The artists who appeared in piano 1Label section1’s new compilation is entirely dedicated to solo piano works, and has been given two guidelines. The piano must be the main instrument, and the piece must not feature vocals. Artists like Kelly Moran, the acclaimed pianist and composer who contributed to the opening of the album’s vinyl version, are accustomed to experimenting with the natural sounds of their instruments and weaving dances between emotion and technique. I am. But for others, like Japanese singer-songwriter Ichiko Aoba and Meg Duffy of Hand Habits, whose primary instrument is the guitar, the project posed an interesting, even mysterious challenge. . listening piano 1 This is an opportunity to hear musicians with varying relationships to their instruments explore simple prompts that inspire strange combinations of comfort and complexity. Danish artist ML Buch plays with his grand piano while translating hypnotic dream pop into “Getting to Know Each Other.” Beautiful precision. Brad Oberhofer captures a dusty, wistful intimacy. And an ambient veteran, Laraj’s work is complex and playful, with less of a tendency to veer into dreamlike territory. However, it evokes a variety of atmospheres that speak to the diversity of its talents; piano 1 All in all, this piece is great, and as it was for each of its contributors, it’s an invitation to slow down, step back a bit, and perhaps start remembering.
We asked the participating artists piano 1In this article published today, they share their first memories of the piano and how their contributions to the project rekindled or deepened their relationship with it. Check out their reactions and listen to the album below.
laraj
My first encounter with the piano was when I was 10 years old. At that time, there were no church services, and I was playing the piano by myself. I would like to explore it with enthusiasm. My mother lovingly acknowledged this and invested in a home upright piano and piano lessons. Thanks to this support, I began my quest to master improvised music through the piano. Nowadays, my expressive abilities with the keyboard have greatly developed, and one of my favorite musical expressions with the piano is spontaneous improvised waltzes.
hand habits
My earliest memories of the piano were of dusty furniture, music that was out of tune, intimidating, locked behind technique and knowledge, and inaccessible. The piano was the resting place for embarrassing family photos. A wooden altar for Santa, a menorah, and last week’s junk. The piano was a mystery to me…where the melodies didn’t sound right.
When I was in college, I dreaded piano class. I got lost in all the lines and spaces that seemed to exist beyond all margins. In February 2023, I was asked to perform two of my songs on the piano at Carnegie Hall. During this time, I took lessons and very slowly began to develop a comfortable yet mysterious relationship with the piano. I was shown a deeply expanding field of resonance, a fixed voicing that could only be found in one place per octave, a color of empathy that seemed to bloom infinitely and emerge by chance under my touch.
I’ve always written and composed primarily on the guitar, and I’ve spent most of my life using the guitar as my channel. I’m still intimidated by the piano, but this song inspired me to explore the complex simplicity of this instrument. Participating in the Section 1 compilation motivated me to compose according to my ears out of curiosity.
brad oberhofer
I have surprisingly few early memories of the piano, as there was always a piano in the living room from an early age. I took short lessons in Tacoma, Washington when I was about 8 years old. My teacher smoked a lot and collected dollhouses. There were several dollhouses and miniatures around the living room where I was taking lessons. In addition to being a great pianist and teacher, she had a strange and magical aura. She was a very kind and empathetic, yet strict person. She sometimes taught lessons at the home of her parents, who were concert pianists. Her parents were also collectors. When I was young, the walls of my house, which I thought was grand and castle-like, were filled with dozens of pendulum clocks. To be there was to witness a fragment of the teacher’s strange and mysterious childhood. At the end of the lesson, we were able to experience a strange spectrum of clocks that made different sounds all at once.
By participating in this compilation, my first solo piano piece was pressed onto a vinyl record. I can only imagine that if my childhood teacher heard me playing solo piano on a record, she would be proud.
Kimba unit
My earliest memories of piano were in early high school (I was a late bloomer), when I was copying and trying to learn songs by D’Angelo, Prince, Stevie…that family tree. This project has made me more comfortable with simplicity. When you bring self-discipline to your practice, there are endless things you can discover about yourself and your craft.
alan wiffels
I’ve been playing the piano ever since I can remember, and it’s always been my main outlet for creativity, curiosity, and self-regulation. When I sit down to play the piano, I’m never trying to write a song, I’m just playing. Type of work I contributed piano 1 It has been floating around in my improvisations for years. But given the challenge, I was motivated to flesh out the idea into some sort of beginning, middle, and end.
Matthew Tavares
My earliest memory of piano is when I went to group piano lessons with my mother. I really hated it when I was 4 years old. I didn’t take any other lessons until I was 9 years old, and then all of a sudden I wanted to try it again and fell in love with this instrument. I owe my whole musical career to the piano, but I haven’t really thought about it much in the past five years. I’ve played here and there, but that hasn’t been the focus of my musical life. Sometimes I even forget that I can play the piano (lol). When I perform, I usually improvise songs and record them on my iPhone, so this felt like the most natural thing to contribute. Being asked to participate in this project reminded me of one of my deepest relationships with the piano that I had simply forgotten.
