The strings of my childhood piano in a picture taken by my brother, Steven.
Original Compositions/Improvisations for Solo Piano
I have played the piano since I was little, with my first attempts focusing on works by Joplin, Gershwin, Mancini, and the requisite Chopin preludes. It wasn't long though before I started writing my own tunes, mostly because I loved playing the piano but I hated putting in the work needed to learn someone else's notes. Many of these songs ended up being fleshed out and played by The Color Grey or M.C. Flowmaster, but they all pretty much started out here, on the piano. I've tried to arrange them roughly in chronological order, with the earliest recordings dating from 2000 or so and the latest recordings from 2006.
The Spanish Opera
Rhapsody
April Groove
Rubaiyat
Lullaby
St. Jimmy's Jam
Images of Spain, montage
Storm Surge, montage
Improv in C Minor
Mozart
Impaction
G-Jam
prelude in C major
The Learned Astronomer, W.W.
Twilight, W.W.
Emily's Song
Nostalgia
Wanderlust
phrygian dance
And a special track- a version of the Rhapsody I recorded in 2000 on my other favorite instrument, the marimba:
The Film Score to "Heaven"
"Heaven" was a short film produced and directed by a friend of mine. He asked me to do the score, and as our time was limited, we ended up recording in an unusual way. I came up with a few very rough themes, and then one night he came down to The University of Maryland, and with Bryan Geiger's help, we turned one of the piano practice rooms into a recording studio. We placed a laptop on the piano, and as he screened the movie to me for the first time I improvised along to the scenes. We did one take straight through and that was the score.
Covers
In the summer of 2003 I recorded a bunch of one-off covers. Here are a few of them.
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
Take My Breath Away
Misty
Somewhere Out There
A Whiter Shade of Pale
End of the Road
Fly Me To The Moon
Stand By Me
Autumn Leaves
my piano's keys, picture by Steven