MUSIC AUDITIONS
INSTRUMENTAL
WASHINGTON, USA
06-05-2023 23:18 GMT
Martin Graff
Current Score: ★★★☆☆ ☆☆
"I want to get more YouTube and Spotify followers. "
Biography:
If we’re being honest, creativity can kill you. Instinctually, we all know this, and yet we tend to view art as a product of our highest nature responsible for bringing immeasurable beauty into the world. Pianist/composer and spoken word artist Martin Graff would be the first to acknowledge that beauty. But as someone who felt the inexorable rush of knowing—from the very first time he laid hands on the keys at the age of 4—that he and the piano were “meant to be,” Graff can tell you that creativity and passion are extraordinarily powerful forces that need to be handled with care. For almost 17 years, in fact, he had to step away.
Trips for Piano, Graff’s album of solo instrumental compositions, chronicles his return to music, along with his newfound experience of creation as a source of grounding, liberation and joy. It took years for Graff to make it back to a state of flow, but Trips for Piano is the sound of realizing that what he felt during that initial love-at-first-sight encounter with the instrument never actually left him. And he wants to remind you that whatever resides in your essence will always be there for you to fall back on too. The album, which doubles as the score for Graff’s long-running spoken word show The Face Zone, is meant to function as a catalyst for setting the audience’s imagination free.
Artistry, Graff feels, belongs to all people—whether we identify as artists or not. And as far as he’s concerned, his music can only truly come to life when the listener brings their own personalized narrative arc to the experience.
Career Goals | Objectives:
My focus over the next 6-12 months will be to increase my digital footprint on YouTube and Spotify , and to continue getting live gigs in my area. Theoretically, higher online algorithm rank and growth in regional buzz will help me toward getting on the music industry's radar.
Music Education | Training | Qualifications:
I hold a degree in music composition and classical piano performance from Penn State University.
Musical Instruments | Studio Equipment:
Roland FP-50 , an electric isn't tonally ideal, but it does have 88 weighted keys, three pedals, and a touch decent enough to keep me fit to perform on acoustic pianos (I rehearsed my first album on that Roland before recording the music on a proper concert grand, and the resulting performance turned out beautifully).
Influences | Sounds Like:
Claude Debussy , Erik Satie; Johannes Brahms; Franz Liszt; Frederic Chopin; Keith Jarrett; George Winston; Keith Emerson; Ennio Morricone; John Williams; Michael Nyman; Philip Glass
Live Performance History | Residencies | Touring Experience:
I have made eight live appearances in the last year.