With tiny creatures in the piano

Finnish Siiri Ylijoki is studying for a master's in accompaniment and chamber music for classical pianists. Playing with singers and other soloists she calls "her regular life", the master's project is her own - a kind of pet project.

Important creatures

Nature has always been an essential part of Siiri's life. She grew up on a farm in the small town of Kuhmo in the Finnish countryside, not far from the Russian border.

- It's right in the middle of the forest. Nature is a part of everything you do there.

She believes that growing up like this made it natural for her to bring elements of nature into her music. At the same time, her interest in flora and fauna increased along with her concerns about the state of the earth and species that are drastically decreasing or disappearing.

- So I thought: What can I do as a musician?

Siiri believes that music is an effective tool for influencing, because it speaks to people's emotions.

She is performing a concert on November 15 called "Insectarium." At this concert, she will play music with an insect theme and display images and information about 20 different species. She wants the audience to learn more about them through the concert experience.

– Of course, People should recognize the more than 20 species there are and the significant impact they have on the world. They are so important.

Fear

Siiri is not worried about the negative feelings some people have towards insects. Feeling that something is disgusting or being afraid of it are also legitimate feelings, she points out.

- Everyone has met a spider at home. When I talk to people about it, everyone has their own story.

She has experienced that fear can become more positive when people talk together about the topic, perhaps because one feels a connection with nature through insects.

Are you afraid of insects yourself?

- I'm not comfortable with all insects. I don't want to kill them, but I don't want to cuddle with them either, she answers and laughs.

Siiri thinks playing a solo concert is a pleasant but slightly scary experience. She likes to use her creativity and will, among other things, present her illustrations at the concert. About the process, she says:

- I have learned so much about myself and others. And about insects.

As a concert poster, she has drawn an open grand piano with a stick insect and a butterfly flying. A spider's web hangs on the piano lid, and a ladybug balances on the edge.

At the concert, she will play two suites – "Hyönteiset" (Insects) by Finnish composer Joonas Pohjonen (2019) and "Insectarium" by Danish composer Rued Langgaard (1917).

After getting the sheet music for the Pohjonen piece, she discovered that she thought it was absolutely brilliant, so she wrote to the composer and met him.

- I bought him a big plastic ant as a gift. He was pleased!

Although almost 100 years separate the two works, both have a very modern tonal language, Siiri says. According to her, Langgaard's work sounds much newer than it is. It even has simple extended playing techniques.

- You would never have guessed it was written so long ago.

She says the pieces describe the movement and characteristics of the different insects, which she thinks makes the music more accessible and easier to understand.

- He is very expressive. It is really program music.