B l u e P a r a d e - A S a r a h S l e a n F a n s i t e
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Canadian Music, May 2002
A cool but sunny day set the mood for Canadian Musician's recent chat with Toronto songstress, Sarah Slean. The 24-year-old musician/composer gave us the rundown of what she plays and why.
You've been playing since you were very young, and have had a couple of teachers over the years, any one thing that you've learned that you could impart on us?
At York University in my first year, basically for my first three months all my teacher did was keep her hands on my shoulders and push them down all the time. With tension you don't realize that they're rising and you sort of choke the energy that's trying to come from your shoulders out to your hands. By crunching your back up you just kill it at the source, so unclamping that was a real hurdle for me."
Are there any pieces of music or particular artists that inspire you or give you a refill of creative energy?
Oh God yeah, the first Aria in the Goldberg variations, Tom Waits' piano playing, all the piano on Ella Fitzgerald's recordings, the piano in "Karma Police" by Radiohead and Freddie Mercury is a fine, fine pianist.
Is there anything that sort of ties this eclectic selection together?
I feel that there is classical influence in Queen and in Radiohead, and I sort of like mixing that with the Gershwin sentimentality. That's where the Ella thing sort of comes in -- Ella, Billie Holiday and Judy Garland. Stylistically they have charm, but the Queen/Radiohead thing is they have a dark symphonic structure and dark colours.
When it comes to playing at home is there any particular piano you prefer?
I have a baby grand, Mason & Risch, Toronto-made 84-year-old piano in my house. Everywhere I've moved in Toronto, I've taken it with me. She'd be mad if I left her anywhere. It's dying but I'm doing my damnedest to keep it in good repair. You can tell that it's been played, it had a previous owner and it was played a lot. There are fingernail marks in the top of the keybed and there are cracks in the ivory and it just feels played. My piano tuner is this crazy old Chinese man, and he collects pianos and keeps their innards but refinishes them. He totally loves pianos; he lives and breathes pianos. He redid this one for me, and every time he comes over he yells at me because my humidifier isn't on full blast. But he did all this beautiful Cherry woodcarving for the outside and he always polishes it up. I try to be a little bit anal about climate control but it's impossible to do in this old Toronto house. But I play it everyday because I think that helps keeping strings at their proper tension and stuff, and I try not to kick it around and I pet it regularly.
What about on stage?
I play various digital pianos live. I just played a very excellent Yamaha digital grand that looks like a piano from the outside and feels miraculously like a piano, but it's not. Nothing compares to a real piano, but for live -- for miking things and separation and not having to get it tuned -- the digital is obviously better.
Do you only use piano when travelling through the songwriting process?
Sometimes I write on guitar. I don't play anywhere near as competently as I play the piano though, so that's why I don't play it live. I'm like 'God, I can't do this like I play the piano,' because you don't have to think about an instrument if you've been around one for 15 to 20 years, you don't even think about it when you're playing it. A friend of mine gave me a beautiful nylon string acoustic from Mexico. It's a piece of shit, but it sounds beautiful. All my guitar friends come over and go 'ah, that's a piece of crap,' and then they play it and go 'Oh...'
Whether her music is popping up on the hit show Dawson's Creek, or appearing in the blockbuster movie Joyride, Sarah Slean is one of Canadia's newest and most promising artiste. Her major label debut, Night Bugs, was recently released on Warner Music Canada. You can find out more about her, her music, her artwork and her photography at www.sarabslean.com.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Norris-Whitney Communications
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