Piano Music

Stargazer – Original Piano Composition

/ Janeen / Leave a comment

Hello again!!

Since I’ve already taken it all the way back to the beginning with “Reflections of Joy,” I thought we’d just move right into song #2! This one is called “Stargazer.”

Honestly, if I had to pick my favorite song out of all that I’ve written so far, this would be it. I think the reason I’d pick this one as my favorite is that it’s definitely the most creative & complex song in my “library.” It still challenges me to this day (as you can tell from some of the errors in the video….shhh… haha)! The rhythms between right hand & left hand are complicated & kind of awkward, as they’re basically playing the same notes/melody but at a slightly different time in some parts (right hand follows immediately after the left hand). If I would play an extremely slowed down version of those parts, it would totally clash, but sped up, it all blends together & becomes this beautiful, glorious, mess of a song 😉

This one took lots of practice & repetition & hard work to train my fingers how to play it, which is another reason why I think Stargazer is so close to my heart. Sometimes I think I had an out of body experience when I wrote this song, because to this day I think to myself, “How did I write that?” haha!

This song definitely inspires a sense of wonder & awe in me every time I sit down to play it, much like the feeling of gazing at the stars on a clear summer night. I just love this one guys …. I hope you all enjoy “Stargazer” as much as I do!

If you want to hear more songs I’ve shared, scroll through my Music page on the blog, follow the blog to get email updates when I post new ones, or subscribe to my YouTube channel 🙂

Thanks for following my melody!

– Janeen

Reflections of Joy – My First Original Piano Composition

/ Janeen / 2 Comments

Hello everyone!

Now that I’ve shared a few of my newest compositions & pieces I’ve been working on, I figured I’d throw it ALLLLL the way back to where it all began – “Reflections of Joy.”

This was my very first piano composition. I wrote this song when I was 14 years old. I remember coming up with the melody in the shower (singing in the shower … typical) & then playing around with it on the piano & embellishing it until……VOILA …. my very first original song was born. This created a domino effect & I fell in love with composing & wrote many other songs that year (which I will be sharing on here…follow the blog if you want to be notified when I publish the rest!)

Some people from around my hometown might recognize this as the “Wintz & Ray Funeral Home Theme Song”…haha! For those of you who may not know, my family is in the funeral business, so they use my music for a lot of their commercials & stuff 😉

My mom helped me come up with the name (she helped me name all of my songs back then) … we decided on “Reflections of Joy” because it made us think back on happy times & wonderful memories. I hope this has the same effect on all of you as you listen to this song & reflect on your own happy times in your past 🙂

Thanks for listening!!

Ohh and if you happened to miss the other songs I’ve posted, check out the “Music” page on the blog here where all of the videos are 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the song! I’d love to hear what you think of it. Thank you so much for following my melody!

Until next time,

– Janeen

Me Playing George Winston’s “Variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel” – Dedication to My Mom :)

/ Janeen / 5 Comments

Hello!!

I’m so excited to share this video with you today!! It is from back in November when I was home for Thanksgiving. This one is not one of my original songs, BUT it is very special to my heart.

Growing up, my mom LOVED to listen to George Winston’s CD’s. We shared a love for his music and this was one of our favorites! George hadn’t printed his sheet music at the time, which was sad to me because I would have loved to learn his songs. After my long break from piano in college, once I moved to Valentine & got my piano back in my life, I was on the search for more piano music to learn & I came across a piano book that George had released of some of his favorites and KANON was included!! I ordered it immediately & decided that I would learn this song.

As soon as I started learning it, I was so excited & wanted to tell my mom, but then decided that I would keep it a secret from her & surprise her over the holidays! So, I was on a mission. This was the first song in over 5 years that I really had to work at, put my nose to the grind, take it section by section, & practice practice practice! I had it down by Thanksgiving, so I told my mom that I had a surprise for her & we went to church to use their grand piano there. As I started playing, I could hear my mom crying behind me, which made it really hard to pull it together & see my music through my own tears. I made it through though & it truly was one of the most special moments of my life. I think of my mom every time I play this song. She’s a very inspirational woman & I don’t know what I’d do without her! This song is for HER!! 🙂

It is moments like these when I’m most grateful for my gift. These are the moments that give me such fulfillment & joy from playing the piano – when I can touch the hearts of others, especially my loved ones! Hope you enjoy this “Variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel,” by George Winston.

Ohh and kudos to my wonderful husband, Brandon, for his fabulous page-turning abilities 😉

Thanks for listening everyone!!

– Janeen