"Liz, my friend, is not my lover..."

Whaaaa?? 

I mean, "Billie Jean is not my lover." :-)

Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" provided Liz and me with endless amounts of fun. I know, I know; it sounds like a terrible idea on paper -- "Billie Jean" for a classical piano duo?!? My older brother suggested the idea in 2007, and I tossed it around for a few years before deciding to give it a go. I knew a direct transcription of the original would almost be disrespectful... nothing could ever fully recreate Michael Jackson's legendary performance. Instead, we decided to follow our own artistic path, using Jackson's wonderfully fertile musical material as inspiration.

I'm quite thrilled with the result! It's at once modernist, rhythmic, offbeat, and "classical."

We had a blast conceiving and producing the music video. Anna Whistler, our incomparable camerawoman and friend, turned the stage into a dance floor, and before we knew it, we had fantastic footage of our dancing shadows to splice into the final cut. Ultimately, however, we decided on a more understated tone for the video (in contrast to some of our others)... keeping it classy for MJ. Also, a special shout out to Smith College and Yale alumniVentures for helping to make the music video possible.
 

"Blue Danube Fantasy" score available for sale

Guess what? Now you, too, can tackle the labyrinth of complexities that is the Blue Danube Fantasy! We realize it has taken us years to make the score available for sale, and we thank you for your patience.

No longer a messy, illegible manuscript, the newly notated score is beautiful, if we do say so ourselves! You can purchase a PDF file of the score (as well as many other fantasies and arrangements) on the composition page.

The score will be available in soft cover in the New Year.

Music listening: an incomplete manifesto

The prototype for the following document was graphic designer Bruce Mau's “An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth” from his book Life Style. While our music listening manifesto is a new document designed to challenge and excite music listeners everywhere, points 1, 7, 18, 21, 24, and 27 were paraphrased with appreciation from Mau’s source. Other sources of inspiration: music, our personal experiences, and the incredible beauty that surrounds us.

Music listening: an incomplete manifesto

by Greg Anderson & Elizabeth Joy Roe 

  1. Allow music to transform you. The prerequisites for transformation: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

  2. Embrace the new. It takes courage to depart from familiarity and escape your comfort zone: only with change is there life.

  3. Make every encounter new. Every listening adventure – no matter how seemingly familiar or repetitive – is new. All musical occasions are an opportunity for transformation, growth, and discovery.

  4. The musical experience is yours. You live it. You create it. Your engagement is a vital ingredient.

  5. If you are bored, see points 1, 2, 3, and 4.

  6. Woah. The music doesn’t always happen where we think it ought to. Instead, it happens somewhere else – in the silence, in the reverb on the walls, in the performer’s gasp for air. Music comes charged with a palpable energy created by its surroundings at that very moment. Under any other circumstance, it would be different.

Coupon codes: enter 15percent to save 15% on score orders of $30 or more and 25percent to save 25% on orders of $50 or more.