Keyboardist Tron Syversen Creates Lovely Instrumental Music

contents

world

In the past 15 years musician Tron Syversen has created nine albums that have led him to the forefront of the new age music field. His music serves as a sanctuary for relaxation, rejuvenation and well-being. His sound encompasses the best of traditional, classic new age music with his piano and keyboards backed by wordless vocalizing and top musicians on acoustic guitar, violin, cello, flute and English horn. His music is relaxing, healing, meditative, healthful, stress-reducing, peaceful and melodic. This acclaimed series continues with the aptly-titled Peaceful Journey recording.

Based in Norway, Syversen is acknowledged as a pioneer in the Northern-European relaxation music community, but each year his music and influence has spread farther afield. Syversen's last CD, Piano Poems, went to #6 on the international monthly Top 100 Zone Music Reporter airplay chart making that album one of the most-played new age music recordings of the year.

Peaceful Journey and other recordings by Tron Syversen are available from his website (tronmusic.com), alegro-music.com, amazon.com and many other online CD and digital download sales sites as well as at many large retail stores as well as music, gift and new age lifestyle shops throughout North America and Europe. His music has become extremely popular with holistic healers, massage therapists, spa managers, yoga teachers, reiki masters, doctors, school teachers and care-givers.

On his recordings, Syversen composes all of the music, plays piano and synthesizers, arranges and produces. He occasionally brings in select musicians to perform with him. He has worked with several different female vocalists on various albums. For Peaceful Journey his singer and co-producer is Elin Lokken (Tron dedicated the recording to her). Also on Peaceful Journey are some of Norway's most talented musicians. Three of the musical guests have also played with the well-known new age group Secret Garden - bassist Per-Elias Drablos, acoustic guitarist Rolf Kristensen and English horn player Henrik Eurenius. Also appearing on this CD are acoustic guitarists Glenn Kristiansen and Jorn Takla, flutist Randi Krogvold Lundquist, cellist Silje Katrine Gotaas, and electric and acoustic violinists Sunniva Bergsaune, Ase Haga and Lise Sorensen.

"When composing, " Syversen explains, "I use both my improvisational skills as a jazz pianist and my understanding about how music affects our mental and physical health. We often live with a lot of stress that includes appointments on our agendas as well as expectations from ourselves and others. I realized that there is a big demand for music that can relax the listeners both mentally and physically, so I kept that in mind as I chose melodies and created the arrangements. But primarily I just tried to make the most beautiful music I was able to do."

The inspiration for Syversen's music comes from many different sources including nature, poetry (such as Norwegian writer Merete Atne), paintings (artist Anne-Elisabeth Lien) and sacred places (such as the Italian monastery Abbazia di San Pietro where St. Francis of Assisi often visited in the 12th Century). "I believe artistic endeavors can inspire one another. For example, I like to write music while poetry is being recited. Another time I improvised a musical piece in my studio while Anne-Elisabeth Lien was working on a painting so I like to think we inspired each other. I often let my heart and mind absorb the poetry or the painting, and then I sit at the piano and let the music flow out of my fingers as I improvise, making sure my mind does not get in the way. Much of my music begins as improvisation and later becomes complete when I create the full arrangement in the studio."

Much of Syversen's music is composed in his yellow wooden summer cottage which sits in the green wooded hills overlooking the deep-blue Oslo Fjord which stretches to the North Sea between Norway and Denmark. "The breathtaking vistas of Norway and the oceans and the rivers and the beautiful sunsets inspire me. When I am in my cabin by the sea, I love to look at the water and the boats while I play and compose my music, " he explains.

"I had attended meditation training using the Silva Method some years ago, and one of the things I learned was to trust the ideas that came into my head. One of these ideas was to incorporate into my music a female human voice as an instrument. This has added another deep human dimension to my music. It is like recreating a primal experience, the singing or humming that a most mothers do with their babies.

"The making of Peaceful Journey took about two years. During this period a lot of personal development took place, both musically and spiritually."

On Peaceful Journey each tune features the sound of Tron's melodic acoustic piano solos backed by a lush synthesizer. But the female voice entwines around those instruments on compositions such as "Silent Dream" and "The Beginning." The warm sound of acoustic guitar can be heard on "Longing" and "Your Dream, " while a haunting English horn blows through "Nearness" and a violin contributes to the emotions of "Lullaby to Love." The tunes "Rivers" and "My Love" were directly inspired by listening to recited poetry. "One of the poems, " says Syversen, "described a river, so I tried to musically capture the feeling of a river from its beginning to where it ends with a large fall into the ocean."

According to Syversen, "My mother played the piano and I started playing at age seven. I also received early musical training in classical piano music at the local music school." A few years later he began playing trumpet and joined the school's band. Later Syversen learned other important musical lessons such as jazz improvisation by studying with trumpeter Eckland Baur, a member of the award-winning Geir Lysne Ensemble. "I analyzed jazz tunes and found out how to move to other keys within a tune and I also discovered notes that could be used in melody lines in ways I did not consider possible before starting to play jazz."

For years Tron played piano accompanying various choirs. He also played in many big bands including the Kings Guards Band. "This was when I started arranging music and it was a great period of musical development for me." Syverson's musical influences include Rick Wakeman from Yes, early Vangelis, Kitaro and the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden. "I have always been fascinated by the sound of the piano, its softness, its expressive nature and its spectrum of tones. Its incredible range makes it an ideal instrument for me to create music on."

Syversen had a successful career as a businessman, but never gave up playing music. In fact, at one point he built a warehouse, but added a music studio on the top floor and began arranging and producing records for other artists in his spare time. "It was easy for me to come up with musical arrangements. I always had ideas in my head." Syversen began composing his own music for meditation purposes and for a doctor who specializes in patients with pain problems. "I recorded some of my own music which I sent to the Fonix Musik record company in Denmark and they accepted it for release." This led to a fulltime music career for Syversen and eventually to the creation of his own record company. Now Syversen has a catalog of successful recordings such as Piano Poems, Gentle Moments, Inner Balance, Garden of Visions, Whispers of Assisi and Voices from Heaven.

"My goal has always been to make enjoyable music that people like to listen to, " explains Syversen. "But I also want the music to be good for deep relaxation, meditation, sharp concentration or improved sleep. If my music helps people in their daily lives, I have accomplished more than just entertainment."

write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page