I believe this is the final incarnation of this piece. This work is very dear to me, and is a memorial to all my friends and mentors who have passed on. It combines elements of Classical, Berlin School, Ambient, and Piano. Please share, and comment as you see fit. Thank you.

Grasping For Courage VII

John Rose is a composer working out of Lexington, Kentucky. John has worked for many years doing live radio, outdoor festivals, art openings and planetarium performances. John has been a pioneer of electronic music in Kentucky since the 1970s. He continues to work on solo recordings, and is a sound tech and stage hand. He recently started recording and producing music for other people. John also loves to teach wilderness survival and awareness and has been doing so at camps and workshops around Kentucky and Tennessee.

John Rose’s music is created primarily from his own experiences, what he calls “life’s soundtracks”. He utilizes elements from his diverse musical background, which includes early music (especially the Medieval and pre-Renaissance era), Baroque (owing to his direct musical lineage to J.S. Bach through oral teaching tradition), Middle Eastern Music, Gregorian chant, traditional Celtic and Appalachian music, and experimental electronic music.

Music and musicians who are of interest to John Rose are J.S. Bach, Arvo Part, Tangerine Dream, Dead Can Dance, Gregorian chant, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Alan Stivell, Morton Subotonic, John Jacob Niles, Debussy, and Chopin. He considers Nature and Silence to be the foundation of all music.

John’s music is timeless and pensive, interwoven with images of nature, expressive rhythms, deep space pulses, and industrial ambience. Other compositions contain intricate piano passages dancing across waves of geometric ostinatos.

“Music is structured in silence and has its foundations in the rhythm of nature, out of which springs the language of humanity and reflections of the energy of life. I wish to express this to the listener through my music.”

JOHN ROSE SOLO DISCOGRAPHY (cassette format):

Evening Thoughts (90min)
I Could See Them In The Distance (60min)
Rainsongs--also available on LP
Oceans of Contradiction (90min)
Reflections (90min)
Chemical Dreams (90min)
Night Songs (90min)
Meditations (90min)
Zeitreisen (90min)

The Natural World (90min), a recording of live music from the woodland art fair in lexington
Diane Timmons Live at ArtsPlace in Lexington.

CD Format

Cosmogenesis  April, 2001 on SpaceForMusic.com Records
Conversing With A Rainy Night 2004
Unsound 2023


with Tony Gerber
2001 - Airwaves (Electronic Instrumental, Released in January 2000 on MP3.com)

with SPACECRAFT
1997 - Spacecraft: "Spacecraft" (Lektronic Soundscapes LS97009 CD)
1998 - Spacecraft: "Hummel: Live" (Lektronic Soundscapes LS-1012 CD)
1999 - Spacecraft: "Earthtime Tapestry" w/Giles Reaves (released August 4th, 1999 on Lektronic Soundscapes)
1999 - Spacecraft: "Kaleida Dreams" w/Giles Reaves (released November 25th, 1999 on SFM Collective at MP3.com)
2000 - Spacecraft: "20th Century Mix (Best of)" (released January 12th, 2000 on SFM Collective at MP3.com)
2001 - Spacecraft: "Musical Meditation for World Peace" (released January 1st, 2001 on SpaceForMusic.com Records via mp3.com)
2001 - Spacecraft: "Summer Town" (release Feb. 15th on SpaceForMusic.com Records SFM12001)
2001 - Spacecraft: "Cybersphere" (released May 19th on SpaceForMusic.com Records SFM22001)

Music like snow. Falling softly, bringing silence.

I make cinematic music, centered around the piano. Often melancholic, but not without hope. Calm, but not without movement. I hope it gives you something.

My path to this kind of music wasn’t straightforward.
I quit piano lessons as a kid after just two months. Years later, I got into recording and collecting sounds. I also began capturing instruments with my modest setup. But there was one problem: I couldn’t actually play one myself. So I bought a keyboard and started taking piano lessons again. From then on I couldn't let go of music.

The music that always stayed with me was film music – fascinated by how it tells stories and how it adds depth to a moment. Over time, my own pieces became more narrative, more atmospheric. Until they became what I share with you today.