C.S. Bezas had her first piano lessons at the age of seven. She only began practicing when her mother bribed her with quarters. But after three weeks of playing, she couldn't stop!
Soon, by the time she was in eighth grade, C.S. Bezas was playing the piano six hours a day and her mother was begging her to stop. But those black and white keys beckoned, and a permanent relationship formed.
Today, C.S. Bezas composes music both for stage and for personal listening. A TIME FOR ANA is her debut album and already it has been receiving accolades on its soothing and healing nature.
A TIME FOR ANA has been used in a variety of therapeutic settings, from an ICU in a Denver hospital to use by a variety of therapists.
Individual people have raved over her music. "It's the perfect music to think by," says Gary McCallister, a professor and blues musician.
Mark Hansen, a rock guitarist and vocalist said, "One of the things I loved about this CD, especially compared to other “New Age Piano” artists (whatever that means these days), was that it was very minimal. Too often, contemporary piano artists seem to be obsessed with filling the song’s space with as many notes as possible. They do that by either pounding out thunderous and clustered chords one after the other, or by putting in so many rolls, arpeggios and frills that I wonder if I’m in a smoky piano lounge. This CD is almost minimalist. Simple melodies dance above gentle chords and accompaniments. I almost thought that I could learn to play these songs, they were so clear, clean and simple.
"The CD was full of original melodies,....'Summer Rain' was the most visual, almost to being a tone poem. The gentle summer rains were expressed by light flickers of notes dancing and falling from the upper octaves of the keys.
“'A Time for Ana' would be great, especially for Sunday listening. Put it on for background while studying your scriptures, or use it as meditation music. It’ll put you in that place for thought and relaxation."
Hailey Fair, a store owner, said, "My customers LOVE listening to your music play over the speakers."
Eric Endres, a film orchestrator and musician, in officially reviewing A TIME FOR ANA, wrote:
"One of my favorite music moments is in the mellow part of Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu". The melody takes a minor turn and then there's a bouncy major part that jumps up and hangs on a note for just a half second before dripping down with a beautiful arpeggiated chord. It's the slight pause before that chord that is the moment I particularly love, as it really gives just the right setup to what comes after it. For a brief moment, the world stops, time stops and the anticipation is as tangible as anything you might taste or touch. And then that chord drips down and ohhh, all is perfect with the universe.
"There are several moments of that type on CS Bezas' album, A Time for Ana...
"The press release for the album calls the style "new age piano minimalism", and while that is still somewhat inadequate and limiting as a description (as many genre labels are), it does give a sense of what the music is like, particularly with 'minimalism' meaning 'every note counts'. There may be no lyrics on A Time for Ana, but it is nonetheless very "lyrical", with careful attention payed to every note and phrase. I was going to say that this kind of music would work well as the background for guided imagery, but then again, it seems to conjure imagery pretty well on its own.
"What's particularly nice about the album is that while a general description of 'mellow piano instrumentals' would essentially be very accurate, there is still quite a bit of dynamics within the general 'mellowness' of the material. This album can be nice played in the background, but it is also very much something to be listened closely to and even wrestled with."
Comments like these continue to roll in. Clearly, C.S. Bezas and those black and white piano keys belong together.
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