My new CD UnCaged Toy Piano was recently reviewed in the New Music Box! I want to thank Frank Oteri for taking the time to listen and write about not only me but the toy piano world. I am glad that he was interested in my original works from The Memoirist. Many people have asked me why the CD only includes the first and third parts of this piece and not the second. While making the CD, I really went back and forth on this matter and decided that the second part of this multimedia piece is driven mostly by the visuals (movie). I think the music of the second part (also title The Memoirist) is best described as a live soundtrack to a movie. The style of the music sounds much more like “pop” and there are folly sounds that coordinate with happenings in the movie. This doesn’t mean that I am not proud of the music, but I find it more appropriate when presented with the movie.
The movie portion was created of recycled materials such as felt, cardboard and miscellaneous found objects. Aside from the toy piano in the music portion, I also used sampled bell-like sounds from kitchen utensils such as bowls, tea balls, pan lids and others. I am still hoping to create a DVD of The Memoirist that will finally present the piece as a whole. I have found live performances of the multimedia work to be most effective, but also pretty high maintenance to set up. (i.e.,In The Dream, the video is also to be projected “miniature-style “on a suspended pillow hanging from the ceiling.) Until then, I hope that The Memoirist parts one and three can hold their own as pure music on the CD!