing things easy on the ears, not like elevator music but pleasant things.

(1:30) When he’s alone with the piano it’s a very intimate process of creativity.

• I just turn off all the lights, and play by feel. It’s very much a mood thing.

(2:30) I asked if he was then comfortable making such improvisations public on YouTube.

• I get full control over what I put up there, and I’m comfortable playing in public.
• And I’m getting more comfortable with making mistakes in a recording and still posting it. 

(2:55) I was also curious whether putting his improvisations up on YouTube changed what he played in any way.

• Well there’s meter and dissonance … joke about band tripping over missed beat.
• But even the set up is a barrier. 
• [You need a real piano, I say, and laughter].
• I do need a real piano. I really do. 
• Actually one of the things I miss is trying out pianos at the Steinway Store.
• I think they’re willing to bet that in 20 years, there’s a high chance I’ll have such positive associations with them that I’ll buy a Steinway over another brand.

(6:00) We talked about some of the other things he misses during COVID lockdown, like live concerts and jam sessions with fellow musicians.

• It’s been like over a year. 
• [Netherlands street musicians]
• So jealous… I live for that stuff!
• I was at a salsa dance gathering in Boston and there was one of those "Play Me I'm Yours" pianos. I started playing and some guy joined me - it was great!
• There’s a spot in Union Square where people often play music, and I'll be going to work or coming back from work, and there'll be a saxophone screaming down the subway. Those are the moments that make life exciting. I miss it so much.

(8:10) Being around people in person, and hearing live music (or YouTube productions of novel scores) function at the core of his improvisational inspiration.

• Sometimes It’s hard to be creative when there’s nothing to draw inspiration from.
• When I hear something I don’t understand, the process of understanding it is one of the most creative moments for me.
• A big part of my process is just figuring out what I liked about what I heard, and playing it in as many different possible ways as I can think of, and that happens over the course of maybe 5 hours.

(9:04) Those are the kernels of inspiration. And I love that he calls them kernels because it's such a mathematical expression.

• 100% a mood thing, just have to be in the mood and the moment.
• [I remember you were very inspired after a movie and composed my song longer 37…]
• I have a whole bunch of unfinished thoughts that I just abandoned… don’t really know where they are now… [oh no!]

(10:40) You know Neil Gaiman? There’s his idea of compost pile…

• Yeah, it sort of needs to sit there for a while, before the flowers bloom.
• [and sometimes methane comes out]
• Right, we don’t record those… [laughter]
• [Or we do and delete them... they never see the light of day]

(12:09) What have you been doing musically creatively? he asked me.

• [Actually I've started improvising on violin. I was inspired by you, and the way you can create sweeping phrases and beautiful sounding chords… but I don’t know music theory.]
• I actually have an opinion about music theory…
• First of all, everyone’s biased toward the way they learned things, but I think I knew a lot more music theory from just improvising. 
• So taking music theory class was just learning what those things were called.

(13:54) It’s like grammar for language… music theory for music.

• Yeah, like who do I consider more fluent: someone who knows all the grammatical rules for Spanish or someone who lived in Spain for three years and speaks it fluently?

(14:08) So improvisation is the immersion of the musical world of communication and creation.

• I think one of the things that’s bolstered my violin the fastest is I have this practice regimen... but then I explore what’s possible, and what the patterns are.

(15:50) And he’s almost done with book 1 of Suzuki after 2 months. Suzuki is popular among teachers of beginner violinists.

• My teacher makes my progress sound impressive but then he’s comparing me with 7 year olds [laughter]
• [Once you learn one instrument, easier to learn the next]

(16:17) But he’s got a unique goal that sets him apart from students, possibly of any age.

• I just want to be familiar enough that I can understand it and play creatively and write stuff that involves it.
• [Cool because composers need to know how to play the other instruments they write for…]
• It’s so different! The attack is different.
• When I see a whole note over two measures, piano brain sees that and thinks nothing’s happening. 
• [So it’s going to change what you write for violin] 
• Yeah, yeah it’s going to change.
• But I’m already having a ball just squeaking out notes.

(18:06) There is a violin store that’s open, and Noah’s been trying out violins.

• The guy Lukasz Wronski was like here you try this one, I be back in an hour.
• This one better, try!

(18:59) He ended up finding out the violin-maker’s story at the violin shop while he was trying out violins… so we’ll close with this anecdote.

• When he was 14 he went to get his violin fixed, and the maker ended up teaching him how to fix it himself. Eventually he started making his own violins!
• There’s so much craft that goes into these things... damn.

(19:40) Thank you Noah for joining me for this final highlight of the year! Keep on creating, y'all.

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