Well not quite, but when I think back to an assignment that was part of my master’s degree a few years back where we were asked to produce a media sample of something that would hit 300 views on YouTube I thought that was going to be like climbing a mountain. Gunnar hits the slopes did its job and we got the views however today Zelda & Piano hit over 100,000 views on Spotify in just less than two weeks since it’s release!
When I needed something to fill some down time a couple og years ago my son suggested we write some music and he would produce it and put it out there for the world to hear I really didn’t think he was serious. Even though he’s an accomplished producer, I had never written music, let along played it for anyone else. After all, although I can play and I have taught both music theory and students to play as well… I don’t play in public. I get so nervous my hands shake and it never goes well. Try as I might to get past playing more than chords when other folks are around, it just remains a struggle. So play in public…. ?
Thankfully writing and recording isn’t like playing in public. You have your headset, the click in your ear (for those of us who have been around a while that’s the modern metronome) and you can just relax and play. So, in my garage on a wonderful old 1930’s Baldwin, shown above, we tuned and recorded A Flicker, our first original.
Shortly afterwards discussions with GameChops led to our writing some Zelda arrangements on the piano. Kyle and I wrote and recorded them last fall, he did his producing magic and we turned the over to GameChops to release. The reveal was a couple of weeks ago. I watched in amazement as people seemed to really enjoy what we had created, I watched in shock as the stream count continued to grow on Spotify and of course that doesn’t include the plays on YouTube or through other avenues.
As GameChops put it in the description, below, on his YouTube channel for the reveal …this family project stems from many years ago when the boys and I played the original NES version of the game for some family fun time.
“Zelda & Piano” – a piano tribute to The Legend of Zelda, arranged and performed by Stushnoff. “Zelda & Piano” is a delicate tribute to The Legend of Zelda that’s perfect for relaxing, sleeping, or focusing to. This is the debut album from our new label, Unplugged, which focuses on classical, acoustic, and jazz music. Zelda & Piano pairs top-tier musicianship with classic themes from the beloved Legend of Zelda franchise from Nintendo. Zelda & Piano is our first solo piano album, arranged and produced by Stushnoff. Stushnoff is a collaboration between Nashville-based producer Kyle Horvath, and his mother Shawna Stushnoff, a Royal Conservatory-trained pianist. Zelda & Piano is the duo’s first album, inspired by the many hours the two spent playing the original NES title together, exploring and solving puzzles with hand-drawn maps of Hyrule. This heartfelt collaboration features tracks from across the series, from its 1986 debut to the Nintendo 64’s Ocarina of Time, through Twilight Princess for the GameCube and Wii consoles.
Search for Stushnoff on Spotify to check out A Flicker and our Zelda arrangements. We’d love to hear what you think.
It’s been a bit more hectic than usual, and my blog has been severely rejected. That’s not to say that I haven’t been busy, I have, however postings have been in the form of learning content amidst work and life rather than the traditional blog post that finds it’s way to the forefront. What I’ve been up to, well you can check out my ever evolving basecamp portfolio to find out, but what’s on all of our minds now is “the new norm”, whatever that means.
Here we are in world where “social distancing”, “online meetings”, “new technology”, and “asynchronous and synchronous online interactions” are becoming our new norm. For how long, who knows. In the midst of it all one can’t help but wonder if an external source is pushing us in a direction we should already have been prepared to go on our own.
I saw online learning, meetings, interactions, and work as the wave of the future a number of years ago. That year for us came when my mid-high school son had a gun pulled on him just off of the high school campus, but no-one in any level of authority saw it, and he said he wasn’t going back to school. So what did we do? We sought other learning opportunities for him. That meant, a technical school for a 2 year culinary degree, early college, and online school to carry him through is last two years of high school. His brother enrolled in early college and online school that same year and in the end what I saw was a couple of brothers who were learning things I thought they should have been learning all along, not only at home, but in school.
They learned finance and economics that applied to them instead of the high school “academics” that really wouldn’t lead them into a sustainable life. They left behind the coursework that might help them get into the best colleges, which they both did anyway, and the academics that weren’t giving them what they needed to navigate life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a learner at heart, an academic who will always love to learn and grow, but I think pubic education in K-12 should be about teaching students what they need to know to make it in this world, expanding horizons, created well rounded humans, the focus should not be test scores and entrance exams. When they are mature enough to choose a path, then pick up the gauntlet of teaching and learning things like calculus, anatomy, and other material that pertains to their chosen path, if those subjects are part of the path they wish to pursue. With the availability of online learning today, it’s time we recognized that sky high student loans are not the choice of many young learners today who can and will find a different way to learn and navigate their futures. There are so many options in this new world it can be daunting for those who didn’t grow up in the midst of it, but change is in the wind.
So here we are, pushed into online learning in many ways. Pushed into it through a virus around us that still promises to reveal what the final impact will be. The question is, a virus pushed us in that direction, but were we ready? I don’t know that we were. As instructors, teachers, and professors amongst others, strive to find an effective way to teach online… I can only hope that they turn to the research and the people who have invested their time in trying to learn what makes for effective online teaching. It surely is not just turning on Zoom and recording a lecture from a remote place, a lecture that may be viewed live, or recorded so students can turn to it as they have time while they navigate these major changes themselves.
Yes, Zoom, Skype and the like are great tools when used effectively, and for now they are the best way to get through the end of this year while keeping our students on track with their education. My hope and my plea is that instructors look for the best ways to set up their courses, that they either learn about engaging students on line, or they turn to someone to help them pick up the mantel and prepare an online course to either roll out for the next semester, or to hold on the sidelines to pull in at some point in the future so they can effectively stand in the gap should something like COVID-19 happen in the future.
I wish the fly that was buzzing around my house would fly away as quickly as time flies, but alas I fear not.
It seems like just yesterday I was still looking forward to their visit and quick as it came the time is gone. Just a few hours ago I watched them pack up the van and back down the driveway. Of course that was after an unanticipated trip to the doctor to get the meds they needed to nurse one back to health. So, the band is back on the road, all six of them, four now married, hauling their trailer down the road and walking their path through the young stages of adulthood. It’s amazing how far they have come, it seems only yesterday they were young. Now grown and facing the challenges of the world they travel cross country, back on tour, living their dreams, yet trust me life on the road is not all it seems.
Previous tours have seen some crazy stories from broken axels to a case of mistaken identity when the police pulled them all out of their van at gunpoint. But they handle it with grace and style, calmly and with determination. I almost hate to wonder what this tour will bring, but no matter what might lie in their path it’s an adventure. So as we hope the album with the Sony records affiliate takes off, they meet the right people, and their years of work pay off, no matter what, we know that they have learned far more from their few years on the road than they would have had they not taken the road less traveled.
I’m an explorer and a learner at heart, I like to see what else is out there to be experienced, or to be learned. I hope this serves as a source of inspiration to others who find the page, to continue to venture out to do, to see, and to learn for there is so much in the world that we will never hope to do, see, or learn it all.
For me there is no greater gift in this world than my family and my children. When they are young that is hard to remember at times, especially as they try your last nerve during their teens. But once they are out on their own all you have left is the visits, which happen much too seldom, and memories.
The path we walk in life is ever evolving, full of twists and turns, frustrations and celebrations. Finding the next step is not always easy but it can be ever so fulfilling if we just dare to keep putting one foot in front of the other. So as you walk this path of life keep your eyes open, keep looking for the opportunities that present themselves, and keep taking that next step to make you the next better version of YOU!
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams – Eleanor Roosevelt
Well not quite, but when I think back to an assignment that was part of my master’s degree a few years back where we were asked to produce a media sample of something that would hit 300 views on YouTube I thought that was going to be like climbing a mountain. Gunnar hits the slopes did its job and we got the views however today Zelda & Piano hit over 100,000 views on Spotify in just less than two weeks since it’s release!
When I needed something to fill some down time a couple og years ago my son suggested we write some music and he would produce it and put it out there for the world to hear I really didn’t think he was serious. Even though he’s an accomplished producer, I had never written music, let along played it for anyone else. After all, although I can play and I have taught both music theory and students to play as well… I don’t play in public. I get so nervous my hands shake and it never goes well. Try as I might to get past playing more than chords when other folks are around, it just remains a struggle. So play in public…. ?
that’s perfect for relaxing, sleeping, or focusing to. This is the debut album from our new label, Unplugged, which focuses on classical, acoustic, and jazz music. Zelda & Piano pairs top-tier musicianship with classic themes from the beloved Legend of Zelda franchise from Nintendo. Zelda & Piano is our first solo piano album, arranged and produced by Stushnoff. Stushnoff is a collaboration between Nashville-based producer Kyle Horvath, and his mother Shawna Stushnoff, a Royal Conservatory-trained pianist. Zelda & Piano is the duo’s first album, inspired by the many hours the two spent playing the original NES title together, exploring and solving puzzles with hand-drawn maps of Hyrule. This heartfelt collaboration features tracks from across the series, from its 1986 debut to the Nintendo 64’s Ocarina of Time, through Twilight Princess for the GameCube and Wii consoles.
