New on YouTube: a glimpse into rehearsals as an accompanist

For the new year, I have begun a regular accompanying gig for a local church ensemble, who had previously brought me on for their Christmas Mass several years ago.

It’s a pleasure to work with an active ensemble that - while smaller than before - is still performing regularly and is very involved in their community following the pandemic.

This is a great experience for me as a musician, with new challenges and fresh music every week. While I’ve been accustomed to playing whatever I chose as a solo pianist, accompanying pushes me to listen, follow, lead, and improve my technique on styles that I have not played in for some time.

This video below is from a rehearsal of Chris Tomlin’s “Your Grace Is Enough”…

New on YouTube: Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15: Dreaming (Träumerei) - Robert Schumann

What childhood dreams does this piece bring to mind?

Carnival of the Animals - Le Cygne

New video on the channel while my piano awaits its tuning:

Deux Arabesques / Une Dog

Satie the chihuahua decided to come listed to Arabesque No. 1 by Claude Debussy in this new video:

Melodies and Medicine at Banner

Playing Vocalise Op. 34, No. 14 by Sergei Rachmaninoff at Banner Good Samaritan on a Sunday morning.

Danzas Españolas No. 2 - Enrique Granados

Sometimes you just need to dance a little! Danzas Españolas No. 2 by Enrique Granados is a piece that I learned in college and has stayed in my repertoire over the years because it is fun to play with its lilting movement and familiar ABA form.

Intermezzo in A, Op. 118 No. 2 by Johannes Brahms - new from YouTube

If you haven’t subscribed to the SLK Music YouTube channel just yet, now’s a good time because I’m hard at work recording and uploading more, longer, and landscape-oriented (ha!) videos. Today’s upload is of Johannes Brahms’ Intermezzo in A, Op. 118 No. 2 - a favorite among pianists and classical music lovers alike. Full of feeling and with a distinctive melody that transforms throughout the piece, this is good one to close the week with:

Adoration - new from YouTube

Written by Florence Price, a groundbreaking and prolific composer who would become the first African American woman whose symphonic compositions were performed by a major orchestra, Adoration is a profoundly calming piece with a songlike quality to it. This recording is of an arrangement for solo piano from a living room practice session.

Channeling Music with YouTube

As a place to store, share, and compile my living room recordings of beloved pieces, I have launched a YouTube channel titled SLK Music! Please like, subscribe, provide feedback and requests. I look forward to sharing my music from the home and beyond!

Lost Leaf, Found Footage

Under the red hot lights at the Lost Leaf, the Resort Collection kicked off with an evening of solo piano classics from my days at the Old Faithful Inn and beyond. The pieces selected mixed Classical favorites with obscure works from the early 1900’s and arrangements from film and popular music for an eclectic and nostalgic sound.

Lost Leaf

Found Footage

A Month at the Inn

Below are a few images from July and August - spent performing in the evenings at the Old Faithful Inn, and exploring the incredibly powerful natural landscape in this national park; a landscape which has inspired so many musicians. What a privilege it was to spend a month at the piano in this wonderful, historic building, knowing that the music reached even to its highest point near the Crow's Nest where the orchestra once played.

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Frank Lloyd Wright's 150th Birthday Celebration

"Space is the breath of art" -Frank Lloyd Wright
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Photographer and videographer extraordinaire Danny Upshaw recently put together a beautiful video capturing the David and Gladys Wright House and 150th birthday celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright last week. It was a wonderful experience to play the Steinway & Sons grand piano in a historic Phoenix space that will now be preserved through the School of Architecture at Taliesin.

Featured pianist and composer in short film by local photographer Danny Upshaw of Magnetry, Inc.