Piano Tutorial: Play "Akiho No Tame Ni (Für Elise Reimagined)" by Ludwig van Beethoven and Jenny Laine!

If you are a fan of classical piano music and Joe Hisaishi's Neo-classical, jazz-infused Japanese folk fusion music (mouthful!), you are in for a treat! This is a special arrangement of the A section of Für Elise in the style of Joe Hisaishi. 

Level and Technical Challenges

I rank this as a late elementary piece (Faber 3A) as far as readability. The piece has no sharps or flats in the key signature, has a borrowed F#, and relies heavily on 8th note rhythms. 

Students familiar with A minor and E minor scales (or the relative majors) should be comfortable with this piece. 

The piece uses jazz chords in arpeggio form, providing a rewarding harmonic experience. 

Consider presenting this as a recital piece or for personal enjoyment at the piano. 

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New Piano Score: Hold On To Hope

 

Hold On To Hope for Piano Solo (YouTube)

Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (NKJV) 

Smooth and undulating, this intermediate piano solo has a simple recurring ostinato in the right hand throughout. The relaxed and melancholy mood will evoke feelings of yearning and uncertainty. This piece was improvised on a gray and rainy day and embodies that imagery. 

Consider programming this piece for church services as a prelude or for prayer times.

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New Piano Score: Patience

Patience for Piano Solo (YouTube)

2 Corinthians 6:4 "But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses..." (NKJV) 

May we be patient in times of trouble! Hesitant and quiet piano evokes feelings of patiently waiting and hoping for a good outcome, creating a dreary mood that is open-ended. 

Play this late elementary piano solo for silent prayer during communion for Sunday worship services. This is a suitable piece to program for Lent and Good Friday. 

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How to Communicate Emotion Through Music Composition and Recordings

What are my techniques for evoking emotions in music? For composers of any skill level, this is my process for expressing emotions in my piano music. 

Mindset

For any artistic endeavor: visual, language, dance, theatre and music, you must internalize the emotion first. What are some images or events that you associate with happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and the many sub-emotions that further modify these categories? 

If you have trouble identifying specific emotions, a feelings wheel might be a great place to start for adjectives. 

Put yourself in the place of feeling the emotion you want to capture. Sometimes it might be related to your current situation, so this might be easier to tap into. 

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My Tools for Composing Music

 

1. Manuscript Notebook
   • Nothing beats good old pencil and paper.  As you experiment with motives and chords, jot down the general outline of the melody and write chord names over top. I always leave room for the bass clef as well, but typically fill in the patterns later. 
2. MuseScore Studio 
   • Free software that has recently gotten a huge makeover. I am really enjoying the upgraded instruments and the regular updates. This program can be used with your computer keyboard or a MIDI keyboard. 
3. Recordings
• Regardless of how many books you read about how to compose or how many scores you study, you must be listening to lots of music.  I actually bought a 65 set of classical music cds that I used to receive by mail order as a kid. I found it on eBay. It's called "In Classical Mood". I essentially learned orchestration simply by listening to this huge collection of classical composers.  I can hear the tone quality of each instrument in my head and decide when I want to apply in my own music. 
• Streaming services work too! But I am definitely in hard copy mode as of late. 

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Accomplishing a Long-Term Goal

 Recently, I found a card stock star with my junior high school photo in the center. Around my smiling face were goals written on the arms of the star. Some of these goals were short-term or habit goals. But there was one long term goal that I only just accomplished. 20 years later. 

For many years since I wrote this goal, I carried around a lot of shame. Shame lived in my head in a cacophony of “not good enough.” Some of this was even reinforced by teachers and professors. It felt very real and very true. So of course, why would I think my long-term goal was reachable? I wasn't good enough! 

Enter the book Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. I learned that failure is necessary to success. I learned that vulnerability and leaving oneself open to the possibility of failure is necessary for creativity to thrive. The stress and constraints that I had been crushed by for so many years started to loosen. No longer would I take people's snide remarks about my pride keep me from being a composer. It's not wrong to be creative and to believe and hope that other people will enjoy it and be blessed by it. 

This was a life-changing lesson. 

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My Start as a Composer

 

An untitled piano piece from my childhood

 

Composition

When it comes to movies and video games, I'm most interested in who wrote the music. Not the actors, not the directors, not the writers, the composers. Composition is a career that I've been drawn to for over 25 years. It has been a wonderful hobby and creative outlet. 

 

How I Started Composing

When I was about 5, any time I visited a friend's house, I would grace their family with my “piano abilities.” I did not have a piano at home, so my improvising was quite… modern. One time, around age 7, a friend told me her mom didn't like hearing people play who didn't know how…

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New Album: Serenity

On January 8th, I self-published my new piano album, Serenity. This project was originally going to be an EP companion to Tranquility, which is why the names are similar. I ended up with more material than expected and it became a full album. 

Serenity was recorded entirely on my Yamaha P-255 using the Grand Piano 1 setting which is a concert grand piano that has simulated the sympathetic vibrations of an acoustic piano. I adore this VST and I will be sad when this digital piano declines. My brother says the P-515 is great though and his recordings are beautiful, so when it comes time, I'm sure I won't be too disappointed with the replacement. 

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