Today I want to introduce you to Trevor Kowalski. A contemporary pianist-composer, Kowalski started young – piano lessons at 6 years old – but loved to create his own sounds rather than follow structured lessons. His newly released piano work June 5th (from his album Certain Paths) caught my attention: After listening to (and playing around with) some of his music, […]
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Some of you may know that I’m an active social media user. I firmly believe in putting myself out there to share my music and, in turn, supporting other artists. This is how I came across the music for today’s post. Today’s blog features a work by composer Alfonso Peduto, whom I recently discovered on Instagram. […]
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My heart is heavy. There has been much in the news lately to cause distress regarding human nature, and it’s shocked and saddened me. In response to those actions of hate, I’ve turned to music. Specifically, church hymns. *Disclaimer: I understand and respect that not everyone is religious. I really do. All I ask is […]
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Okay guys, here’s the second installment of the series Music Inspired by Water. Check out part one here! Last time we talked about orchestral music, so today’s playlist is piano works inspired by water. Jeux d’eau by Ravel First up: Jeux d’eau (“Playing Water”) by Ravel (1875-1937). The composer himself said of this piano work: Jeux d’eau, appearing in 1901, […]
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I want to share some new music with you this week! Petite Waltz is an original piano solo composed by yours truly. Check it out: This piece was seriously fun to write. I composed the first minute and a half four years ago, but I set it aside to finish later. However, I never forgot about […]
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These last few months have been a little crazy and stressful. Okay, a lot crazy and stressful. I decided to take a little break today and listen to some music that I like, so I thought I’d share some of those pieces with you. Prelude in B minor by Rachmaninoff First up: Prelude in B minor […]
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This week I want to share with you my piece Adagio for Violin and Piano.I actually wrote this piece in March 2016 as the final project for my composition class at OSU. My friend Jayanthi Joseph was willing to play the violin for me for the performance in class and in the video above, and she […]
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This week I came across a piano work by French composer Darius Milhaud (pronounced Mee-YO) called Saudades do Brasil, Op. 67. It’s a suite of 12 dances based on his trip to Brazil, and they’re simply charming. Although French, Milhaud (1892-1974) was heavily influenced by jazz and Brazilian music. In 1917-18, he traveled to Latin America and was […]
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Background When we say Baroque music, we typically think of composers like Bach and Handel. These composers – and this musical era in general – were vital in shaping music as we know it today. Beginning around 1600, the Baroque era was instrumental (pun definitely intended) in the normalization of tonality (harmony as we know […]
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This week I’m listening to 12 poems of Emily Dickinson by Aaron Copland, an American composer, teacher, and conductor who lived from 1900-1990. You can read more about him here. Have you ever read a poem that spoke to you in a way nothing else has? That’s what happened to Copland. He wanted to set some poetry […]
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