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This has been a personally funded project, with a lot of love and hundreds of hours of work poured in. It's part of a bigger project, for amazing contemporary dancer Laura Vanhulle. We hope to perform this work again after the pandemic, but in the meantime, if you can support my independent work, I would be so grateful, and you can find more content to say thank you on my Instagram, Youtube and Teaching Youtube channels.
Best wishes
Melissa :)
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about
Starting out playing the piano in an old horsebox on the Somerset Levels, my love of piano has led me on an interesting path. From gigging as a folk musician aged 11, to gigging as a boogie woogie pianist aged 14, to giving recitals as a classical pianist aged 17 to a fully fledged Masters graduate of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Liszt Academy Budapest and Liszt Academy Weimar as a classical concert pianist... and now, I'm finding myself.
It takes time.
And it's been an interesting journey.
What is at the heart of my music?
Isolation in expansiveness. The Levels are flat and the sky is big. The isolation never leaves you, and is solace.
Determination through difficult times.
Grit to get it together and get by.
A love of art.
A love of industrial heritage.
A love of movement, of the body and soul.
Melancholy melodies of the mind.
...a sense of searching
for meaning in any of it all...
I'm just finding my voice now, perhaps some words along the way. The reason may be, to encourage others to do the same. Maybe that's the meaning of it all, to speak and play our truths.
I am looking forward to adding more music as I go, to revisiting all the musical genres I have loved so much too, so, I hope one day, you'll find folk music, boogie woogie, classical...
I think I also find in myself, more stories to tell, with my compositions and improvisations.
I hope the music and sounds you find here, might move you in some way. Thank you for listening.
lyrics
She sits, silently observing
year after year
no-one notices
fear growing, upon fear,
it’s the half light that gets her by, it’s the half light that gets her by.
It’s the half light that gets her by, it’s the half light that gets her by.
He thinks life will be so easy
learns pretty fast keep your head down keep your eyes low to the ground
no-one notices
no-one even heard a single sound,
it’s the half light that gets him by, it’s the half light that gets him by.
It’s the half light that gets him by, it’s the half light that gets him by.
Always striving for perfection full of frustration that my flaws leave me falling far from the perception of who I’m supposed to be, that’s just you, just me.
When you realise that your mistakes were your big breaks and your sad goodbyes are actually your happy hellos because they set you free when they let you go, it’s just you, just me, it’s just you, just me, just you.
She’s surrounded by darkness
blinded by the light
no-one notices
out of mind
out of sight,
it’s the half light that gets her by, it’s the half light that gets her by.
It’s the half light that gets her by, it’s the half light that gets her by.
They sit, silently observing
year after year
no-one notices
the silence
hides, a common fear,
it’s the half light that gets us by, it’s the half light that gets us by.
It’s the half light that gets us by, it’s the half light that gets us by.
credits
released March 15, 2021
EIF - Earth Is Flat - Electronic Musicians - Recording - Mixing
Tymoteusz Jozwiak - Drums
Priory Recording Studios - Recording, Mixing, Mastering
Melissa is a pianist based in Birmingham, UK, working with collaborative projects and beginning to explore solo
improvisations and compositions. After a career working as a concert pianist, workshop facilitator, pianist for Welsh National Opera, Birmingham Opera, ballet pianist for Birmingham Royal Ballet and working freelance, Melissa is now looking forward to exploring a narrative of her own....more
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