‘Quarantine Sketches’

/// solo piano ///

The age of the pandemic lockdowns was intense…

…and living in a major US city, didn’t make it any easier…

There were many struggles during that time, but many silver-linings as well.

One of the biggest blessings was S P A C E !

I suddenly had tons of free time, granted at first, I didn’t want free time, I wanted to be out there making music with my friends…

However, that was not possible, so I was forced to make adjustments.

I began to write music with more intention, my process became more stable, less erratic, and I developed a process that I still use to this day.

It begins with ‘sketching’ at the piano: everyday I spend about 30 minutes, tinkering on the keys. My goal is to write 4-8 measures of music: one complete idea…

Now, 4-8 measures is not a lot of music, a handful of seconds - less than a minute, but my goal wasn’t to write a song. My goal was to create a seed that might one day grow into a song.

I found this process to be extremely calming, despite the craziness of the world at the time.

Now that the lockdowns are over…the world isn’t any less crazy…so I thought I’d share a collection of these sketches as calming, meditation, or study music.

There are about 30 sketches contained in this project and they all blend together into one continuous experience.

Perhaps one day some of them will become full fledged songs or pieces of larger works. Either way I hope that they bring you calm and focus whenever you may need it.

Enjoy the journey

NK