6 favorites from Karen Tanaka's Adventures of Anya (2024)

MarcPlaysPiano

I recently discovered Karen Tanaka's music and learned a few pieces from a set that she published this year. It's really cool music (super colorful without being overly difficult...some great melodies also), so I thought I'd share it with y'all. The works could use a little bit more practice, but I thought it's a decent first stab.

Forgive the maracas in the Captive Princess one...I was with my 2-year-old daughter for that one, lol. Feedback of any sort is welcome!

rogerch

These pieces are great and I like the way you play them. Very nice expressive playing!

MarcPlaysPiano

rogerch and Rob Thanks! (Mandatory maracas...😃)

Sophia Thank you! Whenever I make a video my kids ask, "did you put pictures into it?" And then they get excited whenever any visual shows up. And so I'm almost obligated to put some sort of visual in every video now...haha.

Sophia

Such elegant hands! Love the melodies too. And the little images in the corner. Thanks for sharing 🙂

Rob

Beautifully played! I had not heard of the composer before, so thank you for sharing.
For what it's worth, I think that from now on, maracas should be mandatory, while playing 'Captive Princess' 😀

plop_symphony

Lord almighty, these are some lovely pieces indeed, but from what I can find, the score would set me back anywhere from 60-100 US dollars. That's utterly ridiculous.

Fortunately, last year I was able to find her album Love in the Wind for 1870 yen (13 US dollars). Now I just need to get around to learning it.

MarcPlaysPiano

plop_symphony Thanks! And I know, the price is painful. I recently saw an interview with Tanaka where she said, maybe a bit embarrassed, that the price was set by the publisher without her knowing it in advance...haha. Maybe the price will go down over time due to supply and demand.
Love in the Wind...is there a score available anywhere for that one?

plop_symphony

MarcPlaysPiano It's published in Japan by Ongaku no Tomo Sha. I found a copy at the Yamaha store in either Tokyo or Sapporo (can't remember which one).