Subtle Background Pieces?

[aglass0fmilk]

I am a high school student - a junior - who has been recruited to play background music for the Graduating Seniors' Class Night. I normally play Jazz and Ragtime music on the piano so I don't really know where to start to find some simplistic, subtle, and sentimental background music for such an occasion. The Class night is an event for family and their graduating students to come together and award various things/"cross over the bridge." I will be playing under an announcer. Please, give me some suggestions on some music I can play that is subtle, pretty simple (It's not a concert and I have limited time!), and appropriate for this event, thank you!

[natalyaturetskii]

You could try some Ludovico Einaudi. His pieces are quite simple but effective. I would also recommend some film music, probably by Alexandre Desplat, Dario Marianelli or Yann Tiersen, as they mainly write for piano. If you decide to use some of these but can't find the music just send me a message and I'll send them to you.

Also, here is a link I found with a list of 'atmospheric pieces':
https://www.audionetwork.com/production-music/album/solo-piano-atmospheric_1061.aspx

Hope this helps
Natalya

[mango1]

Try looking into some Yiruma pieces. They are very beautiful and perfect background music. I personally recommend kiss the Rain but many are good

Hope this helps!

[opus10no2]

[synthifou]

That's perfect background music for a dinner party at my house, but I don't think that's quite what he's looking for.  Is Elgar too cliche?

[drkilroy]

What about Satie? Some of his more subtle pieces (like Gymnopedies) would be perfect, I believe.

Best regards, Dr

[patrickd]

What about Ravel or Debussy.

[austinarg]

Belive it or not, John Cage actually has written some very good music.

[jugular]

This would be a great opportunity for you to practise your improvisation skills. You can loop over a simple chord progression like I-IV-V-I, I-IV-ii-V-I, or the infamous I-V-vi-IV and just improvise a melody over it. Obviously you'd improvise something slow and mellow, as to not overpower the announcer and to set a relaxing atmosphere. This gives you the freedom to play what you want and also widens your variety of playing options since you're not sticking to a song set list. You can always change the chord progression once you get too tired of a certain one as well.

If you're not comfortable doing that then, as natalyaturetskii suggested, Yann Tiersen's music from the popular French film "Amelie" is wonderful music to play for such an occasion. A Chopin nocturne would probably fit in well too, probably Op.9 No.2 in E Flat or Op32. No.1 in B Major...keep the mood "happy".