Greetings, All.  2020 is waning fast -- in two days' time we will arrive at the end, and start fresh with the new calendar year 2021.  In my house, this is a major event.  With no exaggeration, we keep 20 calendars each year.  Much like the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, we go room to room at the start of each month to turn over each calendar and take inspiration from the new images.   Some calendars are for keeping track of dates and appointments, others purely decorative.

I know many people are looking forward to happily saying Good Riddance to the year that brought the Corona Virus Pandemic.  However that's not all that it brought; it called upon our creativity.  Unable to meet face to face, many people began to hold Zoom meetings with friends, family, and business associates.  I personally met faithfully with other Alliance Francaise members for a weekly Cafe-Croissant meeting, and periodically with family members for a group zoom meeting.  Most people found ways to work remotely.

As performing musicians, we were obliged to find alternative ways of reaching out to fans to share our music.  While I still don't feel comfortable doing Live Streams, I have certainly gotten braver about recording Kari Live at Home videos, and the response has been most heartening.  After viewing the recent blockbuster Amazon Prime series "Queen's Gambit for example, I became obsessed with the Erik Satie piece "Gnossienne No. 1" that was played during a couple of episodes.  I ordered the music, learned it, and just posted a video of myself playing it on my acoustic piano.  To my delight, my performance was added to a Classical Mix on youtube, immediately adding views.  

My previous blog announced the arrival of my lovely granddaughter, who truly was the perfect holiday gift, making for a beautiful end to this difficult year.  Before we completely dismiss or -- worse -- condemn the entire year of 2020, might I suggest that we all examine the ways in which the necessary constraints brought about our growth and development?

That said, I AM eagerly looking forward to a time when the vaccine finally eliminates the need to don a mask as soon as one steps out of one's home!  It will be wonderful to attend restaurants and concerts, to enter stores and offices without having to stand on little circles 6 feet apart, and to be partitioned behind plexiglass everywhere.  What we need now is to take stock of our growth, feel gratitude for the good things that have come out of this world crisis, and practice patience as we enter the new year.  It will take continued courage, but we're almost there, everyone!  Huzzah for the rollout FINALLY of the vaccine!!

Happy New Year, my friends, and see you on the other side! 

Happy Holidays!!

On December 3rd, my granddaughter entered this world. With both parents being musicians, it's entirely likely that she too will be musical. And if so, since her grandmother, great grandfather, and great great grandmother are and were also musicians, this would make her the 5th generation in our family!

I will keep this blog short, as there is unfortunately no other musical news to report at this time, due to Covid.  But here is a photo of Elena Ostara Brennan and your truly, Kari Tieger.

Hope you have a happy and most especially healthy holiday season and New Year 2021.  Here's to seeing an end to this pandemic, and resuming some of the many sidelined activities we all so dearly miss!

Some of the things I've done in recent weeks to pass the time include attending online workshops to try to develop new skills, vocalizing, and practicing.  This morning just for a lark, I (re-) sightread Beethoven's Sonatina in G Minor, Opus 49, something I hadn't thought about in ten or even fifteen years.  Torture is best when self inflicted, right?  Well truth be told, it wasn't all that awful.  The notes came back somewhat easily to my fingers.  But the piano IS sliding out of tune, so I was glad no one else had to witness it.

Most musicians these days are doing live streams.  That's not really my forte, so I have posted some older videos and mp3s from YouTube and SoundCloud, and will probably continue to do that.  I did share a song from my practice session, calling it the next best thing to a live stream.  I continue to prepare a song for our next foray into the studio, whenever that happens, and to work on a set for this year's Fete de la Musique, not knowing when or if that may happen.  It helps structure my practice.

I thought I'd share a photo from 2010, in honor of happier times and in the hope that we may soon get back to making music in public.  Photo by the late great Ed LeDoux.

These are challenging times for all of us.  Along with watching Netflix and Amazon Prime, I encourage you to read, meditate, find -- or resume -- a hobby, discover your inner resources. 

Hopefully it won't be too long before I can see your smiling faces again.  Hang in there!

Last month we tackled Like Raindrops and on March 3rd we will take on Dark Night of the Soul.  Kevin's songs are notoriously difficult to sing, so I work on them daily, leading up to the next session. We will be giving it a slightly different treatment, but I thought it would be interesting to include the youtube link for a version I performed with the Cast at our Broadway evening in October of 2009, prior to premiering Nightsong at the Saint Anne's Arts and Cultural Center in November of that year, in you're interested in giving it a listen.  Simply copy and paste, or search for Dark Night of the Soul at my youtube Channel.  https://youtu.be/V47rQ77Zhyk

I hope to go back this spring to begin fleshing out the arrangements for both songs, and we may even begin work on the Nightsong theme.  Mostly all the other songs from the show have at least been begun.

Having made a strong showing in January, preparation is underway with my French American School of RI (FASRI) students for their Spring Recital.  I'm pleased to report there will be at least one original song on the program, a Disney theme, and several popular songs, along with the usual repertoire.  I was thrilled to receive flowers in January, and my smile says it all.

This really has been a mild, relatively snowless winter so far, but I can't quite believe we're out of the woods yet.  I do hope it doesn't snow on March 3rd!  That said, I'm guessing you are also looking forward to Spring and the return of flowers.  See you soon!

Happy New Year!!  Now that the Holidays are behind us, Jon Brennan, Matt Ricci and I are resuming work on the Nightsong project.  I'll be recording some vocals later this month, and we hope to begin filling in more backing tracks between now and the Spring.  Some of these songs were begun more than ten years ago, so it's clear that this album will take longer from start to finish than any other Kari Tieger release. As often, it started as an EP and has grown into a full length album!  These will be my interpretation of songs from the show written by yours truly and Kevin Campbell.  We first produced our Broadway style musical Nightsong, A Vampire Musical in November 2009 at St. Ann's Arts and Culture Center in Woonsocket, RI.

FYI:  For the past month or so, karitieger.com is no longer being hosted at Hostbaby.com, but rather at Bandzoogle.  I'm still negotiating my way around, but have recently added some photos from through the years. 

While I've always been completely self-supporting, I do plan to offer a couple of subscription tiers soon, so that the Superfans and Megafans among you can help support new projects and music we create.  (Not to worry:  this won't represent a huge outlay on any one person's part.  If you regularly buy coffee or other beverages when you're out and about, you could be investing about the same amount toward supporting Kari Tieger Music.)  Thank you in advance for your help!!

It seems the Holidays are upon us, or as the French call them "les Fetes de Fin d'Annee," and several months have sped by since our August concert. 

Surprisingly, I didn't include any photos from that performance in my previous blog, which I plan to rectify right now.  This first shot was taken during Coronado --  Kirk's on sax, Jon's on bass, and Erin is providing hand percussion with palmas during the musical break, after which she resumed acoustic guitar.  In the second photo of Green Eyes, Kirk is now on flute, Jon's on acoustic guitar, and Erin's on viola.

Finally, here's a closeup of yours truly at the keys, which I believe was taken just before singing Tu demeures dans mon coeur.

2019 was largely about getting Touch of Magic Revisited mixed and mastered, culminating with our amazing CD release party at the TRIAD Normandy Studio.  I believe those of you who attended will agree that it was a great success.

Now as I look forward to 2020, our next project is the Nightsong Album, for which I've already recorded a number of tracks, yet still have a ways to go.  It will contain my interpretation of the songs from the musical, and perhaps one day we will also be able to release an original cast recording, if we manage to recover the lost files.

For now, I'll close and  wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season with thanks for your friendship and ongoing support of Kart Tieger Music. 

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*(My keyboard has been out for repairs since the end of August, but for my birthday in November I received a beautiful backup board that's almost a perfect replacement.  However I'll be very happy when mine is back home again!)

The August 25th Senior Series Concert in Central Falls expanded to include Jon Patrick Brennan and Erin Quinton (as well as Kirk Feather and yours truly), so it was actually an Eclectic Quartet performance. With a more ambitious set list than has become customary of late, we presented an hour of music, primarily Kari Tieger tunes, but also songs by Kevin Campbell and Frank Sinatra, closing with America the Beautiful. (See my youtube Channel.)

There was an especially warm response from the audience, which consisted of about half Seniors from the high rise where it was held and half Kari Tieger friends and fans, some new, some longtime and loyal.

The new CD Touch of Magic Revisited has been out for exactly one month now.  Our CD Release Party was great fun, especially getting to perform with so many talented performers.  I was joined onstage by Jon Patrick Brennan on bass and backing vocals, of course, with Sara Brennan adding some additional vocals.  Our band also included Erin Quinton on viola and violin, Kirk Feather on saxophone and flute, and Al Lombardi on drums and percussion.  And for our final song, Live and Let Live, we had a small chorus of vocalists from the French American School.  An intimate yet enthusiastic audience cheered us on.

Last weekend was the annual Fete de la Musique at the Alliance Francaise, where I played with Kirk Feather, and there will be one more performance with Kirk this summer.

-> On August 25th at the Veterans Memorial Park (416 Hunt Street) in Central Falls from 1-2 PM, Kirk Feather and I will be joined by Jon Patrick Brennan and Erin Quinton.  That promises to be a wonderful afternoon.  I will remind you all before then.  :)

Here are Kirk and me from Saturday, June 22nd.

Don't forget to check out Touch of Magic online at cdbaby.com, Spotify, and iTunes, and hope to see you in August!!

Official Release Day for Touch of Magic Revisited is now only a couple of days away, and 2 boxes of the beautiful CDs arrived safely earlier this week.  I think it's time to unveil the actual cover, which replaces the image we've been using for the CD Release Poster and Pre-Release tracks.

Here it is, with thanks to Jon Patrick Brennan for the fine job he did with the graphics for the album.  Online platforms (including CDBaby, ITunes, and Spotify) should go live on or shortly after May 26th. 

Looking forward to hearing what you think of the new mixes!

In just under a month from now, we are happy to announce that we will at long last be holding our CD Release Party for Touch of Magic Revisited!!

The mixing process took some time, since there were more than 20 tracks to consider, and we opted to re record the final song Spectrum, which had originally been a hidden track.

Last week was an intensive period of mastering at TRIAD, and now we are listening back carefully to see if there are any last minute tweaks we wish to make before sending everything off to Oasis for printing and pressing.

Engineers Matt Ricci, Jon Patrick Brennan and I are all very proud of the work we've done over the past 15 months, and of how the results truly reflect our combined input.

We have scheduled the Release Party for May 26th from 2 to 5 PM at TRIAD Recording Complex, 25 Market Street, Warren 02885.  There will be a brief performance of select songs from the album, after which we will eat, drink, and be merry.

We hope you will consider joining us!