I decided to write down a few thoughts following the release of my first piano album “12 Pieces for Solo Piano”.

This project helped me learn that simply finishing a tune (I know, so obvious), no matter if it’s a minute-and-a-half long, as long as it has a beginning/middle/end that feels satisfying, is important.

I also learned that it’s OK to lean on influences (some very transparent, some maybe not so much), and that following what I like (realizing that that is continually evolving) is a good place to start.

I didn’t get hung up on song titles (OK, I basically ditched them altogether)…and that’s OK, because (for this particular record) I didn’t want to create a mythology around a tune for which that wasn’t the original intent. I treated this in many ways as an experiment in getting over myself…not overthinking and not worrying about profundity. If the majority of the classical repertoire is expressed in numbers, maybe I can have a piece called “Two”, or whatever.

I honestly didn’t set out from the beginning to record a solo piano record. I kind of circled back to it through the same spirit of what has seemed to govern this whole process: simplicity. How can I minimize the choices and options in a way that maximizes the forward movement.

I also learned that to compose a handful of things that I really like, it takes making a lot of music. I canned probably 15-20 tunes (all of which were also important to complete) for this project. I’m learning that being less precious about every single tune actually ends up being great for the creative process. It’s OK that they aren’t all winners. I’m also confident that I’ll look back on this record and have plenty to critique (heck, I already do). This just goes back to the virtue of finishing stuff, no matter what.

I did have a couple of ground rules for this record: 1) Write what I can play. It sounds obvious, but I didn’t want to cobble together a bunch of MIDI performances. It’s so easy now to write in the “box” and leave it there. Nothing wrong with that, but for this I wanted to challenge myself to write what I could reasonably perform without having it be a computer creation. And while these are fairly simple tunes, some were deceptively difficult to perform (for me, at least!). 2) Account for each note. Again, very basic, but I’ve always leaned towards being more of an improv guy, and tend to think more in terms of chord changes and overall vibe when approaching music. For this record I wanted to perform written-out compositions. Sure, many of these began as improvisational ideas, but I wanted to settle on exactly which notes would happen and where, as a challenge to myself. i.e. I scored it all to sheet music.

A little extra info: Most of what ended up on this album was composed in May 2019, with a handful of tunes I had been kicking around for a couple years being added as well. I recorded in July 2019 on a DIY felted upright piano at a studio in Nashville. It was a pretty crappy piano, actually, and if I could do it again, I probably would have selected a different piano. Lesson learned: I can fall in love with an instrument in a certain context and not love it for another. That being said, I did feel a certain connection to this piano (whose make/model I cannot remember). I recorded what you hear on this record in a single day, and, if I could do it again, would have spaced it out over at least a couple of sessions. Making a record (even a simple piano record) takes money, but even though I was on a shoestring budget I’m very happy to have hired an outside engineer (the brilliant Buckley Miller). Next time I’ll book two days.

Looking back, one of my favorite things is that I can recall the recording of this album as an event. A moment in time. It’s something that you don’t always get in modern record-making. I’m grateful to now have this little snapshot from the Summer of 2019 to mark a stop along my musical journey. Many more to come, I hope.

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