b i l l - y - t u d e \ˈbil-i-ˌtüd\ n., 1 a state of mind or feeling experienced when playing Billy Joel's piano licks. 2 a composition built on a technical foundation formed by Billy Joel's piano licks.

[This is recording is from Nicholas Phillips' American Vernacular CD, released January 7, 2014.] 

I built my piano [and musical] ground floor upon the stones laid by Billy Joel and Elton John. To this very day, when I hear Falling of the Rain or Laura, I can't help but picture a 16 year old me banging away on an out of tune upright.

The Cold Spring Harbor and Streetlife Serenader albums introduced me to
the rockabilly piano fills from the 50s and early 60s. These rockabilly fills are all over those albums and I learned quickly that I could throw one into almost any tune and get some smiles. My version of this type of fill takes center-stage in this etude and when the figure combines with some flying octaves that would make Liszt blush, it quickly moves into late night, totally badass piano thumping country. Something tells me my 16 year old self would approve.

bill-y-tude was commissioned by Nicholas Phillips with funds from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Academic Affairs Division.

The premiere recording of bill-y-tude is available on New Focus Recordings’
American Vernacular: New Music for Piano, Nicholas Phillips, piano. (FCR 144)

[Digital copies are also available through iTunes and amazon MP3.]

To purchase the score, visit: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_132&products_id=1485

To find out more information about Joel Puckett, please visit either www.billholab.com or www.joelpuckett.com.

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bill-y-tude

Processional is inspired by, and takes its name from Norman Lewis’ artwork (1965), which is an abstract representation of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March. Lewis slowly conveys the energy of the march through a series of white strokes, depicting those processing, within a central widening band; like a beam of light, as the procession grows in length and number. I was drawn to the simplistic, yet intricate beauty of Lewis’ piece, and its capability to powerfully embody such a significant moment in history. I also thought it apt that the title indicates continued processing, marching and protesting; that Lewis’ work is still very much relevant in the present day.

My musical representation starts slowly and quietly high in the piano’s register, steadily leading to gentle undulating and repetitive rhythms, which gradually builds in intensity to a forceful and driving section. The piece ebbs and flows in urgency in this way between contrasting bolder, and more delicate material; almost always constructed of free-flowing lines to reflect Lewis’ blurred white strokes. The work unrelentingly culminates to its final peak, punctuated by strong chords in the bass line. It returns to a remote fluidity, ending on a soft flourish as the procession continues into the distance.

HK (Jan. 2018)

Processional

I have a quasi-religious relationship to Chopin’s Ballades. If I stumble on one of them unexpectedly–on the radio, in a hotel lobby, or walking past a pianist’s practice room–I have to stop and sit down. Years ago, I communed with the Ballades to such a degree that now I almost fear them. Of all the Ballades, I was most affected by the Fourth. I’d read that Chopin wanted this piece to have a “sickly, creepy” feeling, which reminded me of an interview I’d read with Thom Yorke in which he’d said the goal of Radiohead’s “OK Computer” was to make the listener feel “emotionally nauseated.” In both cases these characterizations struck me as poignantly apt; there is a point at which introspection can feel vertiginous. I'm not sure I shared this artistic objective for this piece, but I kept thinking about it as I was writing it. Because of this, and in homage to the many technical and structural features of Chopin’s Ballades that inspired the writing of this piece, I decided to call it Ballade. - note by Sarah Kirkland Snider

Panoramic Recordings (PAN901). Release date, March 1, 2019.

Shift

Ballade

Niloufar Nourbakhsh: Cello Sonata No.1 
Movement II


Ballade

Nicholas.Phillips

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