Performance by Monica K. from Recital #52 - 2018-11-15

• Performer: Monica K.
• Location: Lexington, KY
• Experience: About 14 1/2 years, self-taught
• Composer: Helen Jane Long
• Piece: The Aviators
• Duration: 303
• Music Link: click to play
• Video Link: https://youtu.be/QSNhl5t5qSs
• Music Source: Sheet music, purchased from musicnotes.com
• Instrument: Mason & Hamlin A
• Recording Method: mp3 file recorded with Zoom H4, amplified in Audacity. YouTube video recorded with Zoom Q8.
• Info: I have been captivated by this piece ever since I heard the shortened version of it in the British Airways commercial, "To fly, to serve." (The commercial, which can be found here at https://youtu.be/a4JdQi60an0 , is incredibly moving and well worth watching.) I only recently discovered that the sheet music for this beautiful piece was available, and I immediately became obsessed with learning it. The solo piano version lacks a bit of the powerful majesty of Long's recorded version, which includes strings, but it is still very pretty, I think. It also adds a bridge that is not in the recorded instrumental version. I'm dedicating this performance to my son, Isaac, who is in his second year of a commercial aviation major at the University of North Dakota and who recently earned his private pilot's license. I was running around doing errands and somehow managed to forget to have lunch, but I had a snack of Greek yogurt with granola mixed in at 4:00 pm.