Today we’re gonna get to know the Italian composer and piano player Mattia Greggio a bit better!

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I was born in Verona (Italy) and I’m living in Verona.

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
I started playing the piano at the age of six at the Verona conservatory. At the moment I only play the piano. 

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
This is the question I love most because it is an important anecdote in my life. I can’t tell you why I wanted to play the piano, but I just wanted it.  Out of fear that my parents would say “no”, I invented a lie (a lie that a 6-year-old boy would invent to get something). I told my mom that a my classmate (my best friend of those years) was playing the piano and therefore I wanted to play it too. I didn’t know at all that my friend played the piano, for me it was a pure lie. My mom started asking my friend’s mom for information and I start losing hope and I was getting ready to be scolded. To my amazement, I suprised that my friend was really playing the piano. So it was that I began to venture on the white and black keys. 

How long have you been making piano music?
I have always composed my music as a teenager. But I decided to share my music from the autumn of 2017

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself!
I started in the early teens, 13-14 years old, where the piano and solfeggio studies had become more “interesting”. I started by arranging famous pop / rock music on the piano, finding harmonies and melodies by ear. In these arrangements I started to insert more and more of my personal parts. Then slowly I started writing my first melodies.

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
As for contemporary classical music, there are 3 artists who listen most: Ludovico Einaudi, Roberto Cacciapaglia and Yiruma. There are many many others that I love, I chose these 3 artists because they are the ones who listen the most.

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano? Your own or someone else’s? 
Oh Yes! It’s my “warm up” after the stairs of course 🙂 . When I sit on the piano, I usually play 3 songs before starting anything else (study or composition): my own arrangement of the song “Piccola Stella Senza Cielo” by Luciano Ligabue. A stretch of the song “I Giorni” by Ludovico Einaudi and the song “May be” by Yiruma

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
All the rules (or almost)! When composing music it is important to try to put all the emotions you want to convey into the song, even if this forces us to “violate” all the rules. This does not mean that it is okay to make random music, harmony is a fundamental component to achieve those sounds that can represent the emotions you want to transmit.

How do you record your music?
I record my music on my own with my home recording station

Whats your take on sampled instruments?
The VST give a great help. It depends on the cases. If a person makes solo piano pieces and has a well tuned instrument, a good recording job can be done with a good microphone system. But this is already very expensive. A good sampler helps but it must be used very well, sometimes I struggle and I prefer to use the direct sound of my keyboard. When I make multi-instrumental or orchestral pieces I necessarily need samplers. This speech is valid at an amateur or semi-professional level. At a high professional level, however, the songs must be recorded directly from instruments with musicians. No samplers.

Anything else you want to share? 
Music is currently my biggest passion. I dedicate all my time to her from my main job. In every song of mine there is a part of me, a thought of mine, an emotion of mine, a memory of mine. I always try to create different songs from each other. Piano only, piano-ambient, piano-strings, orchestral pieces. I am getting small but great satisfaction for me and this gives me the strength to never give up.

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from? 
Answer: It may seem obvious, but my songs are all born from within me. Very often I want to compose a song, but I don’t have the emotion to transmit, I don’t have the inspiration inside me and therefore I don’t leave anything in the music I’m composing. However, when there is strong emotion inside me, the right spirit, the song is already all in my head and I just have to write it, arrange it and record it.

Thank you very much for participating Mattia!

For more information, click on any of the following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

A while back I posted about the track Sonnig Schwarz by the composer Björn Gottschall, and today it’s time to get to know Björn a bit better!

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I was born in germany and after living in quite a few countries, I am living in France now, which I really love – for cheese, wine and women… HAHA. Yes I kind of like the french lifestyle and also the diversity of nature in this country.

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well? 
I play the piano since I am a child. But always when I saw an instrument, I wanted to play it and if there is something like talent – I was always able to play after a little while the melodies I had in mind on any instrument. But mainly I’ve played the piano. 

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
I can’t really find a beginning since for me even babies are musicians, everybody expresses himself with more or less organised sound in a way. Learning techniques and instruments are just largening the musical horizon. But I think there is no real end and beginning of playing music, it is just a part of life. 

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself! 
I think the first moment when I felt I have to express myself in my own musical language was when I had to digest the death of a close family member. I kind of used this melody as a retreat for my thoughts. 

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”? 
There are several people that I admire, for example Philip Glass, but also Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Chopin – I like a big range of piano music. 

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano?
Often there is one song like this, which I play always during one week. But this can change very fast, it is like having different love affairs. 

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken? 
Maybe not to many. I like rules in music and in life they provide us with orientation. I think the challenge is getting most out of a piece within your rules. Finding new ways, which are not forbidden, but still super surprising. 

How do you record your music? Yourself? In a big studio?
It depends, I did both. Not really in a “big” studio, but in a studio. My latest works were recorded at home. I have a wonderful piano, which I know very well and I don’t like this lost of control while recording on a studio piano which I don’t know at all. 

Anything else you want to share? 
Since last year I have a 6 octaves Kemble acoustic piano which I am using to play outside. The piano is always in the back of my car. And I can play it on the most beautiful places of this planet! Contrary to what people say, a piano is a very robust instrument and should not only be alone at home 🙂 

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from?
In my opinion I just tell stories, which everybody knows by using my own words. 

Thank you Björn for this lovely talk!

For more information, please check out any of these following pages:
Facebook / Instagram / Website / Spotify

A while back I posted about the track Petite Sonate Pathétique – Part II by the German composer, pianist and music comedian Felix Reuter. And today we’ll get to know the man behind the piano!

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I live in the middle of Germany, in the federal state of Thuringia (Thüringen). I grew up in Jena and today I live in Weimar which is just nearby. 

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
I’ve been playing the piano since I was seven years old. Before, I learned to play the recorder – with a strict teacher: my mother! During my studies at the “Franz Liszt Academy of Music” in Weimar I got acquainted with jazz harmonics which inspired me a lot. For several years I played in different bands: jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and pop music. I needed to keep this a secret in front of my professor: She was quite severe and argued that this music would ruin my touch for playing classical music. Later I studied playing the church organ which I also enjoyed pretty much.

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
When I was a kid, my father, an organist, would have us listen to the radio and ask over and over: “So, who do you think composed this piece?” We were many children and would guess together, so we learned to distinguish between different musical eras by ear. Our father stimulated my curiosity so much that I was eager to learn to play the piano.

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself!
I grew up with music and composing. I invented melodies early and got composition lessons at the age of 9, so it was rather a flowing development than linked to some certain “turning point”. Today, as a pianist, I have been giving cabaret piano concerts for several years. It has become my true specialty to improvise over classical music, playing with a variety of musical genres. E. g. I perform Mozart’s “A Little Night Music” in a rock’n’roll way, or Beethoven’s famous piano sonata “Pathétique” in the style of modern pop music. In this way, I interact both with the old masters and with my audience. That is a lot of fun to me. 

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
My favourite composers are certain romantic ones: Edvard Grieg, Sergej Rachmaninov, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano?
Not precisely. When I sit down at the piano, I usually improvise and play just the way I feel: sometimes excited or temperamental, but sometimes also very calm and quietly. Rarely, I play compositions by others.

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
I think there are hardly any rules these days. Many compose as well as their computer software allows them to, and some still master the feeling and the actual technique of composing – and this, you can hear and tell either.

How do you record your music?
For the recordings I have been to different studios, all of them featuring a grand piano, a lot of microphones and someone able to operate all of this perfectly. Some of the productions also included a camera team and were documented. Lately, I have been recording in a studio in Hamburg – also for my latest EP “Petite Sonate Pathétique”.

Whats your take on sampled instruments?
Well, there are many stunning sounds I really like. But you need to be careful – just the same you find very coarse samples that I would not recommend using. You can hear the differences between a good and a bad sample particularly well when it comes to wind instruments.

Anything else you want to share? 
I am happy that you are interested and curious about my music. This year, music lovers celebrate Beethoven’s 250^th anniversary and I reckon some more artists are going to release fresh reinterpretations of the composer’s pieces or music inspired by Beethoven. Sadly, now during the restrictions against the spread of Covid-19, artists all around the globe cannot perform normally, but I strongly hope that this will be possible again soon.

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from? 
The pieces and songs on which I am working have often come to my mind already some time ago. I have played them on stages in the same or in a similar way and eventually I have written them down so that I do not forget them. But sometimes it also happens that I think of something when I’m out for a walk, taking a shower or driving in my car. Then I need to write my idea down quickly and only later I decide whether I really like the idea – if not, the note goes straight to the recycle bin. 

Thank you Felix for your participation!

For more information, check out these following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Website / Spotify

I have previously written about the German composer and piano player Karl Thesing, and today we’ll go deep!

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I am from Cologne, Germany

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
The Piano was my „last“ instrument. I started with drums when I was 6 years old or something- but I was never really good at it 🙂 My main instrument was guitar and bass- I also sang a lot. I can not really remember when I started playing piano. I did not had a teacher and just always played Piano when I saw one. It was just always something I liked but never had in mind. I intensively started playing about 13 years ago.

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
I always listened a lot to music. When I was a kid I was singing along to operas and musicals, I heard on Cds my parents liked to hear. I really started playing with my first band, what now seems more like a joke, because we were more then bad. I played drums and sing in this group.I wrote my first solo piano composition with 16.

How long have you been making piano music?
I really started making piano music or neoclassical music at the age of 16.

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself!
My mother told me about a scrapbook I used when I was 6 years old or something. I had a little cheap Casio keyboard. I did not know how to play, but I invented melodies using my own pretty dumb notation system and wrote them in that scrapbook.I am pretty curious how it did sound. Unfortunately I do not have it anymore. Otherwise I may could make some nice rework 🙂

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
It often changes. Right now I would say it is Niklas Paschburg. I can’t get those melodies out of my head 🙂

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano?
I can’t really play other songs unfortunately and I don’t see the fun in it as well. I am always playing the songs I am writing at the moment over and over again.

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
I never felt like there are rules at all. When I started playing guitar, a kid from school said I am not good at all, especially my songs, because I did not stay in the right key. When I got my first teacher (an amazing guitarist) he said I can do whatever I want when I write my own music. I believed him since then.

How do you record your music?
I always start just by myself, with my piano. Then I change over to Logic and cheaply produce the song with MIDI. When it comes to production, recording and mixing I always work with the same Producer and the same studio. Lennart Damann from High Tide Studio in Hennef (its near by cologne). I can’t do what I do without him. He is the sound in my music. We often spend 10 days mixing the same song together- not because it is always necessary, but we enjoy going really into every possible detail. 

Whats your take on sampled instruments?
I used to job a bit in that section and sampled just a few instruments myself. I often changed my mind about them. I think it is a great way to work and it opens a lot of creative opportunities. I don’t want to miss them. But when it comes to my songs and the final production, all sampled instruments have to go.There is not a single sampled instrument in it.

Anything else you want to share? 
I just want to say hi to my friends/team and I hope I can soon replan our tour. Lenn, Tobi, Linus, Linda, Dominik, Raffi, Marco, Tommy, Marcel! 

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from? 
I am dreaming of the songs. When I wake up my fingers are itching. Then I sit down at the piano and my fingers show them to me 🙂

Thank you Karl for your participation!

For more information, please check out these links:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

A while back I wrote about the track When we lost it all by the composer and piano player Alstad. And today; we go behind the piano to get to know the person behind the track a bit better!

What’s your real name? 
My name is Cory Alstad

How did you come up with your artist name? 
When I started producing instrumental piano-music, I decided to separate my other music (mostly singer/songwriter stuff with full band, studio recordings, etc) from this particular music. So under ‘Alstad’ at this point, the music will all be instrumental and will feature piano as the main instrument.

Where are you from? And where do you live? 
I’m a Canadian and have always lived in Canada. I grew up in a few different places, but spent most of my early life in Winnipeg, MB, which is in central Canada. Years later, my wife and 3 kids moved to where we live now about 14 and a half years ago. We live in a city called “Langley” which is basically kind of a suburb of Vancouver. 

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well? 
I’ve played piano for many years…I started lessons when I was 7 years old and have played ever since. My parents forced me to take piano lessons, even later on when I begged them to quit! Now I’m thankful that they wouldn’t let me, but we had lots of fights about it…I can play a few other instruments as well, but not at the same level as the piano. I can play guitar, a bit of the drums, bass guitar and can ‘fake it’ on a few other  instruments. I’m also a singer. 

Tell us about how you started playing music.  
I grew up in a home where my dad was quite musical, on the piano and with vocals. I took lessons from a young age, on. I did the whole classical “Royal Conservatory of Music” route and actually ended up going to the University of Manitoba School of Music, where I completed a Bachelor of Music. But from the very beginning I was drawn to songs that I heard on the radio and loved. I have a good ear for music, and so I would often  learn the songs by ear and focus on that in my practicing, much to the annoyance of my piano teachers! I would also often ask them to play a piece that I was supposed to learn, so that I could have a head-start in learning the piece by ear! As I grew older and developed as a musician, I began to write music as well and that quickly became a real passion for me, which it continues to be, today. I also grew up attending church and was very much involved musically in that context, as I continue to be. 

How long have you been making piano music? 
Probably for 30 years or so.

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself! 
I think that I was writing/making music from very early on – writing all sorts of terrible songs on the piano at a young age! But, they got better as I got older. I think that one of the turning points for me was when I was attending a college near Winnipeg (before my university days) and I showed my music professor a piece that i had written. He loved it and was super encouraging to me and urged me to continue down that path. i think that was a really good ’nudge’ in my life and I started to take it more seriously after that. Having someone believe in your music is such an important thing in any musicians life, I think.

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
I would have to say that Olafur Arnalds is one of my favourites. He’s fantastic. I also really love the music of Joep Beving, Peter Cavallo, Nils Frahm – and many others!

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano? Your own or someone else’s? 
Hmmm. I made up a fun arrangement of “Billy Jean” by Michael Jackson a few years ago with a guitarist friend of mine, so I often will jam to that!

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
I think that it’s good to know the rules before you break them. But I think there are lots of rules that can be broken. Of course, part of the challenge is, depending on what genre you’re in, the rules change 🙂 If you’re writing a piece in the baroque era/genre, you’re going to have to be careful about sticking to their rules, or else you’re not going to actually be making baroque music. I’m drawn to chords that have dissonances to them. Like a suspension 4 chord (say a Gsus) that still has the third in it – so you’ve got that beautiful tension of an 11th chord (without the 7th and 9th necessarily). So maybe you’d call that a G add 4…lots of subjectivity around chord labels. I think that anyone who claims that there are hard and fast rules about what can be included or not included in music isn’t correct. It can all be music – it may just not be great music 🙂 

How do you record your music? Yourself? In a big studio? etc.
With my Alstad stuff (piano instrumental) I started out collaborating with a friend, but for the last little while I’ve been doing it all on my own in my little studio in my garage. So very much a solo thing.

Whats your take on sampled instruments?
I love sampled instruments! I use them all the time. There are so many legit sounding instruments out there right now and it’s never been easier to have a great sounding piece/album without needing to do it in a big studio with a real piano, etc., which costs a lot of money.  Obviously, using a real piano is ALWAYS ideal – sometimes just for the feel of it (which of course affects how you’ll play the piece) if for nothing else. But there are lots of great sampled instruments out there.

Anything else you want to share? 
I appreciate the chance to be part of this blog! If people are interested in my music they can definitely check me out on Spotify, Apple Music, or any other music platform. Also, I curate a great little playlist called Chill Evening Music that’s filled with beautiful and reflective instrumental music. 

The last question is asked by my 6 year oldson: 
Where do all your songs come from? 
Ha ha – beautiful question! I think that my songs come from my heart. I really believe that we’ve all been made to create and it’s one of the ways that we speak about the things of the heart and the soul. Words often don’t do a good job of articulating what is going on in our inner lives and so music can really help us there. There’s an old, obscure passage in the Bible that says that God has placed eternity on the human heart. I think that when we make music, we are reaching for that eternity – we’re made for it and can’t help ourselves. So, I think that my songs come from a deep place of longing and of reaching towards the Divine! 

Thanks for participating Cory!

For more information and updates, please check out these following pages:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

Today I’m introducing you to American pianist Casey Crosby, which we will get to know better in this Behind the piano article!

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I come from Syracuse, NY.  I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains region of Northern Virginia and later in a small town in rural Upstate New York. Since leaving university, my professional travels have taken me around the world. I have worked and played in many countries. In the past 20 years I have resided in Poland, Italy, Ireland, and Germany. Now I live in beautiful Switzerland.

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
I started taking lessons at the age of 10, so I play the piano since 40 years. I also play the organ.

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
My grandmother got from Reader’s Digest a record of Beethoven’s 9th symphony which she gave me to listen to on her record player. The music blew my mind and I asked his mother to get me lessons on any instruments that could get me to play what I  heard. In my parent’s bedroom there was a Wurlitzer Electric Piano and a girl I liked had piano lessons on Wednesday’s so my mother booked me piano lessons on Wednesday’s after school for 50 cents.

How long have you been making piano music?
Since I was a teen. 

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself!
When I was 13, I was asked to provide some dramatic scoring for a play being performed by the school I was in at a statewide performing arts competition. I had to write down the notes for the judges to have. At the end of the competition, though the group did not win a prize, I was given an “honorable mention” for “lively and stimulating” musical support. That kind of got me “kick started” into thinking there was maybe something cool to be achieved with this. I never dreamed it’d turn into a career

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
For me there’s only one real pianist in this genre worth mentioning: George Winston. He was the first and coolest. You could throw around many names, but they all come back to him. We are all store brand generic cola. He is “classic coke”. It was during my university years that I was introduced to the music of George Winston. I attended my first concert of George Winston in 1989 in Lynchburg Virginia, VA. I began studying Winston’s influences of Jazz, R’n’B and stride piano. On a rainy Monday night in half a full auditorium in October 1995 in Utica, NY, I attended another concert of Winston. Winston walked onto stage in his traditional socks-no-shoes and flannel shirt look, sat down at the piano and quietly announced “This is a song by Larry Young called “The Cradle”. It was the only time I remember listening to a song and not breathing without realizing it. I caught my breath somewhere around measure 30. Winston’s music was crucial to shaping who I became as a composer and performer.

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
I wouldn’t say there are really any rules, so to speak, that need to be broken, but there is a certain mentality that should be obliterated, sooner rather than later. That is the whole lack of passion and due paying process that artists today feel entitled to skip. The desperate need for acceptance from social media and shiny gadgets and “likes”. While social media is important, I believe every composer in this genre should have one aim- and that is to perform for an audience. The balls to risk small crowds yet treat them to a full on 2 hour concert like its 500 people in Carnegie Hall. If I had to choose something other than mentality, it’d be to encourage pianists in this genre to find ways to be unique and virtuosic, and not use the same lame song titles and endless arpeggios for every song. People used to record albums when their ideas were completed. Nowadays pianists write songs in order to have a record. I think quality and individuality would be much better represented by people finishing their theme and “message” and then deciding whether it worthy to record or not.

How do you record your music? Yourself? In a big studio? etc.
I only record in label sanctioned recording studios. For example I recorded my latest album “November” in the Powerplay Studios in Maur, Switzerland, and I am planning to record my next album “Calix Meus Inebrians” there too. Artists from all over the world such as the Bee Gees, Keith Jarret or Prince record there. I wanted to have a high quality recording and the Powerplay Studios had everything I needed: A beautiful Steinway B211 Grand Piano (which I need to do some of my songs that use muted strings), all the technical equipment and a great engineer (thank you Reto!) who also mixed and mastered the album. It was totally worth it because I think the high quality result I got from recording in such a place played a part in getting “November” several awards, since they also value the recording quality of the music.  

Thanks for participating in my Behind the piano series Casey!

For more information and updates, please check out the following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Website / Spotify

A while back I wrote about the track Mimosa by the German artist Kaleidoscope of Colours, and now it’s time to get to know the person behind the name a bit better!

What’s your real name? 
My name is Susanne Geisler. I’m a songwriter and and neoclassic composer, but a lot people know me from my artist project „Kaleidoscope of Colours“, under which I compose and perform neoclassical and minimal piano pieces. 

How did you come up with your artist name?
I’m a synesthete, which means, when I listen to music or play my piano I immediately perceive colours, that are evoked in my brain. A lot artists have it – Pharrell Williams, Lady Gaga. But because I had difficulties with traditional note reading, I startet my own way to compose – entirely on base of colors. My projects name is related to something Tori Amos once said, when she was asked how she would describe music (she is a synesthete as well), and she said something like „ … I’ve never seen the same light creature in my life. Obviously similar chord progressions follow similar light pattern, but try to imagine the best KALEIDOSCOPE ever!“ I was so impressed by her biography and life, that I decided to use it as artist name. I knew from a very early age that I have that colour thing going on, but I didn’t knew that it was something special.

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I grew up in Eastern Germany. I live and work in Berlin, which has a huge vivid neoclassical scene. People like Nils Frahm, Hauschka or even Max Richter, for whom I worked a few years, live here, getting inspired by the city. 

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
More than 25 years now.  I also play the guitar and sing. But honestly, I wouldn’t see myself as piano player. I see myself as musician. I keep it with Victor Wooten and what he said in his book „The music lesson“: that we are not pianists or guitarists or singers, but musicians. The music is already inside us and our instruments are what they are: tools to express ourselves. 

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
When I was about 8 years old, I discovered my parents’ guitar and just started jamming, and when I was 14, I got a keyboard, with which I started playing my favorite songs from the radio by ear. I am entirely self-taught. I have always been able to memorize tones and sounds, but it was many years later that I really understood that I associate music with colors and that the colors are the reason for my good orientation. I remember myself sitting with my guitar and keyboard, it were calm, happy moments, everything felt natural. I had access to me. I didn’t have that when I was among other people. I was quite shy and an introvert nature, struggled with playing roles. Its like this with music until today. Thats why I became a musician. 

How long have you been making piano music?
I startet pursuing a professional career beginning of 2016. The piano is still my favorite instrument. The variety of the sound range also including its body has expanded incredibly in the last decades, from Prepared Piano, John Cage to Hauschka or Nils Frahm with the more percussive and experimental parts. I am always surprised to discover new sides at this instrument. 

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself
I don’t remember a specific moment. I think it just happened naturally, when I started playing around with all my favorite songs. I started imitating, then jamming, becoming more free, and with jamming you automatically generate own ideas and then you use what you like most to develop further ideas. And at some point I don’t even need that. Now I just get inspired by nature and our environment, melodies, stories, feelings. I know a lot people started like I did. That’s how we wake up our creativity. Its like a muscle that needs to be trained. But it started with simple imitating, jamming, trying etc. 

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
I like Yann Tiersen and the way he just does his thing, with the way he writes piano pattern. He is one of the most authentic and innovative composers I know. His ideas and hand pattern revolutionized the modern contemporary piano compositions. But also Philipp Glass using polyrhythm for piano or Hauschka, using the piano as percussion instrument. I wish there would be more women among the composers in this genre though. Its still mainly men who are present and visible. 

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano? Your own or someone else’s? 
Not a song, but certain colours and shapes, which I guess can be named as certain inversions of Major 7 Chord progressions. It start in my brown scale (Bflat major – my favorite scale) and then just follow certain colour hues. Scales, chords, notes, they all have certain colours and I just start painting 😉 

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
The rules of music notation! Definitely! I struggle a lot with that. I’ve read that Tori Amos was kicked out from school, because she struggled with reading it too. Maybe its a synesthetes thing.  Its like I have to learn a new language, every time I write for orchestra. I found a way to colour it, so that my brain understands it faster. I’ve read an article that in Japan they have made tests, using colours and shapes for writing down a song of the Beatles. It turned out that people who failed or had difficulties reading the traditional note system, could read the notes much faster. Maybe worth a try to open the rules for written music a bit. It hasn’t changed since Renaissance.

How do you record your music?
I work in a collective here in Berlin. I often work with my friend and producer Maxi Menot, one of the few female producers. And I have a little studio where I play and record ideas on an old steinway. For my upcoming EP I went to Lake Stechlin, which is the clearest sea in Northern Germany, and recorded several sounds to include it on my new EP.

Whats your take on sampled instruments?
Everything that helps us expressing our ideas and pursuing our creativity is worth using it. The market has developed very fast in the last years and sampled instruments help us creating, expanding our ideas, especially when you don’t have access to certain resources. I know, a lot people probably see that differently but for me its not so much about the tools or instruments we use, its what we use them FOR. For me it’s the creative result that matters. 

Anything else you want to share? 
Thank your for this great interview. I really enjoyed these questions!

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from? 
Haha, that is a great question! From inside myself, I guess. First I get inspired by my environment, sounds, noises, stories and then I try to „translate“ it into my music, using my feelings and the inspiration. Its one of the best ways to spend your life time 🙂

Thank you Susanne for sharing your story with us!

For more information, please check out the following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify

A while back I posted about the track Ever so still by the composer Stephen Weber, and now its time to take a look inside the mind of the piano player and organist from America, or Canada?

Where are you from? And where do you live? 
I was born in Winnipeg, grew up mostly in Indiana – which I still call home – and I currently reside in Oklahoma.

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well? 
I started piano lessons at age 7. I’m also an organist and have performed on some fabulous pipe organs in the United States, Europe, and Asia. I play a little guitar and sing, but not well.

Tell us about how you started playing music.  
My parents, both of whom were very musical, required that myself and my two brothers take piano lessons. I loved the learning process and the collaborative body/mind experience of practicing and performing. I was fortunate to grow up in a home where music was an important part of life and an appreciation for the arts was fostered.

How long have you been making piano music? 
Well, I’m giving up my age here, but I’ve been performing or composing piano music for 53 years now. Piano and composition were integral components of my Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees. My dissertation focused on piano etudes and included eight original compositions, fiendishly difficult, which I recorded on the Opus One label back in the 1990s. Many of my piano compositions are available through publishing or Sheet Music Press. I use my own works with my piano students occasionally. Piano has also been my therapy. I’ve suffered from severe tinnitus and substantial hearing loss since age 9, and the piano has provided a tremendous release from that. 

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself! 
I was a “closet” Scott Joplin fanatic as a youngster, but my piano teacher wouldn’t let me learn the Joplin rags because she didn’t consider them “real” music. In defiance I checked them out at the local library. I loved ragtime so much that at age 13 I wrote and notated my first composition, a rag for piano. 

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”? 
The piano has such a rich and diverse history, it’s hard to single out composers and artists. I can, however, relate some that were influential. I’ve always had a kindred spirit in Frederic Chopin and his music, so much so that I made pilgrimages to Paris and Warsaw to see his graves (yes, one for his body, the other for his heart). The piano music of Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, J. S. Bach, and Claude Debussy have also been influential. I listen to quite a few contemporary composers and artists as well, many of which are quite inspiring.

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano? Your own or someone else’s? 
Not really. Honestly, I don’t keep much music “in my fingers”. I’ve worked really hard on improvisation over the past couple years, culminating in the release of my latest album of 18 piano improvisations, and I’ve found just sitting down and letting emotions, images, thoughts, and ideas happen spontaneously to be very gratifying.

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken? 
I think there’s a misconception that music has rules. Those pursuing formal study in music are taught “common practice” often as rules. They’re really not; they’re just what composers and theorists have done historically. I guess one thing that seems a mandate these days is that music must be categorized, or put into a specific genre. That bugs me. I think we’re seeing some movement away from that, but the industry seems to demand that artists and their music be categorized by genre. It’s kind of shame.

How do you record your music? Yourself? In a big studio? etc. 
I have a full time job as a professor and administrator in higher education, so the things I do at my Digital Audio Workstation are just a hobby. I have a very modest setup, do all the creating, performing, mixing, mastering, duplication, graphics and such with a master controller keyboard, interface, mic, monitors, and computer with Logic Pro X and Finale along with various instrument libraries. Oh, and publicity/promotion; I have that part. I’ve also done collaborations with various instrumentalists and included their contributions on my albums.

Whats your take on sampled instruments? 
I have mixed feelings about this, of course. As a purist, there’s nothing like the action and sound of a fabulous Steinway concert grand. When I want that, I use the one at the university. But, I truly appreciate the technology that allows me to access all kinds of instruments. I sometimes write large scores for orchestra; since there’s no way I could afford to have those works recorded, using orchestra libraries allows me to at least archive the composition and get an idea what it sounds like. 

Anything else you want to share? 
I think I’ve been pretty long-winded already. I guess a parting thought is mentioning the intrinsic value of creating music. It’s hard for everyone to get heard in today’s world, but what’s ultimately important to me is what the creative process gives back to me; I discover, learn, experiment, grow, and continue to find my own voice, release, and modes of expression. It’s hard to find that elsewhere.  

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from? 
Your son has gone right to the core of something that is very mysterious to me, the creative process. Honestly, where compositions come from continues to elude me. A complex answer is one’s “essence” or spirit, the combination of the mental, emotional, and physical self. The simple answer is somewhere deep within. I can say with certainty what inspires or instigates the creative idea or process; for me it’s nature, beauty in its various guises and manifestations, images, experiences, and curiosity.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!

For more information, please check out the following links:
Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Website / Spotify

A couple of weeks back, I wrote about the track Fluke by the Canadian composer Shawn Kerr. And this weeks it’s time to step into the mind of Shawn!

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I’m from a small town in Canada called Parry Sound. I moved to Toronto to dive into the vibrant music scene and have been loving it. Although Parry Sound will always be my home.

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
Piano is something I’ve been picking back up pretty recently. It was the first instrument I learned when I was about 7, but it never really stuck. Drumset was my first love when I was about 13, I joined some bands in highschool and played all throughout University as well. I’ve been playing guitar since I was about 18 and after going through phases of one instrument or the other, it feels like now I find joy in playing piano, guitar and drums whenever I can.

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
Growing up I followed most things my older brother did. Music was definitely one of them. My brother bought a drum set and I would make frequent visits to his room to smash away on them. It became a nightly habit that stuck for a while. 

How long have you been making piano music?
I’ve been writing piano music for a couple years now but my new track “Fluke” was the first piano composition I made that fit into my EP “Blue Light” I was working towards. Right now the piano seems to fit quite well sonically in everything I’m working on so it’s here to stay for the time being.

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself!
I can’t say I remember a particular moment, but it’s more of a feeling I chase after. I remember in the early days how stoked I would get when you finally get that lyric or that riff you’ve been hunting for. Most of the time it feels so out of my control. Wait for that wave to come and catch what you can when it comes your way.

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
A few of my biggest inspirations I would say are Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm and Niklas Paschburg.

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano?
I love reworking some of my older songs, transposing them from guitar to piano. There’s this song I used to have called,” Waves” and I’m really enjoying the arrangement on piano.

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
I think you should break whatever “rules” you want if those rules are holding you back from fully realizing your vision. I think “rules” in music are only useful if you know how they serve a purpose and knowing when that purpose may not be beneficial to your idea.

How do you record your music?
I have a small studio set up in my bedroom in Toronto. It’s pretty DIY and I love it that way. If I ever need to record drumset, I’ll rent some studio time for the space. I also only have midi keyboards in my room but for writing and recording piano, but there’s a café down the street that has a beautiful upright piano. The owner has been kind enough to let me in after hours and do some writing and recording. 

Whats your take on sampled instruments?
Whatever can get your idea from out of your brain and into the computer fastest is extremely valuable. For writing, sampled instruments are such a practical solution for trying out ideas when you are a solo artist or you don’t have the means to have the real thing at your disposal. I do feel differently towards releasing something with heavy sampled instruments. It’s completely personal though. If you love the way your sampled strings or sampled drums sound, go for it! There’s far too many reasons people don’t release music they are working on and only having access to sampled instruments shouldn’t be one of them.

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from? 
That’s a great question! One I ask myself most of the time haha. Whenever I get back from a trip or some kind of grand experience, the juices are flowing and I’m just trying to grab whatever I can that flows out.  

Thank you Shawn!

For more information and updates, please check out these links:
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Website / Spotify

I have written about multiple songs by the British composer Matt Stewart-Evans before, and now it’s time to get to know the person behind the name a bit better!

Where are you from? And where do you live?
I’m originally from Nottingham in the UK, but I’ve been based in London for the past 15 years.

How long have you been playing the piano, and do you play other instruments as well?
I’ve been playing for the last twelve years, having decided after University to teach myself and complete all the exams up to Diploma level.

Tell us about how you started playing music. 
I had two or three years of piano lessons as a child which taught me the basics and was hugely valuable in picking the instrument back up years later. At 15 I got my first pair of turntables and mixer and that was my main musical outlet for the next ten years, but piano slowly took up more time and become more serious once I’d set the goal of completing all the exams up to Diploma level by the time I was 30 (I was a couple of months late, but managed it!).

How long have you been making piano music?
I’ve been improvising since I first took the piano back up, and decided to start recording the pieces around ten years ago and putting them on Soundcloud. That early feedback was a nice encouragement to keep going.

Tell us something about that moment you realized you could make songs yourself!
I’ve always loved improvising and creating music of my own, but in the early days I was frustrated that my lack of technical ability meant I couldn’t make anywhere near what I was practising from real composers. I therefore made improvising and creating my own pieces my “reward” after getting through piano exam practise each day. I found that made my ‘noodling’ a lot more effective.

What are your favorite artists in this “piano genre”?
I’ll name current top 5 as there’s way too many to mention. Nils Frahm (of course), Lambert, Chilly Gonzales, Hania Rani, Poppy Ackroyd

Is there one song which you play over and over again as soon as you sit down by a piano?
I try not to get to stuck into playing one particular piece, although the latest album is fresh in the mind – ‘Glow’ is my favourite to play of the release. Greig’s Ballad in G minor has also been haunting me for a while as it’s 20 minutes long and a beast to learn.

What rules (in making music) needs to be broken?
I think every individual will have their own rules and habits as part of their music-making process, and breaking those ones that are hindering creativity is all important.

How do you record your music?
All recorded myself in my home studio. Sadly it’s not practical at the moment to have an upright and/or grand in the studio, but it’s a future goal.

Whats your take on sampled instruments?
As much as I prefer the sound and feel of real pianos, I’d be nowhere without sampled instruments. Long may they continue.

Anything else you want to share? 
My latest album COLOUR / SHADES is out now on 1631 Recordings and you can take a listen here.

The last question is asked by my 6 year old son:
Where do all your songs come from? 
Head, heart and fingers.

Thank you Matt!

For more information, please check out these links:
Facebook / Instagram / Website / Spotify