Piano String Theory

06/18/2026

After that stunning Knicks victory, and calling this city my home for over 15 years, did I really have a choice but to do an arrangement of this song?

If you’d like to get started on your own reharmonizations, make sure to grab my free Reharmonization Quick Guide at the link in bio.

06/11/2026

"Absolutely, the piano is in great shape. Yup, recently tuned" Pianists, can you relate?

🎥 IG/ dan.frndz_

05/15/2026

Calling upon all musicians with spreadsheet-brain. Can you relate?

I have a few gigs coming up with (great music, awesome people!) and I had to learn a lot of music in a short amount of time. I used this spreadsheet to get myself ready for the gig. Full video and a link to the spreadsheet at the link in bio.

If you’d like to catch me with St. Lucia, I’ll be playing in Seattle on 5/19 and Portland 5/20

04/20/2026

Musicians, has this ever happened to you: you’re playing wedding ceremony prelude music, and when you stop playing for more than a few seconds, all the guests become quiet, nervously look around, look at you, waiting for the processional to begin?

Pro-tip: never stop noodling

Thanks to my friend for all the adventures and music (for the record, I did learn “Reflections” after this)

04/03/2026

Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most.

I’ve been in an introspective mood this week, and when that happens, I go back to my comfort music. Ella Fitzgerald singing ballads: yes please. I love her rendition of this song, so I wrote this little piano arrangement of it.

Full version on YouTube, link in bio. And if reharmonization is something you’ve been curious about, my free Reharm Quick Guide is there too.

Happy (Moody) Spring.

03/20/2026

Happy first day of spring! In the spirit of a spring cleaning, I’m reworking some older arrangements. “You Must Believe In Spring” has always been a favorite of mine, with its haunting melody and sneaky modulation (a half step up in the middle of verse 2?!).

Hope you enjoy this one. What’s your favorite song about spring? Comment below.

And to get started on your own reharmonizations, grab my free Reharmonizations Quick Guide at the link in bio.

03/09/2026

Someday My Prince Will Come (Frank Churchill), Reharmonized.

The version of this song I keep coming back to is Bill Evans’ beautiful rendition on Portrait in Jazz, one of the first jazz albums I ever owned. You can probably hear some of that influence in my arrangement.

One thing that stands out is the C as the second chord, an unusual sound in the key of Bb. I then used it in the intro as well, to give the arrangement some cohesion.

I hope you like this one!

If you’d like to get started on your own reharmonizations, make sure to grab my free Reharmonization Quick Guide at the link in bio

jazzpiano reharmonization

02/28/2026

Channeling my inner with and the bois at last week. First time trying this song, I think it’s a keeper!



Come see CO4 next time on March 19 at Radegast!

02/14/2026

New blog post up! If you're interested in film noir, or film composing in general, this one's for you.

I’ll walk you step-by-step through how I composed a film noir score, and the key differences between classic noir and neo-noir.

02/14/2026

Two years ago, I was given a challenge. The task: write a film score that starts as a 70s neo-noir (think Taxi Driver) and gradually becomes a 1940s classic film noir in black and white (think Double Indemnity). Could I compose and produce a score that travels backwards in time, just like the film?

This challenge was for a short film called The End () directed by . It just premiered online on , and I decided to share the process of writing this challenging, but very fun, score.

This is my first blog post in a long while, I hope you’ll give it a read (and watch the short) at the link in bio.

🎷: ,
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🥁: .recabarren

filmscore