Exciting news to kick off the spring season: the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo's cover of "Billie Jean" is NPR Music's "Song of the Day"! Listen to it here: A Speechless 'Billie Jean'
Arts & Crafts with Anderson & Roe: piano mutes
We've received numerous emails asking about the following:
How do you mute the piano strings in your arrangement of Vivaldi's "Sento in Seno."
Good question! The score (which you can purchase here!) simply states: "All strings played by piano 2 (A-flat below middle C and higher) should be muted by a system of felts and weights." Not very helpful, right?
But that's the fun of it! We love the "arts & crafts" aspect of our duo, whether it be making videos or muting piano strings, and we hope to foster this spirit of exploration when people purchase our scores. For example, in our four-hand scores, you'll note that we don't provide any choreography instructions. Figuring it out is half the fun! Besides, in the case of pianistic choreography, body types are different, and what works for us won't necessarily work for you.
Similarly, in the case of muting piano strings, the insides of pianos are very different, and there is no way we could provide instructions to mute all the varying piano models.
That said, we'll show you what we do for Steinway D pianos, and maybe it will help you along. :-) After at least three dates with Lowe's hardware store, here are our mutes (don't miss the other pics -- click on "Click to read more" below):
West Coast Tour Rave Reviews
Music depends upon the expressive ability of the performers, and Anderson & Roe are extraordinary partners in an ordinary world, capable of shifting paradigms... Who knew duo piano playing could be so sexy?
Visionaries and dreamers; they are the risk takers who are pushing the boundaries of the traditional world... They are the types of souls who will ultimately save our creative universe.
San Francisco Classical Voice:
... the most dynamic duo of this generation ... explosive creativity ... refreshing ... exuberant ...
[Piazzolla's Libertango] was not simply a sensual auditory experience, it was also a visual, precisely choreographed, sizzling dance. The level of passion and heat was stifling.
Their recital gave further proof that the survival of "classical" music depends on remaining relevant in today’s culture.
Albuquerque Journal:
[Anderson & Roe] bring to the concert stage precisely the kind of rampant energy classical music performance needs to keep the works fresh and vital.
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"When Words Fade" hits #2 on the charts!
Happy New Year! 2012 is off to an exciting start: we just reached the #2 spot on the Billboard Traditional Classical charts! To celebrate, we've created a super dramatic trailer, set to our cover of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android."
Help us out by sharing this video with your friends. Thanks so much for your support, everyone!!
Also, check out our Listen Magazine feature here.
Help us spread the word!
We debuted at #6 on the Traditional Classical Billboard Charts last week! Yay!!
But we know we can do even better. :-) Loyal and wonderful fans, help us spread the word about our new album on the Steinway Label, When Words Fade. Write a review on Arkivmusic.com, Amazon.com, or iTunes -- heck, write a review on *all* of the sites. (Seriously, your favorable reviews on these sites do more good than you realize!) Share a link to the album on Facebook, tweet about your favorite song, gift the CD/DVD combo to friends this holiday season, etc.
Thank you in advance for all your help. And most importantly: enjoy the album!