Piano Plus cello recording session (part 1)

Well, we’re gearing up for the second season of our Piano Plus 1 collaborative projects and we’re off to an amazing start! Two of my students, Justin and Lucas, recently had an opportunity to perform their music with cellist Elise Hughey at Blue on Blue recording studio here in Rochester, NY. Although I’m openly biased, I have to say that the boys did a great job – especially given that this was a first-time experience for both of them.

Justin and Elise preparing

Justin’s piece, “Trance,” is one that I composed last year for solo piano. Although I was mainly interested in writing something with a minor flavor and hypnotic feel, I also found myself having some fun crafting the broken chord pattern that weaves its way through the A section. Including the cello part (not heard in the audio clips above) added a whole new level of expression to the music.

Lucas’s piece was inspired by a home video of a praying mantis eating a moth. Yeah, you read that right! Anyway, because the “fight” seemed pretty one-sided, I decided, in the interest of musical storytelling, to compose a piece of music that would underscore a fictitious battle between two more evenly matched insects – the praying mantis and the formidable katydid. The sound clips below represent the main themes that we used to create “Fight to the Finish.”

Lucas and Elise recording

Hats off to Justin and Lucas for all their hard work in preparing for this recording session! I also want to express special thanks to cellist Elise Hughey and sound engineer Marc Webster for their invaluable contributions on these projects.  

I’ll be posting audio and video from the actual session within the next few days. Make sure to stay tuned as the creative process unfolds!