Powerful Exhilarating Piano Music

This song was also written for the couple who fell in love in Fiji. Before they met each other, the young man went through some very hard times. He had encountered difficulties in relationships and wondered if he would ever find someone that he could truly love. This song represents that period of life when we are faced with challenges and struggles. I tried to express feelings of hope, faith, and determination that we all must draw upon from time to time to get us through. Even though the outcomes is still unsure, he has mentally and emotionally gone through a process that has given him the power and ability to go on.

In the process of writing this song at age seventeen I think I must have had gone beyond my own abilities. I was hearing rhythms and note patterns that I couldn't even play at first. As I play now, I imagine each note as a drop of water. Starting as a small river, the joyful sound and melody of each note mingle together in harmony and steadily build in volume until the river becomes a majestic cascading waterfall.

The title says it all.

I think this song reflects the influence of my experience in and love of classical music. This is Michelle's favorite. If you listen closely, you'll hear waves.

The way Walk in the Woods was recorded reminds me of the spontaneous creative aspect of Spring. It is an on-the-spot improvisation between guitarist Michael Dowdle and myself based on a boring solo piano version of the song which I had sent to him earlier. We met and improvised together for the first time in the studio in order to capture that first time magic. I'm amazed at what happened. What was a dull piano solo spontaneously turned into a guitar/piano journey filled with the sort of wonder and discovery of a walk in the woods.

This song is dedicated to the unbelievably great guys under whom I had the privilege of being coached at Highland High School in Salt Lake City: Roger Dupaix, Tom Kingsford, and especially Larry Gelwix who took our rugby team to the high school national finals. Lar was always telling me that I ought to put a rugby game to music.

Written while I was in high school, this song reflects the great times of fun, excitement and adventure I was experiencing during those years.

Another one of my early songs. I think I remember getting the idea while lying on my trampoline under a big tree one August day and noticing that the sound of the neighborhood high school drum corps was floating through the air again already, which always meant summer was over but school and football season were about to begin. The song reflects the mixed feelings of melancholy and excitement I must have felt. If you listen carefully you'll hear the sound of the practicing drum corps.

Ask my wife and she'll tell you how much I love to drive up a mountain road and watch the sun sink into the Great Salt Lake as it glistens 30 miles past city lights below. The sky seems huge, far too rich and majestic to be real. This song attempts to combine the peace of the sunset together with its powerful and awesome beauty.

To me this song embodies the feelings of the walks around the block with my wife Michelle and our little son Spencer. It reminds me of good times when I feel completely at ease and happy.

I wrote this song when I was 16. It reminds me of a day in the life of a young cowboy, and also the exciting days when I was discovering my ability to compose.

I picture a hero sailing home to his love in a ship in the 18th century.

This song captures a sense of joy, hope and liberation which is felt at the end of a hard, cold winter. The title was inspired by the mood of a documentary I watched about the demise of the Berlin Wall. Bells rang through the countryside; people cried and danced for joy; and a symphony and chorus from both sides of the wall joined in a emotional rendition of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

This is one of my favorite songs because of the feeling I get as I play it. The music literally makes me feel like I'm soaring through the air.

This is a favorite piece of mine. To me it is a scene out of a movie. I see a lake surrounded by trees, with shafts of light coming through clouds after a storm. The feeling is perfect stillness.

Every once in awhile something I've experienced will cause a musical idea or melody to start playing in my mind. And a few times it has been a melody that I've never heard before. This was distinctly the case with this song. It's melody came to me as I was thinking about a cool little guy named Christopher. Christopher is 18 months old and he is one of thousands of babies waiting for an organ donation. He was born with half a heart and he's been through a lot in his life. But this song is one of cheerfulness and determination, despite challenges. The melody that came into my mind is simple and childlike. I know it was meant for Christopher. I vew the song as an amazing gift to him, to his parents, to me, and to anyone who is touched by it.

This piece is somewhat of a reprise of Winter Wind, only in a major key. The result is a complete contrast in mood. Excuse my waxing philosophical, but to me the contrast is between melancholy and seeming hopelessness in the first piece and feelings of hope and gratitude in this one. Hymn of Spring, with its contrast with Winter Wind, means to convey a reverent attitude of praise and gratitude to God for the fact that with Him, and, that through faith, Spring can even be noticed and enjoyed during cold, dark December.

One night, when I was barely out of high school, I had an awesome dream. I was performing a song with a full orchestra to a packed house at a very nice concert hall. I remember how exhilarating the music and the whole experience seemed to me. While I was dreaming, it suddenly dawned on me that this was the first time I had ever heard the song I was performing. I quickly woke up, ran to the piano, and played the chorus (which was most of what I could remember). Over the years since then, I've worked on and off at finishing it. It finally came together with some great ideas and input from my wife, Michelle.

The initial theme of this song woke me up one winter night. I later developed it at the piano while gazing out a window at a dreary cold December day. If you listen closely, you'll hear the sharp north wind that was blowing the snow around. To me the mood of the song can refer not only to a season of a year but to certain seasons of life as well.

This song helped me win the heart of my first "girl friend" at age 15. It's my wife Michelle's least favorite song.

Lake Powell is a huge body of fresh water that winds its way through breathtaking red rock country. One of all my time favorite places to be is on the Escalante arm of the lake. This song portrays the incredible combination of amazement and total peace you experience as you float through the canyon's towering red walls. On the Escalante there are no traffic jams.

This song reminds me of those times in life when one chapter closes and another begins - graduation, marriage, the first baby - those times when you feel a powerful change coming upon you.

Many times classical composers would challenge their creativity by taking a song and recasting it in as many ways as they could think of. The resulting "Variations" sounded very different from another variation of Waterfall off my Walk in the Woods CD. Many people don't realize it until I tell them.

This song reminds me of, um ... night.

I"ve always loved playing this beautiful, lesser-known piece by Bach. For awhile I have wanted to include it in an album, but it hs not seemed to fit ... until now.

The spelling of "piece" is supposed to bring to mind several possible meanings of the words: song of the storm; part of the storm; and peace of the storm. In the middle, listen for the thunder as it moves farther away.

This piece has sort of a "Scarborough Fair" flavor to it. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoy playing it.

Who doesn't love the melody of this Christmas carol? As I arranged it, I wanted to capture the mood of a mother soothing her baby to sleep.

Whoever wrote this song in the Renaissance period came up with some pretty "hip" chord progressions. Here's sort of a "Riverdance" version of the tune. Listen for a little piece of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" in the middle.

Special thanks to my good friend Ryan Shupe for making this song come alive with his amazing talent.

At Christmas time 1990 my then fiance, Michelle, and I were listening to the final test tape which was to become "August End" with my best friend, Scott Sutton (Sut) and his wife. This song still had no title. All of a sudden, Sutton, who is Mr. Jokester/rugby dude, let a surprising, sincere, almost sensitive side of him come out and said, "You know, this song really makes me think of how it must have felt to be there on the very first Christmas Eve." Since then this song and its feeling of hope and reverence has meant a lot more to me.

To me this song takes you on a little journey. Much like a child is taken on a journey as they listen to a story at bedtime. The end of the song has caused me to imagine someday tucking my own sleeping child in, turning off the light and sneaking out the door.

To me, this song is how a perfect day feels.

A girl and guy meet each other on an island in Fiji. One night they find themselves sitting together by a river. The moonlight reflects off the river and into her beautiful black hair. It is on this perfect night thay they start to realize they are falling in love. The couple are friends of mine and the story is true. I tried to capture the feeling of this special night in music as a gift to them on their wedding day.

The main theme of this song evolved from a cool drum part that came into my mind one day. I struggled for a long time to find the notes which the rhythm called for. I became so frustrated and sick of working with the main theme that I was about to give up on it. Then one day I was over at ol' Sut's house. I sat down at their piano and out of habit began to play this theme. Sut went crazy and said it would be my best song yet. It was a shot of hope that helped this song become reality so I put his name in the subtitle. It's called "All of Me" because I put my all into it when I play it and because the big repeated chord at the climax is achieved by using my entire right forearm on the black keys.

This song reminds me of things like having a special moment with my wife or watching my little son drop off to sleep in my arms.

This is another favorite of mine. Rose-Anne is my older sister. She was also a very accomplished classical pianist. She trained me in the classics from age seven 'til age nineteen. Even though she was eleven years older than I, she was one of my best friends. She was loved because she made everyone feel like they were the most wonderful person on earth. She also had a great sense of humor. I dedicated this song to her when she died at age 30. It expresses my love for her; it reflects sorrow; it reflects a peace and assurance I feel that I will see her again. You can even hear my anticipation for that reunion. It is a tribute to one of the most wonderful people I've ever known.

Don't you love people who, no matter how serious their lives become, still manage to stay kids at heart. This song reflects the wonder, innocence and naivete of children.

With this song you have to imagine that perfect 'first run' of the season; whether skiing, snowboarding, water-skiing, rowing, or whatever your sport of choice might be.

This tune is an original composition of mine. For a long while, I couldn't think of a title for it. I considered calling it "Santa's Workshop" or "The Train Song," but neither felt right. Then one day I stumbled upon the title "Christmas Morning." As I played the piece with that image in mind, I began to remember a scene from a previous Christmas. Like a movie sound track, the song fit perfectly as the memory unfolded. It was as though I was experiencing Christmas morning 1996 through the eyes of two-year-old Annie and four-year-old Spencer: the Christmas lights, a train running on a track around the tree, a new doll house, and a remote control car! That was a Christmas morning I'll never forget!

You can't have a Christmas album without including "Silent Night." There's just something special about this song. The peaceful, quiet melody serves as a kind of benediction. That's why I sing "Silent Night" to my kids at bedtime, not just at Christmas, but throughout the year. On the last verse of this arrangement, I had the words of the last verse of the piece in mind: "Silent night! Holy Night! Son of God, love's pure light, radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord at thy birth..."

When I wrote "Waterfall," I wondered if there weren't a little Irish blood in me. Now, after "Bring a Torch," and "Three Ships," I know there is.

A solo piano is all this brilliant melody needed.

This German carol makes me think of my father. For many years Dad conducted the "Chorus Harmonie," a choir made up of German-American citizens who live in Salt Lake City. Each year he would plan a Christmas concert. If anyone knew how to bring the Christmas spirit into a musical program, it was my dad, both because of the way he put the program together and the feeling be brought to his conduction. It is great to have my greatest hero to be my dad. This song is dedicated to both of my wonderful, German-born parents.