Canadian Musician - September/October 2021 | Page 52

NAHRE SOL ’ S PREPARED PIANO
composers who – although their approaches to prepared piano differ – are united in the enjoyment and inspiration they find in this , admittedly , esoteric approach to the piano .
First up , Nahre Sol , who performs , composes , and teaches an eclectic mixture of music that incorporates improvisation , avant-garde , and traditional Western forms , jazz , and minimalism . Although hailing from the U . S ., Sol has a connection to Canada , having studied at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto , written four works commissioned by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra for their 2021 Spring and Summer Festival , and recorded her debut record , Alice in Wonderland , in Toronto — which features one work aptly titled “ Caged ” for prepared piano .
Initially , Sol intended to record at Toronto ’ s Revolution Recording , but she explains : “ I ended up recording it myself . Because this was at the peak ( of COVID ), everything was closed down . There ’ s this very generous family that supported my studies in Canada and they have a space that houses a Fazioli concert grand in pristine condition . It was a learning experience for me , [ but ] I think in some capacity every musician should know a bit about how to record and engineer their own projects .”
CM : Do you have a preference of pianos ?
Nahre Sol : I do and I don ’ t . I ’ ve been conditioned to deal with any piano – that ’ s part of the job description of being a pianist , but I love Shull pianos and have a history of practicing on various Schimmel pianos . My favourite piano , if I decided to own one , is a Steinway B , but my favourite piano I ’ ve played on is the Yamaha CFX . I ’ ve been able to use a lot of Yamaha keyboards , like the CP88 and
YC88 . I also have a Nord Piano 3 and have owned a Kawai digital piano . And I use plenty of software sounds as well . I ’ ve been using Logic for a while and recently Cubase . Depending on the task , I ’ ll still use both , but I worked in Logic for my record .
CM : Did you record “ Caged ,” the prepared piano track , on the Fazioli ?
Sol : No . That ’ s the only track not recorded on the Fazioli , and that I didn ’ t record myself . I did broach the idea with them because I had other pieces for prepared piano I wanted to record , but they weren ’ t comfortable with me sticking things in the piano , which I understand because things can go south .
CM : If you don ’ t know what you ’ re doing ?
Sol : Exactly .
CM : With that in mind , if someone wanted to go down this path as a player / composer , what do you suggest in terms of first steps ?
Sol : I ’ d encourage them not to do it alone ; to either find someone that has experience preparing pianos or a piano technician . That ’ s what I did . I knew a really good technician in Toronto named Damon Grove . It ’ s not every day that he does a preparation like this , so I remember him hesitating in a few places , but he knows what he ’ s doing and guided me through it . I wouldn ’ t attempt this just by watching a video , which I made very clear in my own video – don ’ t do this at home . But if you don ’ t have anyone around , and if it ’ s your piano , you have the right
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