Category Archives: blog

At Land (1944) – Maya Deren (music by Feona Lee Jones)

I added my own music to Maya Deren’s silent experimental film, “At Land” to create my own twist on the narrative. Some parts of the film (ending) were omitted to leave the viewer to decide the meaning for themselves.

String Quartet was performed by: Tammie Dyer (Violin 1), Ilana Blumberg (Violin 2), Alexander Volonts (Viola), Rebecca Roudman (Cello), and recorded by: Jason Eckl.

At Land (1944) is a 15-minute silent experimental film written, directed by, and starring Maya Deren. It has a dream-like narrative in which a woman, played by Deren, is washed up on a beach and goes on a strange journey encountering other people and other versions of herself. Deren once said that the film is about the struggle to maintain one’s personal identity.


METALLICA – Harvester of Sorrow – Piano Cover (2018)

One of my subscribers on YouTube requested that I do a piano version of Metallica’s “Harvester of Sorrow.” It was not the easiest piece to play since on the guitar you can slide to certain notes and power chords are simple. On the piano, power chords have a larger reach which makes it difficult to execute as a fast tempo. Here is my version of this song. Enjoy!


My 208 Ensemble Video Statement

I created a video statement for 208 Ensemble’s call for Scores from underrepresented composers. In this video I share a little about myself, how I got started as a pianist and composer, my work as a composer, as well as a few things most people wouldn’t normally know about me.

Commission Details:

208 Ensemble is proud to introduce Avant-Garden, our flagship project designed to cultivate an accessible, collaborative environment for the performance of contemporary art and commission chamber music annually from emerging and
underrepresented composers.




Proper Posture and Hand Position at the Piano (For Beginners)

Wouldn’t it be nice to play piano and not have to think about getting carpal tunnel or any strain-related injury? Many people don’t realize that our posture at the piano can effect our body if we are not careful. In this lesson, I cover the proper posture and hand position while sitting at the piano. At the end I show two stretches I recommend to counteract sitting at the piano.


Treble and Bass Clef, G-Line, F-Line, and Middle C-Line Explained!

How do you find the notes on the staff? The treble clef and bass clef are two symbols commonly found at the beginning of every piece of music (written for piano). It is important to know these clefs as they tell you where your pitches are. And the names of notes on the lines and spaces change according to which clef is placed before them. Once you learn the treble and bass clefs, F line, G Line, and Middle C Line you can find any note on the staff!


Beginning Piano Lessons: Naming the Black Keys

In this lesson I will teach you how to find the names of the black keys on the piano.

In my previous video I covered the names of the white keys. You will need to know them as the names of the black keys are based off of the white keys.

When musicians talk about the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, they are referring to the natural notes or the white keys on the keyboard. Notes can be altered with the use of accidentals, which are known as sharps and flats. Accidentals are used to raise or lower the pitch of a tone.

Think of the black keys as having nicknames. Each black key has two names: it’s sharp name and its flat name depending on if we had to raise or lower the closest white key to get there.

A Sharp is a symbol that tells us to raise that note by a half step. A half step is the smallest step we can take on the piano going up or down.

If we take Middle C and raise it by a half step we get to this black key, which is known as C#. If we find D and go up a half step, we get to the black key known as D#. If we find F and go up a half step we arrive at F#, etc.

A Flat is a symbol that tells us to lower a note by a half step. If we take D and lower it a half step, we come to Db. If we find E and lower it a half step we arrive at Eb. If we find B and lower it a half step we arrive at Bb, etc.

Sometimes, you will run into a white key who’s nickname or enharmonic name is a sharp or flat name depending on how it is written. An example of this is Cb. Cb is actually B natural. Another example is E#. If we raise E by a half step, we get to the note F, which is sometimes written as E#. White notes written as sharp or flat notes show up depending on what scale you are playing in.

Now that you know how to name the sharp and flat name for each black keys, let’s practice naming enharmonic notes. When a black key has a sharp and flat name that are written differently but are actually the same note on the piano, they are called, enharmonic notes. C# and Db are enharmonic notes because they are written or spelled differently but are actually the same exact note on the piano.


1) Pick a random black key and name it’s sharp name and flat name.
2) Find all the Sharp keys: A#, B#, C#, D#, E#, F#, and G#
3) Find all the Flat keys: Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, Fb, and Gb


Beginning Piano Lessons: The Piano Key Names

In this lesson I will teach you about the names of the white keys on the piano.

Before we get into that, let’s talk briefly about the tuning system of the piano. This system is called “equal temperament” and its when an octave (like from one C to the next higher C) is divided it into 12 equal parts, making 12 evenly spaced pitches. This includes both white and black keys. The octaves on a piano are the only in-tune interval, while everything else is a little out of tune. The interval of a fifth is slightly flat, and the major thirds are slightly sharp.

Equal temperament allows us to play in any key and have everything sound proportionally the same. The drawback is that the intervals between the notes are not perfectly in tune but most normal people cannot tell the difference.

Pitch in music refers to the highness or lowness of a sound. When we go to the left on the piano, pitches go lower, and the frequency is smaller. When we go to the right, pitches on the piano go higher and they increase in frequency. Lower is to the left, higher is to the right. On my piano, which is a Concert Grand with 88 keys, I have 88 different pitches, which are arranged in a pattern of 12 notes—equally spaced—that repeat over and over again.

Pitches are named using the first 7 letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G which are the names of the 7 white keys on the keyboard.

Let’s look at keys: Black keys are arranged in groups of 2 and groups of 3. This helps identify the names of the white keys. If there were no black keys it would be impossible to know where you are on the piano.

The easiest note to find is Middle C. Locate the middle of your piano usually where the brand of piano is located. Find a group of two black keys and go down one half step from the left black key. This note is Middle C.

Let’s find all the C’s on the piano. All C’s look alike and there are 8 C’s total on an 88-key piano.

Which white key is one step lower than C ? What is one step before C in the music alphabet? B. Let’s find all the B’s on the piano

From C, we can find any other note on the piano.

Are there any shortcuts? Not really. In the end, you just have to keep practicing them until they are memorized.


1) Find all A’s on piano, B’s, C’s, D’s, E’s, ‘s, G’s. It can help you memorize the notes if you say them out loud.

2) Name the notes in an octave going from A to A, B, to B, C to C, etc. Then try it backwards.

3) Start at lowest note on the piano and name all notes one by one going up and down

4) pick random notes and name them. Sometimes it’s easier of someone can randomly pick a note for you.


I was in Finland & Iceland for the last 2 months





48-Hour Opera Theatre Festival

Well did not get too much sleep this past weekend because I was involved in the 48-Hour Opera Theatre Festival! We worked in collaboration with a team of six people and within 48 hours, conceived, composed, and performed an opera at the Custom Made Theatre in San Francisco.



World Premiere of Symphony No. 1 by Awesome Orchestra

Awesome Orchestra performed Symphony No. 1 for two pianos and orchestra March 5, 2017 at the Berkeley Sports Basement. This piece originally began as a two piano piece that morphed into a symphony. I had been working on this piece for nearly eight months. The performance of It was one of the most exhilarating moments I’ve experienced thus far…