Go Play Outside

I mean the title in 2 senses of the phrase. The first one is pretty obvious, with the new beautiful weather I really should get out for some physical activity. Tim was mentioning playing some tennis; only thing is that my shoes are at home and I don't exactly have shoes to play in out here in rez. Looks like it'll have to wait a couple of weeks. One that's weighing more in my mind right now though is the meaning w.r.t. piano playing. I think one reason I've been kind of frustratingly bored with my own playing recently is that I am finally gaining enough of a familiarity with the basics of improvisation such that I am comfortable with playing in the changes. I have some canned riffs, I can think decently on the fly, etc. However, if I'm always playing inside the playing can get sometimes monotonous. After all, the whole deal is about tension and release, and one of the most effective ways to do that is to 'play outside' -- that is, improvise without necessarily following the stated harmony in the traditional sense. It's a skill I want to develop, but I just don't know where to start. I really need to go in for a lesson with Chris before I head off to Germany... (again, probably not terribly interesting to most, but meh)