Every January, I sense the familiar siren song of reinvent yourself ! New year, new me: new systems, new promises, and a new list of challenging piano pieces I want to master. Now that I'm well into middle age, I'm finally learning that the grand declarations and the twelve-month master plans don't lead to my best work. I think I need to focus on smaller, well-chosen containers. So instead of plotting all of 2026, I’ve decided to focus only on the first six months. The Guiding Question My guiding question over the past few months, and for this year, is simple: What kind of musician am I becoming? The answer is not “a virtuoso” or “a concert pianist.” It's not even "a performer." No, I am first a songwriter, an arranger, and maybe even a composer--someone whose greatest joy is creating, shaping, and finally sharing music. I want to play engaging, expressive, rhythmic piano music for myself and others. I'd like to be someone who can sit down at a piano in an...
I am absurdly excited today. The kind of excited where I sit down at the piano “just to try something” and suddenly it’s 45 minutes later and I’m pacing around the room narrating my own ideas out loud. I have two videos to share, which means two musical updates! Update #1: Silent Night Rhumba Has Become a Thing This Jonny May arrangement is ridiculously fun. I daresay it's even more fun than Bare Necessities , probably because Bare Necessities, no matter how fun it is, is still hard to play. Silent Night Rhumba isn't easy, but once the groove locks in everything else kind of happens naturally. Like the music knows where to go and I just need to get out of the way. My plan for the full piece is: Simple version first ( video here ) More interesting version next (video below) Solo section that I'm still working on Either a repeat of the more interesting version or go straight into the outro Here's the more interesting version, which I shared on social media last week: My...