I do have a (solo piano) CD available! You can pick it up from anywhere in the world at this address http://cdbaby.com/cd/allenjamesteague
My mp3 downloads are available at iTunes and at Amazon.com You can find them by searching my name either place :)
Tale of the Minstrel 9:20
Bittersweet 7:37
Forest 5:20
Sunday Collisions 2:15
Soliloquy 1:48
Sorrow 4:28
The Light and The Dark 5:09
Free 4:57
A Poet’s Heart 3:50
Portrait 3:19
Bittersweet Reprise (with flute) 5:43
Rain and Memories 4:12
Saying Goodbye 4:18
A Winter's Lullaby 1:45
I'm not in a band but I am usually working on something for myself or with other musicians or dancers or narrators!
I am including ballet/modern dance/theater with piano for most of my future concerts. I will be performing with dancers that live near to where ever I perform.
"Norwegian Lullaby" is part of an enjoyable (still unnamed) progressive rock project (I am working on a couple new songs for this project presently)
Allen James Teague - Keyboards
Darrell Murphy - Guitars
For enjoyment sometimes I write, play, engineer, edit and mix on creative recording projects separately and in varied combination's with Dennis Joern, Ezekiel Kelly, Dawn Teague, Darrell Murphy, Dana Weir and Dave Joern (Folk, Contemporary, Progressive Rock, Blues, Children Music, Alternative).
I've written and recorded piano for Leidulf Hafsmo, Elin Rudå and Mr. Lars Ole (Folk/Acoustic) in Norway.
I've written piano for "the drop" and Gina Gregory (Alternative/Rock) in Seattle.
My narrations are kindly spoken by the illustrious Howard Wildin for masculine and Dawn Teague for feminine (along with her varied other characters).
I am receptive to adding piano or keyboards to other people’s songs or albums. Also always ready to write for ballet or modern dance.
The most enjoyable folk musicians I live near enough to think with often fall asleep when ever they sit for more than eight or nine minutes.
Influences
Autumn along the outskirts of Tower, Minnesota with the raspy calling of tree perched crows while walking beneath the rattle of birch trees.
Rainy Seattle evenings with my memories and my trusty black notebook on the way to nowhere in particular from the Baltic Room or Kells at Pike Street.
The burnt stump of a tree on the north east edge of Loch Ness near where the crooked red trees stand among the rocky outcroppings.
The ruins of Dunnottar in September when you can hear things from long ago.
Changes in time and geography and pianos and places with coffee...
Sounds Like
I sound pretty close to the brave creatures large and small that reside in my head. The patterns, phrases, melodies, blossoming half thoughts, rhythmic structures, notes, tones and silences that gather there. Some patient, some waking me at all hours...
I'm Allen James Teague - I write stories and music. Thank you for visiting :)
I like people. I tend to enjoy interesting, creative, original, industrious and adventurous people. People with their own thoughts that do something with them. I also like nearly all dancers with a slight favoritism toward ballet. I like musicians that try to be themselves while creating actual art and the ones that keep traditions and heritage alive. I appreciate personality and thought! I also believe that all of the skill or talent in the world means nothing if you are not a good person.
I like to write and record with other people for name in credit (not money) because I love music and enjoy recording. Always working on something of my own yet I enjoy changes of scenery and recording for other people fills those idle moments. You can only build so many snowmen in the winter...
I am receptive to ballet companies and other dance companies using my music and I have enough freedom to attend and perform too!
The following is a video from a concert in Minnesota (solo piano - October 24, 2008) and the other two are improvisational dance videos with my music from a friend named Delphine Manac’h in France. I hope you enjoy!
"A Minstrel's Homecoming" (In Concert - Aurora, Minnesota Auditorium October 24, 2008)
The following improvisational video "Sorrow" arrived from a dancer friend named Delphine Manac’h in France...
Sorrow... sur "Sorrow" d' Allen James Teague. Impro
Improvisation danse sur un morceau de Allen James Teague "Tale of the Minstrel" by Delphine Manac’h in France
I like languages that I do not understand - I own a few translation dictionaries and it is big fun to decipher the words! I often wonder if the translation is somewhat lost because I've read some amusingly random things.
I live on the water in a fairly remote area and most of my days are spent outside enjoying nature. I have a very slow internet connection and usually do not have enough time to write back to people who were kind enough to write to me. I do try!
I did not speak until I was three and a half. Slightly to my parents dismay I have never stopped. As a child one rainy day I thought to play hooky from talking and reading my encyclopedias and began playing guitar. A couple years later when I was ten I found an organ in the spare room. I would have been drawn to keyboard instruments sooner but I spent summers in the countryside and my English Setter and I were too full of life to linger around indoors.
When I was 15 I decided that you can study for 60 years and still not be the person you are reciting. I stopped procrastinating and began performing all original material at art shows along with random pianos with my trusty tip cup in the lovely town of Sandpoint, Idaho when I was 16 and mildly competent.
I went without owning a piano most of my life and learned to write while playing in public places usually with small crowds gathering. One winter in Virginia, Minnesota I used a sharpie to draw a keyboard on my kitchen table and that helped to write during the middle of the night when all twelve of the pianos through out the town were in locked rooms.
Music is very dear to me and I have enjoyed performing somewhere over a thousand times in different settings across the United States, Canada, Scotland and Prague. I've played in ancient castles, at festivals, in theaters and concert halls, in community centers and amphitheaters. I earned my first one month adventure in Europe by playing piano on a sidewalk. That took me about a month hauling a small spinet onto a sidewalk with a going to Europe CD sale and a tip jar. I earned round trip air to London and then bus fare through England, under the channel, through France, Belgium, Germany and then Czech Republic. In Prague I was visiting a friend of a friend named Miloslav who used to be news manager for Radio Free Europe and now does the news part time and organizes bluegrass festivals. A country music producer friend of his named Slavic arranged for me to play 6 performances at the Lucerna. I also played at the Miro gallery while coveting a statue of Venus by Salvador Dali. Explored Prague for about 18 days and found a huge one mile by one mile graveyard with rows of stone buildings, gorgeous statues and vines growing over everything. Looking forward to returning for some music video footage. The Prague castle was nice too with hundreds of gargoyles dripping water from their tongues. In the National Gallery I spent about 45 minutes looking at the first Rembrandt I had ever seen. From across the room you could see a golden necklace on the persons neck and standing about 2 inches away there were just 3 carefully placed specks of gold paint. From Prague I wandered around CZ. I enjoyed visiting Kunta Hora. There was a film crew working on a Christopher Walken movie called "Affair of the Necklace" and the small chapel with the remains of 50,000 catholic church victims was all roped off. One of the crew members was from Ireland and helped me sneak past the very stout woman who seemed sincere in taking her guard job quite serious. We made our way down to the chandler to see the piles of skulls and bone art made by some Cistercian monk in a fit of whimsy. I became lost somewhere outside of Telch after finding something like a hot dog stand with these delicious inventions that cost about a nickle each. I enjoyed 4 of them. I suppose I had become overly pleased with taking a break from the almonds and water I had in my pack and was busy looking for a way to get into a tower and not paying attention to where I was actually going. I do not speak Czech other than some formal and informal pleasantries along with a few phrases that require a few drinks before getting into. Could not understand a thing people were saying and it was nearing dark. Keeping a pen and paper on hand with a few art lessons under my belt helped me to draw a bus which kept me from being lost for very long. After CZ I made my way back to France and then took a ferry over the channel England where I enjoyed feeding some rather large sea gulls. Made it back to London and visited Pan in Hyde Park and then went up to Aberdeen where I took a left to play piano at Findhorn and then spent a week visiting Castles while staying at a B&B in Inverness.
I've been a singer in a metal and punk band. I've been a folk guitarist. I've been a progressive rock keyboardist. I'm a pretty good sound engineer and enjoy mixing. Enjoyed teaching music theory and advanced piano for some remarkable musical minds and I may do that again. I have been on a grant writing committee and that was quite enjoyable. Enjoyed writing newspaper articles and blurbs for my local art's center along with founding and co-organizing a couple festivals which were enjoyable events. I have booked performances for friends and often consider building an international booking agency for a small roster of musicians. Received a few grants for my creative pursuits and I may do that again.
My ideas and I:
I was born in a little town named Aurora in northern Minnesota and most of my music has been written in little towns in little cafes where I have always been able to think while enjoying coffee and small town conversations. I've lived in a few lovely and not so lovely cities and found them to be useful for writing stories with the array of character studies encountered every few moments but I also enjoy the quiet I find in rural areas. I've noticed that coffee can be found or made nearly everywhere so I am always ready to travel. If there is a piano where I'm going that's even better!
Recently one of my piano pieces “The Light and The Dark” was used for background music in a public television documentary about the pen and ink art of Dennis Karl Joern. That was nice.
Choreographer - Diana Law (Kennewick, Washington) was recently awarded a commission for choreography by the Houston Dance Theatre (Houston, Texas). She chose my composition "Tale of the Minstrel" and created a piece for 6 dancers (March 2009).
Choreographer - Joy Bond (Cumberland Dance Conservatory) set "Tale of the Minstrel" to dance for performance (University of North Florida, Jacksonville, May 2008).
Choreographer - Megan Abel (Duluth, Minnesota) created dances for performances in Duluth and Aurora with "Rain and Memories", "Forest", "A Poet's Heart" and "The Light and The Dark" (June - October 2008).
A dancer friend in France named Delph made a couple improvisational dance videos with "Tale of the Minstrel" and "Sorrow" and I was thrilled to see those.
A&E channel used another of my compositions “Birth of a New Day” for a thing about Anna Nicole Smith. That paid for coffee for a while.
I hope one day something I write or wrote will be used for a documentary about ants. That would be lovely!
If you are planning to use my music for ballet performance let me know so I can put you on my calendar and maybe I can attend. I would most likely want to play piano with you if a good piano happens to be on hand! If you take photos dancing to my music please send them! Videos are rather nice too...
If you want to use my music for other production, performance, film or TV just ask me and my licensing people will help you (I have licensing people)...
For booking information just write me a note or a nice letter with what you have in mind and I'll get back to you within a day unless I'm somewhere remote but I'm never gone too long.
I enjoy spare moments going over details for a music drama that I have been working on since 1995. There are 12 scenes, several transitional scenes and 172 characters. I think the storyline is complete and I hope it can work with a versatile cast of 26 and 18 musicians plus stage crew. Many of the vocal parts are complete and I am working on incidental parts. There are only three chorals. I have been notating piccolo, flute, oboe, bassoon, drums and percussion, keyboard, violin, viola, cello, double bass and am debating with clarinet and a couple horns. I rarely enjoy writing for brass because I tend to double the winds with the strings to keep brass from over powering and then I loose time deciding between forgoing some motion and character or adding more instruments. I have been sketching and thinking about set and costume designs. I'm convinced that the next one will assemble in no time at all.
Presently and usually working on story lines for piano and ballet.
I recently sorted music ideas for a new Warren Carlson play to be staged in India. Waiting for our schedules and geography to sync enough to allow a meeting at a piano with coffee.
I have been gathering video footage here and there for music videos. I hope to have something completed eventually!
I hope to fashion my short story "Bear Trap" into a short film. I had costumes made already. When it is time Lars Ole will be narrating film version in Norwegian. There will be English subtitles. Leidulf Hafsmo kindly translated script from English to Norwegian. I have decided on 9 characters (I added six from the spoken word recording of short story) and have completed re-writing the script. I have completed casting except for one female.
Am taking notes for a longer film version of "Goldfish" for later. "Goldfish" will be a bit of an undertaking and I have a few things to learn first.
I plan to focus more thought and energy toward film, music videos and documentaries in the future.
I have written a bit more than sixteen hours of music. I enjoy telling stories in concert and I have decided to cut down on string breaking. It is possible to become unhinged while hurling through a certain passage of "Temptation of Saint Anthony" and accidents do happen! I love audiences and I love entertaining them. I also respect old people quite a bit and I have always sought out and played at nursing homes in towns and cities all over the United States for free when ever I have had an hour or two to spare. Some people go all year without a visitor so we should do what we can.
Aside from music, writing and art I have always enjoyed adventures. I like epic adventures that begin a couple hours after flying over those huge ice cubes out there by Greenland. I like traveling into remote eastern European locations where no one understands a word I'm saying and I have no clue how to read signs and everything requires drawing a picture or non verbal semantics. I enjoy history and love walking in old and ancient places.
Education:
I studied piano for three months under Hilpi Kantola from the Helsinki Conservatory of Music through a kind gift from my step Father. I was a terrible student and at a recital I had neglected to prepare the compositions she assigned me so instead I premiered three original Allen James Teague pieces in front of six-hundred people. It was near the end of the program and I can imagine she was horrified when the first few notes were struck. I did these crazy acrobatics flinging my hands in the air throughout and when the last notes crashed I turned to see my first full house standing ovation.
I studied music theory and notation under concert violinist Gerard Mathes. To save time I started bringing "Principles of Orchestration" and a couple highlighters out to coffee. I mostly learned and am still learning through trying to keep up with my imagination.
In the future:
Some day while I'm still spry enough to carry a suitcase I may retire to a cottage with a guest house for recording and company maybe near Inverness, Scotland. I have traveled all over Scotland and have found the Inverness area to be suitable for most of my endeavors. I also love Prague but it is a bit too busy with tourists. Will not rule out southern France where I have not explored enough to qualify a definitive. I hope to learn more about Norway soon. I would most likely be happy with something within walking distance to a pub where I can compose, write, breath and think into olde age. Some days I think about retiring to northern Minnesota to wander the forests and hills through the evening fog among the birch with my concertina or accordion. That would be lovely... The world is really quite large and I have not seen everything that I would like to.
Further in the Past:
Some time before I was born I had a great aunt Ann Palkie, a concert pianist out of Minneapolis. She enjoyed staying busy and to fill the idle moments she founded and directed 8 music conservatories throughout Minnesota continuing until her death at 37 years old.
My grandfather, Warren Teague enjoyed many years performing and as 2nd bass in the Minneapolis Apollo Club. At 19 years old he was the youngest member to be accepted into the 200 man choir. He was the book keeper for the city of Minneapolis and later in life he put his organizational skills to use staying busy organizing most of the fairs, parades and festivals in the Esko and Cloquet, Minnesota area. He did a lot of work toward making sure poorer families had enough food and there were many, many, many people at his funeral.
"Unique and creative, Allen James Teague's music ranges from delicate to intense, passionate to empowering. It is music that can touch the lives of all ages." Joyce- (former Board Member of CREATE Center for the Arts, Newport, WA)
Thank you very much for your very high intellectual level, brightness, clearness of sound and brilliance in yours performance all the world! But for me the important in yours performance is the way you have the capacity to building the musical phrase with a particular consideration. The maturity of the thought and specially this unrivaled way that you know to base on the structure of the composition that your performance." Athanasia Tzanou (Paris, France).
"Enchanting" Leslee Smith- (The Symes, Hot Springs, MT).
"Teague's music goes straight to the heart" Martin Dvorak- (Petrof, Prague, CZ).
"Powerful" Valleta O'Day- (Couer d'Alene Cultural Center, Cd'A, ID).
"No-one has ever put more into a Panida concert" Karen Bowers- (Panida Theater, Sandpoint, ID).
"Mr. Teague,
My son and I attended your performance at the Thomas center Wednesday night. We both thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We attended to meet a requirement of a music appreciation course we are taking together at Lake City community college (we have to write 3 papers on 3 live performances). I admit neither of us were looking forward to an evening of classical piano, little did we know what was ahead. My son Alex who has never had any interest in any musical forms other than hard punk rock, was enchanted, bought 5 of your cd's, and now wants to learn to play the piano. I believe you did more to broaden him musically in 2 hours than I have been able to do in his 16 years on this planet. I thank you greatly." -Sincerely, L.L.S. (Thomas Center, Spanish Court, Gainesville, FL. May 29th, 2002).
"North Idaho piano phenom Allen James Teague is an astonishing talent, a knock out of a performer" Aunties Bookstore- (Spokane, WA).
"Allen James Teague plays grandly pronounced notes separated by memories and depth" KD -(The Local Planet, Spokane, WA).
Hallo There, how are you doing there and how are things going on? just passin by showin some mad love.. hope your well.. Have a great weekend.. Peace...&LOve..Myline
Aww thanks so much for your sweet comment! =) I'm currently trying to decide which of the shots would be best to use for my portfolio album, any chance you could help me? Any feedback comment positive or critical would be appreiciated! I'm loving your music, also enjoyed reading about your life and your interest in music and stories, very poetric lyrics you write also. Keep up the great work!
Hey there! What are you up to?! I am working on SEVERAL projects right now, so I am way too busy. One of the music videos I shot a while ago just got finished. I'm not dancing in it, but it's a pretty good video. I don't usually like rap, but I thought this girl was really nice and had a good message: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozPT2CML7x4
Thank you for the request. Nice to meet you on here.I'm off to the Victorian fair in my local town today. I'm up early so thought I'd drop by and let you know I was thinking of you. Have a wonderful day, Love Wendy, x
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