Serena Willis

Opinions presented here are held in all of my roles and capacities, both personal and professional.

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Serena

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Summary

Organizations

Computers & Programming

Genealogy

Hobbies

Social Networking

Geek Code

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Musical Background

I began playing the piano by ear at the age of three, and began lessons with Jessica Woodul from the ages of five until approximately the age of fourteen. Ms. Woodul, my first and favorite teacher, felt at this time that I had progressed to the limits of her teaching abilities, and referred me to further lessons with Dr. William Leland at New Mexico State University.

Dr. Leland was a very capable teacher and profoundly talented pianist, but there was some degree of personal incompatibility between us, most of which derived from my own lack of drive.

In 1996, I began lessons with Dr. Stefan Bardas, who had himself studied under such prestigious pianists as Artur Schnabel. Dr. Bardas was a talented and challenging teacher, especially when it came to his deep knowledge of Beethoven, whose 32 piano sonatas he was widely known for performing in their entirety in a seven-concert cycle.

An interesting bit of trivia surrounding Dr. Stefan Bardas is that through him, I can trace my musical lineage back to Ludwig van Beethoven:

• Stefan Bardas taught me
• Artur Schnabel taught Stefan Bardas
• Theodor Leschetizky taught Artur Schnabel
• Carl Czerny taught Theodor Leschetizky
• Ludwig van Beethoven taught Carl Czerny

Other teachers with whom I studied include:

• Gail Bleiweiss (sight reading)
• Garland Turner (technique, theory, posture, traditional harmony)
• Michael Mauldin (composition)

I also provided piano accompaniment at University Presbyterian Church and First Evangelical Free Church in Las Cruces, NM for a number of years, as well as providing incidental music for real estate showcases, and playing full junior and senior recitals. My junior recital, at the Thomas Branigan Cultural Center in Las Cruces, NM, was standing room only, having attendance in excess of the building's rated capacity, and featured advanced works from Mozart, Scriabin, Chopin, Bach, and others.

I had an opportunity to study abroad with Alfred Brendel, but rejected it, as the concert piano circuit was never my own professional or personal interest.

Music remains an enjoyable avocation for me, and I also play guitar, flute, clarinet, and drums, as well as retaining an interest in multitrack recording. Most recently, I provided piano accompaniment for a circus event at College Heights Kindergarten in Las Cruces, NM, which involved the re-scoring of 15-plus musical arrangements.

Jessica Woodul Treon	Dr. William Leland	Dr. Stefan Bardas

Video Performances

• Junior Recital (1997)
• Senior Recital (1999)

Classical Pieces

My Compositions

These are compositions I have created from early childhood to the present. They are presented here in several formats.

Popular Tunes

These are pop tunes I've created.

Covers

These are pieces of music that I've covered and recorded.

^*If possible, please refrain from using MPEG Audio Layer III (MP3) files. The MP3 format is encumbered by fascist software patents, and owned by Fraunhofer IIS, a known patent troll. The Ogg Vorbis format provides better quality, better compression characteristics, and is a free (as in speech) format.

¹Alligator Munch-Lunch was inspired by the Alligator In My Room sketch from Sesame Street, and won second place in the elementary division for the 1988 New Mexico Music Teacher's Association Composition Contest.

²March was used in the WERC/TV Earth production of Captain Polymer and the Colloid Caper, a student-led animated environmental cartoon and documentary produced on Commodore Amiga computers running NewTek Video Toaster and Deluxe Paint IV in the summer of 1992, under the direction of Barbara Powell, Darrell Leland, and David King. Six area students--myself included--were selected to participate.

³Siamo Amici is an aria for Paola e Rudolfo, an aborted opera project I was working on. The librettist was a certain Stefanie Castellano, a music major. It is roughly an exchange in which the antagonist is making fun of the protagonist's exceptionally large forehead. Long and short, they make up and decide to become friends. The middle section (beginning with caro Rudolfo, non potete videre...), was intended for an alto. Having none available, I had to sing it myself. My voice is terrible, I know.