A few weeks ago, the music store I work at got a weighted keyboard. I have a complicated relationship to piano; I was never dedicated to practicing enough and while I love playing piano, I struggled to learn to read music. For many years, I was almost exclusively committed to playing guitar and ukulele. Even after I reached an uneasy truce with piano, it felt like a bit of a foreign instrument that I couldn't quite understand (and therefore couldn't properly enjoy). But... there was a keyboard. Right there. So I started playing.
To my surprise, it was fun. Things I'd learned on guitar began to translate back to keys; I simplified what I wanted to try, played music I liked and wrote melodies I thought were pretty, with no regard for whether they were technically brilliant or complicated. After a few weeks, I had a new appreciation for what I can do on piano, instead of feeling guilty about what I can't do. In general, I find that the stuff I make is better when I'm enjoying it. I like pretty piano music, and I spent time writing it.
Now, I've put some of the pieces I've been playing with together here. The High Key EP is a short collection of piano pieces (one that is fairly odd, timing-wise) and a new single, "Nuclear," the very first I've ever mixed on my own. This is a project that I didn't expect to make, but it's exactly what I needed to work on, fulfilling exactly what I was missing creatively and stretching my mind and skills in new directions. You can download it to a computer for free by clicking the album cover below. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it.
Click here to download The High Key EP
Once again, this project was made possible by the support of my patrons of Patreon. If you like my work and would like to see more of it, become a patron here.