Celtic Music and Jon Schmidt

After thinking about it for a while, I finally came to the conclusion that my next project will be an piano-based instrumental album. Some tracks may be piano solos, but I am also planning on incorporating in some strings, woodwinds, and percussion. In fact, I've already started working on a song for the album that I originally intended to write as a piano duet. I am finished with the A section, but I got stuck on the B section. In hopes of inspiration, I began listening to Jon Schmidt, William Joseph, even some celtic music. This came from the suggestion of my amazing compositions teacher, Mr. Pond. He heard the A section of the song and mentioned how it had a bit of a celtic sound to it. He then recommended that I check out some different kinds of celtic music. As a result, I discovered a whole new world of music I'd never really noticed before. My favorite songs in this genre come from some of the celtic-influenced film music. There is a song in Tangled called "Kingdom Dance" that is celtic at its best. Also, John Powell's work in How to Train Your Dragon has hints of celtic influence throughout it. Check them out on this playlist:

Anyway, this week one of my favorite pianists came out with an awesome new song with his cellist friend. The song is called Michael Meets Mozart, and it is by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson. I thought I would post it cause (1) it's awesome and (2) because I owe a lot to this guy. He's one of my main influences in composition. I first started composing because I was so impressed with his music. If he hadn't been the inspiration he was, I don't know how long it would have taken me to realize my interest in writing music. Anyway, here it is!