Songs of Healing contains two suites for Violin and Piano. The first, The Healing Suite, is about the healing process. Each of the five movements has a one-word title describing a different part of the healing process. Hope, a belief in positive outcome. An essential aspect to healing is a positive outlook. Courage, the ability to confront fear, pain, risk and uncertainty. Perspective, more specifically the change in one’s perspective, represented by the Piano chords changing around the D sustained by the violin. Patience, the state of endurance under difficult circumstances. Love, for oneself and from others. Possibly the most important ingredient in the healing process. The second suite on the disc, The Four Seasons, is about life. Each movement depicts my favorite part of each of the four seasons. Awakening to Spring shows a scene of awakening to birdsong. In Spring, new life abounds in such a refreshing way after the dormancy of Winter. Country Dance of Summer is reminiscent of the country fiddlers I often heard during the summer. An Autumn Stroll is a depiction of one of my favorite Fall-time activities, taking walks with my camera. I rarely make a set route when I begin, but never fail to find something fascinating in the colors and textures of fallen leaves. Winter Drifts is a depiction of the first snowfall of the season. It is my hope that this music can bring comfort to those going through the healing process. This music is available to people in local hospitals and hospice free of charge. The inspiration for this project is an interesting story. When a close friend discovered she had breast cancer, I was studying composition with Dan and was working on some piano pieces. My Mom heard me playing one of them and asked me what it was about. She said that to her it sounded like “the process of going merrily through life and then having a bomb like cancer dropped into your lap and experiencing all of the subsequent emotions of denial, anger, fear, and finally learning how to go on living.” I thought about her interpretation and felt that maybe these events had shaped the composition, though I didn’t realize it at the time. We talked awhile about the idea of composing a cancer suite, but didn’t mention it again. Several months later while riding in the car, I said to her out of the blue, “I think I am going to do it’” and surprisingly she knew exactly what I was talking about. But, instead of a Cancer Suite, I decided to broaden the project and make it more positive, and thus was born the first piece, The Healing Suite. I approached Dan with the idea of recording the suite and making it available for free to people in need of healing. He was thrilled with the idea. A year later, after much writing and revision, we were ready to record. With the help of Peter Nothnagle, we made a sucessful recording of the suite on the first Monday of Spring break. But, I wasn’t satisfied. The project needed something more. I decided that having a suite about healing wasn’t enough, there needed to be be a suite about life. I spent the entire day Tuesday thinking about what to do next, then Wednesday I was hit by a storm of creative ideas. After nearly 5 hours straight writing, I had a new work, The Four Seasons. That evening, I showed the music to Dan, and the next morning we recorded the piece. I hope that you enjoy this music, I know that I have enjoyed every step giving it life. -Nathan Giglierano CD recorded and engineered by Peter Nothnagle at St. Bridget’s Church in Solon, Iowa. © 2009. Design and photography by Nathan Giglierano. Special thanks to Julie Knight, whose organizational skills allowed this project to come to fruition. Dan Knight is a Steinway Artist. Learn more about his music at www.danknight.com Learn more about Nathan at nathangiglierano.com