This piece starts my soon-to-be album release: Fingerpainting. The improvisation bounces and scurries about like frantic bats startled by a spelunker trespassing—invading der fledermaus' precious limited space. As the protagonist of the melody, it seems to be complaining loudly to itself to be heard by the offender.

My self-imposed rule for the Fingerpainting LP was solo piano only. When I was rambling through some of my files, I came across this percussive loop—said percussion being the piano parts bounced, banged, and otherwise manipulated. At this time in life, we also suffered attic percussion from a community of squirrels. The percussive piano loop sounded like the invaders. This is my sworn testimony via piano.

Decades ago, when I first met the woman I was to wed, the one hang-up was that it was a one-sided mixed pairing. I was a musician not into dance, she was then a beautiful Ballet dancer with professional ambitions. Wherever would we have time for one another? Then one day in the corridor, in front of her bedroom door, I asked if she would perform for me en pointe . I love ballet for that wonderful experience.

I was was inspired by the "big darkness" of Paola Fazioli's 275 concert grand. And as I hadn't yet created any thing emotionally searching in the way of an etude or nocturne, this was my turn to express that thought: not sad or as deep as brooding, yet passably unsettled...ready to either feel better or go to sleep and dream of flying.