Please feel free to listen to this album as you read this post and its links.

For the past two weekends I was taking a course given by Antolina Ortiz Moore on Creating A Universe With Words sponsored by the Quebec Writers Federation.

During the course, one of the elements which was discussed was the usage of rhythm in our writing and how the sound of words is important for the flow of ideas.

That got me thinking about an interview I recently heard on CBC radio with the Neo-Classical pianist Jean-Michel Blais on the creation of his latest album, Aubades – a piece of music appropriate to dawn.

Blais composed this music in the midst of confinement where, because of gentrification, he had been evicted from his apartment and his studio and to add to all of this, had a breakup in his relationship.

Understandably, he was depressed, lonely, felt he had reached bottom and worried that he would never again compose. (Sound familiar?)

Alone, in his new apartment, he felt that he needed something to get back to his creativity and so he set  up a room for his studio and decided to record a new record – his pandemic therapy album.

 To feel awake again he challenged himself by asking how he could remain creative. What would happen if he let himself go, tried to surpass himself by writing new stuff and used the confinement as opportunity to transform a dream into reality?   

The result is an album that is simply gorgeous. Filled with hope, open to what’s new, uplifting and  inspirational.

 You can read the interview with Piya Chattopadhyay and listen to a great composer talk about the process of creativity.