(Jean's Piano (harbourcalm) PRESS RELEASE)
see also Jean's Piano (an hour of piano music) 2023
Composed & produced by Marc Chesterman
https://marcchesterman.bandcamp.com/album/jeans-piano-harbourcalm
5 Track e.p, released 2022
tags: ambient, piano, experimental, soundscape
Videos/visualisers: none
These sounds originate from a recording of my grandmother playing piano. She loved to play, & was often tinkering away, playing by ear & singing; at home in Whitianga, Coromandel Aotearoa New Zealand. I'd always intended to create something from the recording.
Here's how I went about it. A phrase of the original recording is selected, it becomes a 'sample', a couple of bars that will loop forwards & backwards. Now the sample can be played via a midi keyboard. Playing the sample is like playing any instrument - different pitches, notes are layered, new chords and combinations form. Plus you control the 'envelope', meaning, how fast a sound starts (attack) and finishes (decay). You form a new piece with a new sound. The resulting sound can also be processed, by adding reverb, echo, filtering, & oscillation. It's instinct you're going on. You record what is played.
Remembering your grandmother's joy at playing piano, you have fun also.
Piano: Jean Albrecht
Sound: Marc Chesterman
'harbourcalm' as a name popped into existence looking out at the Wellington harbour, on a very calm day! From where I live the harbour looked like a huge flat glass bowl, it drew me in and held me. harbourcalm music is created to fit this image, this feeling.
