Music is a fulfilling, integral component of my life. Years before I was born my mother purchased an aged mahogany Lester spinet, her first piece of furniture.
Around the age of twelve and inspired by my older brother's intermittent pop-saturated tinkering on the ivories, I began playing my own semi-coherent musical vignettes.
The notes flowed naturally, and, following several years of frustrating patient piano teachers with rambling classical improvisations, I started composing my own material.
At the age of sixteen I recorded an album, Simply Sixteen, released in 1997. Twelve of the fourteen songs are original compositions.
[andrew nelson]
:: mindscape ::
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[below] the unintentionally comedic front cover of simply sixteen
While I still maintain a strong appreciation for the classical form, I primarily enjoy transcribing popular music from the radio. Artists I frequently perform include Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, Sting, various boy bands, and, of course, Britney Spears.
[justin timberlake]
:: what goes around ::
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My iPod contains an eclectic mix of 15,000+ songs spanning categories from the common to the bizarre. Hardly picky, I'll frequently listen to post-rock, pop, jazz, classical, world, and more. My favorite bands or musicians are the breathtakingly perfect Jeff Buckley, Sigur Rós, Radiohead, The Police, and Explosions In The Sky.
[r i h a n n a]
:: umbrella ::
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[below] inside cover for simply sixteen
Although disenchanted with the current state of mindless pop, corporate rock, and blah hip-hop, I'm optimistic that a new breed of forward thinking popular acts will emerge to write thoughtful, unique envelope-pushing material. Artists such as Björk, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, and M.I.A. confirm that musical creativity is alive and well, yet turning on today's pop radio would hotly dispute that assertion.
[below] rear cover of simply sixteen
In the near future I will be including additional piano recordings, various lists of song and artist favorites, scans of concert ticket stubs, and miscellaneous musical musings. If you have any requests for popular songs you would like to hear me transcribe for piano, feel free to contact me and I'll try my best to post them here.
Access the remaining content of my website by clicking on the above link. Thanks ~ A
