Summer

Summer Bliss – Original Piano Composition

/ Janeen / Leave a comment

Hello!

I’m SUPER EXCITED lately because I finally settled on a goal release date for the New Beginnings Album (album #2), & that is December 1, 2016. There will be 12 songs on the album & I’m planning to share videos of me playing the full length versions of each song for the weeks leading up to the release 🙂 After releasing the “Reflections of Joy” album at the beginning of this year, I really wanted to take my time before releasing this next one & just make sure that I’m really ready for it (it is quite a bit of work after all)! However, once I knew I was ready to commit, it hit me like a ton of bricks, & I’m busting at the seams excited to get it done. Woo hoo!!

Most of the 12 songs for “New Beginnings” have been finished for several months now, but my “Summer Song” was always one that just wasn’t quite complete. I actually started this song last summer, but didn’t finish it & let’s be honest, once fall & winter came, I had zero motivation to write a summer song. Ha! However, now that summer 2016 has officially made it’s appearance, I have found my summer inspiration back & let that feeling sink in as I finished it the other day. I just LOVE spending time outside in the summer, soaking up the sun, spending time in nature, walking, gardening, reading in my “backyard oasis”, biking, yoga on the deck, grilling out, mowing the lawn, you name it … I try to spend as much time as I can outside in the summer! It gives me a very carefree, content, & blissful feeling, which is why I settled on “Summer Bliss” as the official song title. I’m super excited how the final song turned out & I hope it gives you that same blissful summer feeling that inspired me to write this song.

It’s funny how each song has it’s own journey to completion. Some songs, I sit down & write start to finish in a couple hours. Others, like this one, I start but don’t complete until several months, or even years later! I think there’s always a reason for that though, so no matter the song’s journey, as long as I’m following my own inspiration & creativity & curiosity, I feel like I’m doing it the right way 🙂

Hope you all enjoy “Summer Bliss” which will be one of the songs on my “New Beginnings” album at the end of this year. Thanks for tuning in!!

Love, Janeen

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My Cover Version of “Living In The Country” by George Winston

/ Janeen / Leave a comment

Hey guys!!!

Finally more music on the blog 🙂 I’ll get back to some original stuff soon, but I have been OBSESSED with playing this song lately. It is my favorite “summer” song to play & now that our weather finally feels like summer here, I’ve been spending lots of time outside in our beautiful backyard enjoying the weather & soaking in all the things I love about summer & nice weather (literally….my horrible sunburn from the other day is proof. Oops!). I feel like this song is an expression of all those things I love about nice summer days (minus the sunburns).

This has always been one of my absolute favorite George Winston songs!! As I mentioned in this other post of me playing George Winston’s “Kanon”, George does publish some of his sheet music…..but not all. George only has published sheet music for a handful of his songs, & I was disappointed to learn that this one did not make the cut. So, one day about a year ago, after years & years of listening to this song & wishing I could play it, I decided to take it upon myself to learn it by ear.

As I dove in, I realized that George’s version is in a pretty difficult key with lots of sharps & flats. So, in my angst to learn it as quickly as possible, I decided to try it out in the good ol’ key of C 😉 Within an hour, I had it down!! It’s not exactly like the recorded version, but that’s the beauty of music…..this is my take on George’s melody & it just makes me so happy every time I sit down to play it.

I hope you enjoy my take on this song!! George is one of my favorite composers, so I hope I did this song justice. Enjoy “Living In The Country!”

If you liked this & want to hear more, visit my music page on the blog or subscribe to my youtube channel.

Thanks for following my melody!

Until next time,

– Janeen