Fourteen melodic songs for the piano, inspired by improvising or "musing" at the keyboard.

The artwork on the cover of this album began as a doodle on a scrap of paper by my daughter, Jessi. A couple of months earlier she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl and she was trying to come up with an idea for a painting to give her doctor. At the

Fourteen melodic songs for the piano, inspired by improvising or "musing" at the keyboard.

The artwork on the cover of this album began as a doodle on a scrap of paper by my daughter, Jessi. A couple of months earlier she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl and she was trying to come up with an idea for a painting to give her doctor. At the same time, I was working on this album of original piano music. When she sent a text message to me with the doodle attached, I knew the design had to be the cover of my CD. I began to encourage her to do the painting. It has been suggested that unceasing encouragement can also be considered nagging, but, that Christmas, I opened a package that contained the finished painting of "The Muse." With a few brush strokes, the artist transformed a treble clef into the form of an expectant mother, in this case, the mother of music: The Muse. The curve of the clef becomes the swell of a belly holding music yet unborn. Five lines filled with random musical notes become her flowing hair. For me, it is the perfect personification of musical inspiration and creation. And if the function of the Muse is to inspire creation, it worked for me. I had originally planned to record an album of piano music I had composed over the years, but as I spent time at the keyboard over the next few months, I found that there was music yet unborn within me. Four songs on this project were created during that time. At my age, that's encouraging. I took stock of what material I wanted to include on this project and realized that most of the music had been written over the last three or four years. I can't say for sure that the best is yet to come, but I'm not done yet! The title of this album is "Piano Musings." That is because most of the selections here came about by "musing" at the piano. As I improvise and play, sometimes I come up with a rhythmic or melodic motif that catches my ear and I work to develop it further. This is where the idea of the expectant Muse fits again. As with any birth, the idea, the "twinkle in the eye," and the conception are the easy parts. The development of that idea into a child is another thing altogether. (Ask any mother about that!) Some of the songs on this album went from conception to completion in a day or two. Most took weeks or months, and some have been developing for forty years or more. But when the baby is finally born, it's a joy! As for my daughter's doctor, I'll make sure he gets a CD and a print of the artwork.

Tim Jacobsmeyer