Track Spotlight: "Play in the Grass" — Piano Reveries at Its Most Playful

Some titles tell you what a piece is about. Play in the Grass tells you what to do. It’s the second track on Piano Reveries, Michael Clinesmith’s 22-track solo piano album, and it runs exactly four minutes. If you’re after playful piano music that never once raises its voice, this is the first place the album goes looking for it.

A piece that skips instead of walks

The opening track, After the Storm, is a 6:44 classical piece. It’s patient and reflective, and it earns every second. Then track two arrives with a title that sounds like a kid being let out the back door.

That change of posture is the whole point. “Play in the Grass” doesn’t have anywhere to be. Nobody is working toward a big finish. The word doing the work in the title is play, and it means the same thing it means on a Saturday afternoon: doing something for no reason except that it feels good.

It’s worth saying what playful means here, because it isn’t the same as fast. The album has quick pieces. Race is three and a half minutes of forward motion, and Joyous is done in under two. “Play in the Grass” gets four full minutes and uses them to wander. The play is in the ease, not the speed.

Where lightness comes from in piano writing

The music page tags this track with a single word: Piano. Not classical, not jazz, not flamenco. It’s the first of seven tracks on the album to carry that plain label, and the plainness fits. There’s no genre to live up to. It’s one person at one instrument with nothing to prove.

Lightness on a piano is harder than it sounds. The instrument is a big wooden box full of hammers, and it will happily sound heavy if you let it. A light piece has to be played that way, with weight held back, air left between phrases, and notes allowed to ring instead of being pushed.

That’s why this kind of writing depends so much on the performance. As our look at Michael’s composing process puts it, a piece like this lives or dies on touch. The notes on the page would be the same notes at any dynamic. What makes them feel like an afternoon outside is the hands.

The image of open air and easy motion

The artwork that sits beside this track on the music page is one of the most striking images on the site. A black grand piano stands on a round stone platform in the middle of a wide, open field. There’s no hall around it and no audience. There’s just grass running out to the horizon.

Look at the sky, though. The left side is still heavy with dark storm clouds. On the right, the sun has broken through and is pouring gold light across the field. The bench is empty, waiting for someone to sit down.

It’s hard not to read that picture as the first two tracks of the album in a single frame. The storm is moving off. The grass is lit up. The piano is sitting right there. All that’s left is to go out and play.

That’s also what open air does for a listener. Music that feels like it’s outdoors doesn’t press in on you. It leaves room around itself, and you end up breathing a little slower without having decided to.

How it balances the album’s quieter pieces

Sequencing is one of the quiet pleasures of Piano Reveries, and track two has a real job to do.

Coming straight out of “After the Storm,” it lets the mood loosen without snapping it. Then The Joy in Life bursts in with two and a half minutes of flamenco, the album’s first big swerve in style. “Play in the Grass” is the step between reflection and celebration. It’s the part where you’ve made it outside but haven’t started dancing yet.

After that comes Jade’s Lullaby, gentle and just under three minutes, and then the album’s most formal writing in the three-movement Sonatina in G. So within the first seven tracks you get clearing skies, an easy afternoon, a party, a lullaby, and a small classical suite.

The album needs this piece for another reason, too. Piano Reveries has serious weight later on. Working Through It is exactly what its title says, and the two long pieces in the middle of the record each run past seven minutes. Stretches like those land harder because the album showed you early that it knows how to relax. A record that is only ever thoughtful gets tiring. One that can also lie down in the grass for four minutes is easier to trust.

There’s a game-music instinct in that, as well. Michael writes for his own indie RPG, Rebellion, and any good score needs its safe places, the calm village or the quiet morning before the adventure picks up again. “Play in the Grass” is that kind of music. It works beautifully in the background while you read or work, and it rewards you just as much when you stop and listen properly.

Listen to “Play in the Grass”

The best way to hear it is in order. Start with “After the Storm,” let it finish, and notice how different the room feels when track two begins.

You can preview every track and buy Piano Reveries right here on the site. The full 22-track album is $9.99, or you can pick up “Play in the Grass” on its own for $3. Buying direct is the most meaningful way to support the studio. If you’d rather stream, the album is live on Spotify, Apple Music, and the other major services.

To follow along as new music comes out, subscribe on YouTube. To back the work directly and get closer to how it’s made, Patreon is the place. And if you play, Michael’s scores are available through Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct.

If the calm-before-the-adventure feeling is what caught your ear, the world it comes from is on Steam. Rebellion is the studio’s indie RPG, and its music is available as the Rebellion Soundtrack DLC.

And if your own game, film, or project needs a cue like this one, something warm and unhurried for the moment when the pressure lifts, you can hire Michael for a custom score on SoundBetter, read more about the studio, or get in touch directly.

The storm has passed and the sun is on the grass. Go on out.