My favorite song changes here and there - but without a doubt this is my favorite right now! All Of Me - Jon Schmidt. Listen and you will see why - read more below!
I have a pretty powerful connection with piano music. I grew up listening to my mom play the piano all the time. Pieces from David Lanz and her favorite, Yanni. I remember always sitting beside her on the piano bench, mesmerized by her finger movements and the sounds that she was producing. I always wanted to play just like mom some day. No, I still haven't gotten as good as her! Haha. But I started to teach myself the piano with my mom helping me with the basics. I play a lot by ear - it's not exactly an easy task for me but I just sit down at the piano and play something until it sounds right... over, over, and over again until I annoy the heck out of EVERYONE. =) I haven't played the piano in several years, since I moved out, but now that I'm back home I really want to pick piano back up. I want to learn the bottom hand, much, much better and get a lot better at reading sheet music.
It didn't really hit me until I left for college the connection that I have with piano music. I was in the dorm room one day listening to some piano music on Pandora while studying and a huge wave of emotion hit me. I figured it was just a one time thing, I just needed some sleep or something - but every time I would listen to the music emotions would surface. Eventually I started linking this to really missing my family, specifically my mom, and then I realized that it was all linked together.
Ever since then I have been listening to piano music a lot. A few years ago I discovered the guy who's video is above, Jon Schmidt - the God of pianists. Seriously. He's BEYOND amazing. I discovered a piece from Pandora called "Pachelbel meets U2". We had this played at our wedding =)
I fell in love and have since fallen in love with nearly every piece he plays. He has so much passion in his playing and he has an incredible amount of talent. The passion I mentioned - well it's contagious. It brings out my passion for just about everything and makes me want to tackle life head on every single time I listen to All Of Me (The first video posted). It makes me so energized when I hear it and just so full of life. Someone commented on his video that, "Piano's aren't pianos until Jon touches them." I completely agree. He does something truly magical when his fingers touch that keyboard. And the way he just slaps his arm down on the keys and makes it sound amazing.... wow.
He came to the hospital one day to preform a concert for the CFers and I was lucky enough to catch some of it (AMAZING IN EVERY WAY!). It was a couple weeks before Spencer passed away.... To see him perform life and super close was just too good to be true. It was incredible. He did a song playing on his back, upside down. Haha. I have no idea how! It was too amazing for words.
This is another song of his that really has touched me. His rendition of "Can't Help Falling In Love" gets me every single time. It was one that he played at the hospital and it is so very beautiful. Maybe it was just the setting I was in and the timing that I heard the song, but it means so much to me.
Well now maybe this post for day one is turning into you're favorite composer or artist ;-) But I still have to admit - the very first song posted is my all-time favorite. But I just had to share his work. It's beautiful in every single way!
Hope you've enjoyed! These next few days are really going to have a hard time competing with this post I think!
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