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As two pianists who admire each other’s music, we’ve been musing about the possibility of trying a collaboration since last spring. We’ve always noted our very different playing styles, and thought it would be interesting to see how/if they could be blended in one piece of music.
This started with a little piano piece that Shay did for her niece. She thought it might work as a collab and sent it to Karen. This was the first of many compromises, since Shay, who is more comfortable in Eb and 4/4 time, had played this piece in D Major with a 6/8 time signature (favorites for Karen). The gauntlet had been thrown down! As Karen began to do an accompaniment, it became immediately clear that adjustments would have to be made in the piano instruments to address our very different ways of playing. We chose a bright piano for Shay and doubled her track, while finding the mellowest possible piano for Karen, whose mother can still be heard to say “Stop Pounding!”
It wasn’t long before we both were noticing how reminiscent some of Shay’s original improv chord structure was to certain aspects of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, and after a bit of back and forth, we decided to stop fighting it and just play the Pachelbel as part of our piece. This posed some challenges as we each had to figure out some way to play a recognizable version of this familiar tune in 6/8 and at 100 bpm, and then our two versions of course also had to work with each other. As the Pachelbel developed, we decided to make it just a little more challenging by playing a 3rd and ultimately a 4th piano accompaniment.
Meanwhile, we also wanted to do some orchestration to this piece. The process of adding instruments was very entertaining. Shay would write a cello line, send it to Karen who would rewrite it, send it back to Shay who would rewrite the rewrite and finally we’d compromise somewhere approximately in the middle of our two musical brains. This was truly a collaboration in that we literally worked together on nearly every note, and had to continually find ways to blend our styles of playing, writing and thinking about music. For example, Shay, who cut her teeth on George Winston, loves the sustain pedal, while Karen, who cut HER teeth on Joseph Haydn, uses it sparingly. Shay loves dissonant sounds, and Karen um……did we mention Haydn? Karen loves lots of syncopation and Shay…….not so much. We considered calling this piece “The Tao of Compositional Compromise,” but settled on a little less of a tongue twister.
We had a great deal of fun making this song, and hope you enjoy this first of hopefully many kassia/magnatone collaborations! We recommend listening with headphones on for this one!
This started with a little piano piece that Shay did for her niece. She thought it might work as a collab and sent it to Karen. This was the first of many compromises, since Shay, who is more comfortable in Eb and 4/4 time, had played this piece in D Major with a 6/8 time signature (favorites for Karen). The gauntlet had been thrown down! As Karen began to do an accompaniment, it became immediately clear that adjustments would have to be made in the piano instruments to address our very different ways of playing. We chose a bright piano for Shay and doubled her track, while finding the mellowest possible piano for Karen, whose mother can still be heard to say “Stop Pounding!”
It wasn’t long before we both were noticing how reminiscent some of Shay’s original improv chord structure was to certain aspects of Pachelbel’s Canon in D, and after a bit of back and forth, we decided to stop fighting it and just play the Pachelbel as part of our piece. This posed some challenges as we each had to figure out some way to play a recognizable version of this familiar tune in 6/8 and at 100 bpm, and then our two versions of course also had to work with each other. As the Pachelbel developed, we decided to make it just a little more challenging by playing a 3rd and ultimately a 4th piano accompaniment.
Meanwhile, we also wanted to do some orchestration to this piece. The process of adding instruments was very entertaining. Shay would write a cello line, send it to Karen who would rewrite it, send it back to Shay who would rewrite the rewrite and finally we’d compromise somewhere approximately in the middle of our two musical brains. This was truly a collaboration in that we literally worked together on nearly every note, and had to continually find ways to blend our styles of playing, writing and thinking about music. For example, Shay, who cut her teeth on George Winston, loves the sustain pedal, while Karen, who cut HER teeth on Joseph Haydn, uses it sparingly. Shay loves dissonant sounds, and Karen um……did we mention Haydn? Karen loves lots of syncopation and Shay…….not so much. We considered calling this piece “The Tao of Compositional Compromise,” but settled on a little less of a tongue twister.
We had a great deal of fun making this song, and hope you enjoy this first of hopefully many kassia/magnatone collaborations! We recommend listening with headphones on for this one!
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LunaTrick
Splendid idea... you too getting together. I've always thought piano duets were an underrated medium... and after this I'm further flummoxed as to why. Love when the strings and woods come in... gorgeous use of the flute. Really super work.. bravo to both of you!