"Merrymaking" for Best Solo Piano Song, and
"A Magical Time of Year" for Best Solo Piano Album.
Piano CD!!
Bettie Ross
- pianist
- composer
A Magical Time of Year
This is what Bettie had to say about her inspiration for writing this music.
"The end of fall and the beginning of winter are filled with beautiful landscapes of the changing weather: the leafless trees, rain, snow, fog, mists and ice…There are family gatherings—visits with friends—reflections on life and looking ahead to the new year just starting. These things create a Magical Time of Year for me."
This is Bettie's first recording for Alternative Classical Records. Ten out of the 12 pieces on this CD are brilliant, unique, solo piano; on two pieces she is accompanied by guitar only. Sample this original and distinctive work and you will understand why one of the most noted pianists alive today called Bettie a "great composer". The work breathes with the life and expression of the Magical Time of Year.
THIS IS THE OFFICIAL BETTIE ROSS MYSPACE MUSIC WEBSITE
ABOUT BETTIE: I'm a composer. I'm also a pianist, a pipe organist and a synthesist, and I play just about all of the keyboard instruments except for accordion. I started playing music around the age of 3. As a child I loved to practice piano and do my theory lessons, but there was a brief period when I was around 8 years old when I preferred playing outside with the neighborhood kids to being indoors and practicing. Then I started to regularly play at our church's Sunday school - and I was hooked. Music's been center stage in my life ever since.
I write what inspires me, what I "hear", and so my music crosses genres. Sometimes it's a very romantic piano piece, like "Romance" or an in-your-face progressive, sci fi rock piece like "The Metal Wars" or a choral piece, or a song for a band or for singers, or a jazz-tinged piece or a pop instrumental piece. Many call me a musical "hybrid", so it's no surprise that I'm now becoming a film composer. This summer I'll be finishing the final mixes of the original music to my first-ever feature film score, "Nina and the Mystery of the Secret Room." You can hear some of the music from "Nina" by clicking on the "Bettie Ross Film Music" icon in the top row of my Friends below, or visit www.myspace.com/bettierossfilmmusic.
AS A COMPOSER, here are some of my work:
- Feature film score for "Nina and the Mystery of the Secret Room" (2009).
- Video music for Origin Oil's website videos. Check them out at www.originoil.com. (Origin Oil makes petroleum from algae!!) As the video producer states, "Bettie is now the 'sound' of Origin Oil!" Cool.
- Orchestral arrangement for symphony and bagpipe band of "Amazing Grace". This has been performed in Los Angeles at the Disney Hall (July 2009), Arcadia's The Arboretum (July 2009), and Pasadena's Ambassador Auditorium (March 2008) by the California Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cabar Feidh Pipe Band.
- Electronic piece, "Catalina Tide Pool" included in the 60x60 Project's 2007-08 Pacific Rim Mix.
- Music for Nancy Cartwright's (voice of Bart Simpson) one-woman show, "In Search of Fellini".
- Music for the play by Shirley Kaplan, "Neon, a Vaudeville of Obsessions".
- Music for story-telling group Celestial Navigations.
In my musical career, I've had the pleasure and honor of working with a wide variety of wonderful singers, musicians, music directors, choirs, teachers, composers, arrangers and lyricists. Some of the projects I've worked on are:
Recorded pipe organ on 4 songs for Faith Hill's 2008 "Joy to the World" CD.
Recorded piano on the entire film score to the documentary "The Brothers Warner" (2008).
Recorded pipe organ on 3 songs for Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell III" (yes, I still play rock, even on a pipe organ!).
Toured with Melissa Manchester around the U.S. & into Canada, playing piano & electric piano. We also did the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. What a treat that was!
Toured with the Bellamy Brothers around the U.S. and also into Canada while "Let Your Love Flow" was topping the charts. For the Bellamys, I played piano & Mellotron, & was the first woman conductor at the Tokyo Music Festival - which was live TV to 10 million viewers.
Performed on pipe organ & piano for President Ronald Reagan's Memorial Service at his personal church, Bel Air Presbyterian Church.
I grew up playing in churches, and still do at times, usually substituting for another organist while they are away.
Currently I'm the Choral Conductor for Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, Calif., working with singer-songwriter (and Grammy winner) cantor Doug Cotler.
Since 1996, I've been a member of the storytelling & music group, CELESTIAL NAVIGATIONS. We've performed many concerts since that time, me playing synthesizer along with Geoff Levin behind Geoffrey Lewis' narration. For three of Celestial Nav's recent CDs, I've co-written music for Road Train Chapter IV, The Connection Chapter V, and The Space Racer Chapter VI.
AS A SONGWRITER, I've written many songs for various original LA rock bands I've been a member of, usually playing Hammond B3 organ (working with Brie Howard, Patti Quatro, Elmira Collins, Raven Kane, Phyllis St. James (Yvonne Williams), Peggy Foster, Wendy Hass (lots of lady players, starting back-in-the-day after Fanny), and gents like Ted Meyer, and Glen Ballard (we had the band Rockola together back in the early 80's w/Brie Howard & Marc Singer).
I've also written songs with Pamela Falcon. Check out Pamela's MySpace page (click on her picture below in my Top Friends - and check out "Best Kept Secret")!
"A MAGICAL TIME OF YEAR" has been nominated for best Solo Piano Album by the 2009 Just Plain Folks Awards!!! And "MERRYMAKING", from the same album, has been nominated for best Solo Piano Song !! Thanks to ALL of you who voted for my nomination!!! Over 42,000 albums were submitted in the competition, and I'm honored to be among the nominees. The Award Ceremony is in Nashville at the end of August 2009. Exciting!!!
New music to listen to: Check out my first-ever remix for the Mark Isham & Sage Francis Remix Contest, July 2010. Here's the link: http://soundcloud.com/bettie-ross
Latest tracks by Bettie Ross
