Sounds Like with Sean Chen
Wednesdays at 5:01 p.m. and 10:01 p.m., Thursdays at 12:01 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:01 a.m.
Beethoven and Billy Joel? Electric Vehicles and Arvo Pärt? Brahms and Jiminy Cricket? Experience unexpected musical connections and custom mashups with Sean Chen, award winning pianist and Jack Strandberg/Missouri Endowed Professor of Piano at the UMKC Conservatory.
Have a mash-up idea for a future episode of "Sounds Like with Sean Chen?" Submit your idea HERE!
“Sounds Like with Sean Chen” is made possible with support from the UMKC Friends of the Conservatory.
Ep. 1 - Not All By Myself
While struggling to write his second piano concerto, composer Sergei Rachmaninoff sought the help of a hypnotherapist. The work that emerged has become an audience favorite, and thanks to a singer-songwriter from Cleveland, Rachmaninoff would land on the pop charts 75 years later.
Ep. 2 - Are these notes following you?
Learn the history and modern uses of an eight note sequence that has become ubiquitous everywhere from concert halls to weddings to punk rock clubs.
Ep. 3 - When you wish upon a Brahms
In the fall of 1878, Johannes Brahms composed eight short pieces for piano, including a short capriccio with a melody that would make Walt Disney proud.
Ep. 4 - Cars and Clusters
Since electric vehicles make almost no noise, for safety reasons, something had to be added…something musical.
Ep. 5 - Star Chords
Gustav Holst’s influence on John Williams is undeniable. Discover how Holst and Williams use music to evoke the vastness of space, or impending danger from a Roman god of war, or a dark side Sith lord.
Ep. 6 - Listen to the birds
Composer Olivier Messiaen studied with Paul Dukas, who once told him to “listen to the birds! They are great teachers.” Messiaen clearly agreed, and took a deep dive into ornithology and the study and transcription of bird song.
Ep. 7 - Rhapsody in Beethoven
Did George Gershwin have Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 on the brain when he composed his “experiment in modern music,” Rhapsody in Blue?
Ep. 8 - All you need is three notes
An odd, three-note notification sound for a credit card machine is reminiscent of a famously difficult piano concerto.
