Ballads and Blues

I was playing out of my George Winston Piano book yesterday, and I was reminded "My friends have no idea who this guy is!" Horror of horrors! Not know who George Winston is? Never to have heard his music? Scandalous! Luckily for them, they read my blog occasionally. And for any others of you out there who don't know who he is, consider yourself introduced. And if you have heard of him, please let me know!

George Winston is, to put it simply, a pianist. To elaborate a little bit, he is a very good pianist. (Actually, I think he plays the guitar and harmonica as well, but mainly piano.)

I have grown up listening to his CDs December and every year at Christmas, and until recently, have just taken it for granted. But in the last few years - with my growth in devotion to my piano - has come a deeper appreciation of his music. My dad owns several other CDs, and I have taken to listening them from time to time... as well as using them for music in my photo slide shows. =)

His music is a combination of blues, a little bit of jazz, some classical here and there, as well as what people would term "new age music". A lot of different kinds, really. It is very relaxing and peacful to listen to, mostly laid back, with a nice upbeat one here and there. If you would like to listen to some samples, you need not look further then the bottom of my blog, in St. Cecilia's Music Box! I re-did the whole music thing, and it is now 3/4 George Winston, and 1/4 Enya. The best Winston songs are Tacobell Canyon.. I mean... Variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel, Thanksgiving (because I can play that one), Joy and The Snowman.

If you are a pianist and would like to get the sheet music, I highly recomend it. Since you need to span two octivtes in order play with complete ease, it is not too simple. I'd say, about upper Intermediate and Advanced Level. Winston does not preform with sheet music, so these are the transcripts of how he played it on the days he recorded it. Now, my hand can not span two octives... ( one note over an octive) but with a little jumping I can do pretty well. And it so satisfying to be able to play something and have it sound like the CD! Another neat feature to the Sheet Music book is a brief description by Mr. Winston of each song, his thoughts on it and other little notes.

Andd..... I lost my train of thought. How was I going to wrap this up? Oh yes!

I haven't been to one of his concerts - exactly - but I am sure I would enjoy it! Here is a list of tour dates, so if he will be near you, I'd recomend going to hear him play! I say that I haven't exactly been to one, because my mom and dad went to go hear him play when my mom was pregnant with me. So, I was there, I just don't, er, remember anything! My mom likes to say that was where I developed my love of the piano, and indeed, I do seem to have a talent for it and have never been the least interested in playing anything else. And George Winston is my favorite pianist. Maybe!

So if you are looking for something new to listen to and relax... and even if you aren't... try out Goerge Winston!