Stanton Lanier

Scripture inspired piano to refresh your spirit

Solo Piano Dawn

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My 15th album Solo Piano Dawn just released. You can stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon Music, and all music services worldwide. You can also click below to listen to the title track as you read the story behind this new collection.

 

This project fills my heart with joy and worship in gratitude to God for inspiring twelve new solo piano compositions in 2023. I am most grateful for who He is, and what He has done in my life. Jesus being both the Creator of the universe and my personal Savior and Lord is a miracle and mystery, which I have found to be true as I have investigated and experienced His grace, truth, and faithfulness.

Solo Piano Dawn is a Scripture Inspired Worship Collection of these twelve tracks, one hour of instrumental music inviting you and all who listen to receive God’s peace, rest, hope, and beauty. All of the tracks were released as singles in 2023, except for two brand new pieces: the opening track Solo Piano Prelude and the closing title track Solo Piano Dawn, which were composed to complete the album (Solo Piano Dawn features new music combined with the chorus melody from my piece Awaken the Dawn). The ten singles each have their own blog post which you scroll down or search to read the inspiration behind each one.

The twelve track titles are not in the order I composed and released the singles. Instead, they have been curated to create a unique flow and journey expressing the realness and variety of life circumstances, the mountain tops and valleys, the pains and struggles, the hopes and joys, the fear and faith, the uncertainty and the adventure. As you listen through the sequence of Solo Piano Prelude, Solo Piano Wonder, Solo Piano Psalm, Solo Piano Refuge, Solo Piano Blessings, Solo Piano Angels, Solo Piano Grace, Solo Piano Unheard, Solo Piano Beyond, Solo Piano Yearning, Solo Piano Sleep, and Solo Piano Dawn, I hope you will be blessed and encouraged that God sees you, loves you, knows you, and is there for you.

You can reflect on the verses behind the title track below, which speak to worship, and how as humans were all created to worship. The opening track Solo Piano Prelude is gentle preparation for the journey, and also symbolizes the peaceful assurance that God is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, from Genesis to Revelation.

How does the album Solo Piano Dawn speak to you?

Psalm 108:1-2. My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. (NIV)

Psalm 34:9. Worship God if you want the best; worship opens doors to all his goodness. (MSG)

Psalm 95:6. So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us! (MSG)

Psalm 96:1. Sing God a brand-new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing! Sing to God—worship God! (MSG)

Psalm 96:8-9. Bring gifts and celebrate, Bow before the beauty of God, Then to your knees—everyone worship! (MSG)

Psalm 100:4. Enter with the password: “Thank you!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him. (MSG)

Revelation 8:1. Seventh Seal: Prelude to the Seven Trumpets. When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (NKJV)

Solo Piano Angels

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Solo Piano Angels just released today! You can stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon Music, and all music services worldwide. You can also click below to listen as you read the inspiration behind this new piece.

 

Solo Piano Angels is a my first solo piano recording featuring the chorus melody from the song Bread of Angels, which was composed and released in 2011 on my seventh album A Thousand Years. The original version is a duet with piano and angelic vocals, with different themes for the introduction, verses, and ending. The main theme has always been so beautiful and powerful when the notes sing over my life. I am humbled and amazed when I pause to remember how God inspired the music. It was like the melody had been in heaven all along, and God sent it down through my head, heart, and hands when He was ready. The creative process can take days, weeks, or months to be complete, but when our Creator with the big “C” delivers, it becomes clear I am a little “c” creator just seeking to hear His voice and receive His inspiration by faith.

Solo Piano Angels also features the main theme from another listener favorite Walking on Air, which is used as the musical transition at the end of each angels chorus section. The verse melodies and variations within this new song are delicate and gentle, yet powerful in their symbolism of angels watching over us. Out of the many Bible verses including the word angel or angels I have shared six down below that I used for reflection and inspiration during the composing process. The phrase “heaven’s angels worship You!” from Nehemiah 9:6 is sung a few times by the piano notes, expressing God’s glory, beauty, and provision.

I hope this piece helps you relax and take some deep breaths. As you listen, close your eyes and envision you are breathing in God’s peace and presence, and breathing out life’s worry and distractions. Thank you for listening and reading. God’s blessings to you!

How does Solo Piano Angels speak to you?

“Blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise! You’re the one, God, you alone; You made the heavens, the heavens of heavens, and all angels; The earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them; You keep them all alive; heaven’s angels worship you!” (Nehemiah 9:5-6, MSG)

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.” (Psalm 8:4-5, NIV)

“He rained down showers of manna to eat, he gave them the Bread of Heaven. They ate the bread of the mighty angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.” (Psalm 78:25, MSG)

“God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways, the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways! Search high and low, scan skies and land, you’ll find nothing and no one quite like God. The holy angels are in awe before him. Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us— you’ve been so good to us! We’re walking on air!” (Psalm 89:5 and 89:17, MSG)

“Watch that you don’t treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don’t you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?” (Matthew 18:10, MSG)

“Isn’t it obvious that all angels are sent to help out with those lined up to receive salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14, MSG)

Solo Piano Psalm

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Today is release day for Solo Piano Psalm. You can stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon Music, and all music services worldwide. You can also click below to listen as you read the inspiration behind this new piece.

 

Solo Piano Psalm is a gentle piano journey, expressing life’s moments of peace, hope and beauty amidst the tension of the world’s noise, despair, and distress. It is a simple decision, but not an easy one, to thank God from a full heart, to embrace Him as my sanctuary, and to sing His love and faithfulness each day. I have provided three Psalms below for reflection, but I encourage you to read other Psalms in the Bible that are special to you, or you can just begin with Psalm 1 or Psalm 23.

I composed the first minute of the song as an introduction to establish a sense of peace, calm, and contentment, knowing God is with me by faith and experience. At the same time, there is a hint of tension as I am also seeking and longing for God’s love, wisdom, and provision in every area of my life. Every Psalm in the book of Psalms is genuine and vulnerable whether giving thanks to God or crying out to Him for help.

The main theme for Solo Piano Psalm begins around the one minute mark, and the notes are “singing” and repeating the words “I’m thanking you God, from a full heart.” There are additional musical variations as the journey continues, including a section of long chords reminding me to pause and reflect, to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10). Whatever circumstances you are facing in your life, whether a time of victory or struggle, I hope the melodies and notes sing peace, hope, and beauty to your heart, and help you know how much you are seen, known, and loved by our Heavenly Father.

How does Solo Piano Psalm speak to you today?

“I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart, I’m writing the book on your wonders. I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy! I’m singing your song, High God.” (Psalm 9:1-2, MSG)

“God’s a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times. The moment you arrive, you relax; you’re never sorry you knocked.” (Psalm 9:9-10, MSG)

“Your love, God, is my song, and I’ll sing it! I’m forever telling everyone how faithful you are. I’ll never quit telling the story of your love.” (Psalm 89:1, MSG)