mister ebby » instrumental

Inspiration: Michael Nyman – “The Piano”

mister ebby — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:32:35 +0000

I started playing piano quite young, and went through the RIAM classical piano grades. I started to lose interest somewhat at about the age of 15, when I was coming to the end of my grades, and wasn’t really interested in doing a Diploma. But something that reignited my love for playing was the movie “The Piano”, and particularly the beautiful score by Michael Nyman. I saw it on VHS when I was about 13, if I recall correctly, and I remember my parents making a special exception to allow me to watch a movie that was rated 15.

But I was really taken by the soundtrack, and I love the fact that Holly Hunter played the piano parts seen in the movie. Initially, it was the piece “Big My Secret” that I loved and played a lot, but I was won over to all the pieces over time, and they became some of my favourite pieces of music for piano. I spent the rest of my teenage years without going to piano lessons, and discovering pieces of music that I wanted to play, as opposed to just having to learn them for an exam. It’s something that I think was very important in continuing my love for the instrument. That, and discovering artists like Tori Amos and Kate Bush, who used piano in their music in ways that I hadn’t heard before.

The main theme from the piano, “The Heart Asks Pleasure First”, also called “The Sacrifice”, has become one of those standard pieces that piano students all love and learn:

It is a beautiful piece of music, but my favourite is still “Big My Secret”. Some people feel that it’s played too fast in the movie, as the recording by Nyman is much gentler and slower, but I like the flexibility of the piece, and it’s appropriate in the scene, I think:

Holly Hunter in the movie:

(Nyman’s version and some other bits after the cut)

Nyman’s version:

I loved the visuals of the piano on the beach used in the promo shots, and also scenes of the movie itself. Pianos are such beautiful instruments, and they really command your attention in a room. Having one standing proudly on a beach as the waves were coming in was an image that really called to me. You might psychoanalyse it and wonder whether it was about my own waning interest in the instrument at the time, being reignited by a desire to save the piano from the beach and the rising water. Or you might just think that it’s a striking image ;)

Free Download: Theme 4 (instrumental)

mister ebby — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:25:57 +0000

This was just an idea for a project I was working on briefly, but there were two of the piano instrumentals that I came up with that I really liked. Much like Bewerunge, this is what it sounds like if I sit at the piano and play sometimes. A lot of my piano music is improvised, and then shaped after I’ve improvised the themes or ideas I want to work with. Sitting and just allowing yourself to play is a challenge initially – I remember some of the awful music I used to come out with when I first started to just let myself play anything at the piano instead of just reading music from a page.

In terms of instrumental music, I guess I’m influenced most by the kind of piano music that I like to play these days. Composers such as Lucovicio Einuadi, Philip Glass and Max Richter are some of my absolute favourites to listen to and to play. So, there’s a strong influence from their styles of music these days when I go to play something.

Download audio file (theme4.mp3)
mister ebby – theme 4

Free Download: Themes 1, 2, 3

mister ebby — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:32:59 +0000

These were sketches of melody ideas for a project that never really came about. But I quite like the ideas. This piece is just a few little sketches that I came up with while playing the piano in Java’s café in Galway one afternoon. It’s a beautiful piano, and it seems to prefer being used for instrumental music than anything else. There are times when it can be a bit annoying, as the piano is there for anyone to use, but generally people treat it with respect and you can stumble upon some beautiful piano music in there.

But this piece was really shaped by that piano, actually, the sound of the piano is quite distinct, and I really would love to use it for some recording. My digital piano sounds just a little too bright and cheery for the music, in my opinion, but I’m probably just being a bit of a stickler.

Download audio file (themes123.mp3)
mister ebby – themes 1, 2, 3

Free Download: Bewerunge

mister ebby — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:54:49 +0000

This is a piano instrumental track that I released as a b-side to the single I Wish You Were Here in late 2007, but it was recorded well before then.

It’s an example of what happens when I just sit and improvise at the piano, and the track itself is an excerpt of a longer improvised session.

I had been recording Anna Lee doing some of her songs, using the piano and just using the room for other tracks, and she was taking a break. So I pressed record and sat at the piano while she was gone. I improvised two separate tracks and just chilled out.

When I went later on and looked at what I’d recorded, I realised I’d set some levels badly, and any of the much louder moments in the improvisation were distorting noticeably. Thankfully, the quieter moments were coming through beautifully, and there was this whole middle section of the track that I just loved.

I edited out that middle section from the larger piece, and decided that I really liked how it sounded by itself. I named the track Bewerunge because that’s the name of the room it was recorded it.

The two main lecture rooms in the Music Department in NUI Maynooth are called the O’Callaghan Room and the Bewerunge Room. The piano in the Bewerunge room is where this track was recorded. It’s a beautiful piano, and I spent the three years of my music degree in one or the other of those rooms.

Download audio file (bewerunge.mp3)
download the mp3