The Newest Lily of the Piano--Emily Bear

I am starting to adore this newest of rising piano stars. I know a fair amount about Yang Yang's  fame....and of course, you heard of the greatest of yesteryear's pianists, Liberace.......but watch out....here comes Emily!!!

I call her "the Newest Lily of the Piano" for one thing....her performances are not just polished or near-impeccably polished.....she is a musical flower that blossoms and makes her audience very relieved.  Her piano performances are simply just like water lilies that shine out in the sun, and that is probably a good nickname I call her......

She can compose too as well as play the piano. Here is my synopsis of some of her piano compositions....since I am a composer myself and I wrote over 300 compositions....

C-Boogie

12-bar blues straight up in a boogie-woogie style. It is almost great that she had an unusual ending to that which makes other boogie-woogie songs obsolete.

Ellen's Song

This song was dedicated to Ellen Degeneres....of course. It is a gentle ballad that starts in C major, and ends in A minor. The style of the music is almost like what Yanni would do....even if I do not know if Emily is a fan of Yanni.

Emmy Song (I Don't Need An Emmy)

Inspired by the saga of Susan Lucci not winning an Emmy award for years...until she got one finally. Also in the key of C major. Starts off as a pop ballad. She added a sort of slow jazz blues progession and in the interlude...and she added a singing part which was an brief outro. One YouTube video shows that this song was dedicated to Ellen Degeneres...as well!

Give Thanks

Another ballad again in D major. There is a little taste of her "Journey To My Heart", but the arpeggios in the left hand are in fewer notes in this song.

Journey To My Heart

Almost a teeny bit of Helen St. Clair's style in the 1980s (remember Helen's "Love Theme from the movie "Flashdance?")...as well as the style of Yanni.

Basically, most of the piece's texture is the arpeggiated left hand and the melodic line in the right hand with an occasional countermelody in that same hand. It is semi-dramatic in the use of chordal progressions, which are fairly simple, and completely tonal.

Northern Lights

The piece is a sort of study-ballad in D major. Running open fifths on the octave and below in 16th notes in the right hand---against slower-running upward arpeggios in the left hand----open up the piece, and a middle section has flowing eighth notes over mainly the top half of the keyboard.  The final part has long whole notes in open chords (D major, Bb major, C major, A minor), and then, 2 or 3 variations of it in faster notes to add tension, and when the reprise occurs with the open fifths in the right hand, the whole thing fades softly into a slow arpeggiated outro.

The Love in Us

This is one of the 3/4-meter pieces that is enticing when you hear it. A fair amount of her original songs are ballads...so does this one. There is the babbling-brook arpeggio in the left-hand, always flowing, and a gentle melodic line in the right hand.

Waterlights

The piece is still another ballad in C major. The piece has a simple texture....arpeggios that mix in slow and fast in the left hand, and a melody in the right hand.  The underlying concept of the composition shows little bit of Vince Guaraldi (of course, the famous composer for the Peanuts comic strip, and famous, of course, for the song "Linus and Lucy"). This was the piece that opened the 2007 McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was featured on YouTube. Thanksgiving Day is the precursor to the Christmas holidays, and if you heard the music of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", you will see why it is a gently festive piece.

Therefore...

If you had not listened to Emily Bear, I strongly suggest that you hear this pianist. You will never believe what can happen to an emerging pianist like Emily. Oh, yeah!!