Derek Huelsman
Music Site
Improvisation Series
02 weeks ago
by Derek
in Uncategorized
For those few who follow my Twitter, I have begun posting a series of piano improvisations as I record them. I upload them immediately afterward, usually without even listening to them back first, so pardon the blatant mistakes. I primarily use these sessions as stress relief during the day, and they previously went unrecorded and forgotten, except on the rare occasion that I hang on to one of the ideas and turn it into a full song (See Always).
I post them with the preface “This is how I feel right now,” which is more or less true for each new improvisation. A friend of mine has said about them, “I LOVE FEELINGS, AND EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD TOO!!” You can view that as a professional critique.
You will find links to them here, at least until I choose a nice place to put them permanently.
Impossibility, a desert and/or pirate and/or gypsy town theme?
01 month ago
by Derek
in Newgrounds music
I like to pretend sometimes that I could be a legitimate video game composer, and so I make little loops like this. Plus, it’s always enjoyable to work in 7/8 time. http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/465983
Actually, when you visit songs on Newgrounds, you can see what flash videos/games that the song was used in. Two games containing my songs have been featured on the front page of the site so far, so I guess that’s a pretty neat accomplishment. In fact, if you beat Nameless the Game, you get to hear about 3.5 seconds of Dance of Autumn! 3.5 SECONDS!!!!
It’s Christmas Time!
03 months ago
by Derek
in Uncategorized
And Christmas Time means Christmas music!
I heard a Christmas song on the radio today (while eating Thanksgiving Dinner no less), so I suppose that means it is officially time to roll out all Christmas songs. Since it is a requirement that Christmas songs have infinite replayability, I made it a loop, so you can download it and listen to it on repeat for hours. I might make more Christmas-y music, so you better watch out… you better not cry… aughhhh what’s happening
Esprit
0Esprit is now available from Plus.
I apologize for the break. I just moved from Ohio to California, and school has started, so I’ve been pretty busy. This song probably would have been released sooner, except that, with the help of some surprisingly dramatic software updates, I completely screwed up the mixing of the entire song.
I realize it’s been a bit since I posted a piano song, but I’ve been anxiously waiting for Dream of the Storm to be posted to OCRemix, and I don’t want to complete my next video game remix for piano (and there is one in the works!) until Dream of the Storm is no longer in limbo. On the bright side, I have received correspondence from the OCRemix judges offering to direct-post the song to the site (that is, bypassing the judges panel), so hopefully it will not take too much longer. As always, thanks for your support!
Always
05 months ago
by Derek
in Remembrance
Always is the second song from Remembrance.
Sheet music is coming soon. This song probably underwent more transformation since its inception than any other song I’ve made. It was originally inspired by the works of Ludovico Einaudi with some similarities to Philip Glass‘s Metamorphosis. But then I combined it with another more melody-driven song I was working on after I discovered they fit pretty seamlessly together. One could say they were meant for each other… Anyway… It underwent three name changes but I think it’s finished now. One day I might release an extended version with more ideas from the original songs that were cut out when I combined them together.
EDIT: Sheet music is now available!
We Shall Rule The Skies
0This is my newest song from Plus.
Unlike all the other songs I’ve put up so far, this is the first that I legitimately just finished. This song’s working title was Champion, but I as it progressed, I realized how much it also suits the idea of taking to the air. Hence the title of the song. You might also notice this borrows small ideas (not melodies though) from several of my previous electronica works. However, I think they all work cohesively here. The first half of this song was in limbo for like a year, so THANK GOD I finally finished it. I just sat myself down and told myself “I’m going to finish this. I’m not allowed to leave this chair until it is done. I’m not allowed to eat, or sleep or relieve myself until it is done.” Two nights awake until 5am did the job. <– Definitely the way to go.
I’ll try to get more piano songs up soon, since I know that’s probably what a lot of people come here for.
Remembrance
06 months ago
by Derek
in Remembrance
The first song from the album Remembrance and its sheet music is now available.
This was one of the first original piano compositions I ever performed in a public setting. I dedicated it to my grandmother, who was both a pianist and organist and loved to hear me play when I was growing up. I didn’t attach any guidelines for dynamics to the sheet music, because it’s a song that you can put your own emotion into as you see fit.
Also, now that I have songs from all three albums available, I will make it so that individual songs are free to download and albums allow you to name your price (no minimum) in case you would like to donate.
Ascendency
1Ascendency from the electronica album Plus is now available.
This song is about a year old and happened mostly by accident. My older brother asked me to improvise a song, so I played the melody that you hear at the beginning and throughout. I continued add to it little by little over about a year until deciding that it was finished.
Dream of the Storm
06 months ago
by Derek
in Reawakening
Dream of the Storm from Reawakening is now available for free download.
I started composing this five years ago with the intention of submitting it to OCRemix.org, and it took much longer than I expected to get around to recording a decent version of it. It is an arrangement of two songs: Dream of the Shore from the video game Chrono Cross and the Song of Storms of the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It is currently in the submission box at OCRemix.org, so we’ll see in the coming weeks whether or not it is accepted by the site’s judging panel.
EDIT: Dream of the Storm sheet music is now available HERE.
Also, in 2009 an earlier and less polished version of the song was posted on YouTube by a friend of mine. You can watch it below: