David Hicken (piano composer)
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I asked google to play some “piano music” on the google home I have in my studio - it started playing music by this composer, and when I asked who it was, it told me [slightly creepy]then I searched the name and the pieces on my phone - and then the google home played this composer non-stop without commercial interruption which is unusual because usually I get an obnoxious commercial every 3 pieces trying to get me to subscribe to something, but I haven’t subscribed to anything [/slightly creepy] ANYWAY. I looked up two of the pieces I really liked - this one : “Persuasion”
And this one “The Duke’s Disapproval “
Both links have a link to a video of the piece. I like them because they have a slightly classical feel (especially the second one). Wondering if any of you (SK?) have played his pieces?
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I’ve now spent several hours listening to this pianist while working on some oil paintings and I love his pieces. You know how sometimes music just speaks to you - this guy (and the garden lady, lol) are my new favorite YouTube channels. I’m ordering two pieces to download , this one called The messenger, it’s so beautiful:
Link to videoAnd this one called Requiescat
Link to videoHe plays on a Shigeru Kawai - it’s got a lovely sound. I’ll probably order some of his books later. I love that you can see the first page of the music - that way you can try it out and know if it’s something you want to learn.
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I can see why you’re hooked on the music. It is enchanting. Thanks for the heads up!
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I thought I recognized the name, so I searched in my downloaded sheet music and found I have an arrangement of his of the Carol of the Bells (way too hard, too fast for me!)
I’m listening to some of his pieces now. Really interesting pieces! And probably all of them are above my playing level… just from listening through a few pieces in the last maybe 15-20 minutes, I feel his style, technique is more “classical” than most of what I normally play. And also more intense, faster, and more notes!
But I can totally relate to finding something online and hunting down the score to play. I love it when I can do that!
Recently, I heard this piece, the Balance, on a tik tok or Facebook reel and bought the score (much easier than Hicken!)
Link to video -
That balance piece is beautiful. You should check out the first page of the music from the second video I posted - Requiescat - It does not look as difficult as some of the others. (And yes, he does play some of the others very fast - but they are not that difficult to read slowly - there are not many notes played together (in the same hand), if that makes sense - the counting (that’s not the right word) is kind of interesting - the way the right hand plays agains the left - fun to play with, how the melody comes out of it is pretty cool.
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@Jodi said in David Hicken (piano composer):
Requiescat
Ok, I'm listening now and looking at the first page on his site.... I might buy this! It's definitely within my realm of playability. (Also, I love playing in 6/8 for some reason.
In fact, that's what an Einaudi score looks like....
Oh, I really like this. Also, how funny, because I think yesterday, this was the only video I didn't listen to, and I was poking around his videos trying to find one I recognized.
Just finished listening to "Requiescat." Well, that was lovely.
I'm going to go buy the score!!!
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@Jodi said in David Hicken (piano composer):
That balance piece is beautiful.
Also, very, very easy. And fun to play!
I bought Jacob LaVallee's complete set of PDFs with the intention of using them for sight reading practice, but I have so many things on my practice menu right now that I haven't started that yet.
You can see his scores here, he shows the first page as well.
https://jacob-lavallee-sheet-music.sellfy.store/
