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Wade Tarling finds Strength in his solo piano work

Wade Tarling is an in-demand session musician for jazz, pop and musical theatre — but he always takes time to keep learning new things about the piano.

Have a First Listen to Wade Tarling's album, Strength

Wade Tarling's new solo jazz piano album is called Strength. (Submitted by Wade Tarling )

Wade Tarling is an in-demand session musician for jazz, pop and musical theatre — but he always takes time to keep learning new things about the piano.

"I look at it as a vocabulary," said Tarling.

"I have my set of things I know how to do and I enjoy doing those things, but there are always things to learn."

Tarling takes occasional piano lessons via Skype with jazz pianists in the United States that he admires, and he always seeks out learning opportunities when he is travelling.

"I was just in Nashville, and I took a piano lesson there."

Composing and improvising

Tarling has applied what he's been learning to his first solo piano album called Strength.

The album is a mixture of piano compositions Tarling has developed over the past few years, and of music he's improvised on the spot in the studio, including the aptly titled, This is How I'm Feeling.

Tarling said he hopes listeners find the solo piano work on Strength to be uplifting.  

"They [the compositions] are about hope, they're about strength, they're about overcoming obstacles."

Do you have a new album of music that Weekend AM should know about for First Listen? Email us wam@cbc.ca and tell us about it.

You can hear First Listen Sundays on Weekend AM from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in most of Labrador) on CBC Radio One.  

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Heather Barrett is the host and producer of Weekend AM on CBC Radio One in Newfoundland and Labrador.