New musical delight

I've always had a marked fondness for piano music. I first learned how to play the piano when I was 9 years old, but wanted to for years before that. I took six years of lessons before I eventually had to stop amid the demands of working part-time and finishing high school.

Unfortunately, I rarely have time to play anymore (I really need to fix that and make it more of a priority--I still love to play), but I will always have a particular love for music with strong piano elements and a noteable weakness for music arranged specifically for solo piano. I also love classic hymns. Thus, I am absolutely in love with a new album I've stumbled upon (well, actually it's been out for nine years so it is not new at all, just new to me) and it's so lovely I thought I would share my new discovery: Chris Rice's album The Living Room Sessions.

The album is absolutely beautiful! It is completely made up of instrumental hymns, arranged specifically for and played solely on the piano. The music is lovely and so peaceful. So lovely, in fact, that I bought the sheet music and I am going to learn to play some of the songs. My favorites are Rice's arrangements for "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," although all the songs are beautiful and the album includes other excellent arrangements for classics like "How Great Thou Art," "Fairest Lord Jesus," and "For the Beauty of the Earth."

So if you're looking for some new instrumental music to enjoy, this album is worth checking out!

P.S. When I was just searching for an image of the CD on Amazon to use in this blog post, I discovered Rice also has a "Living Room Sessions" Christmas album. *big grin* My love of Christmas music is even greater than my love of piano music--particularly when the two go hand-in-hand--so I think I might have to wander over to iTunes and download some new music for my iPod soon. :)