By Emily Coleman
With flying fingers, five LDS siblings are soaring to the top of the classical music Billboard charts with their newest album, “No Boundaries” – number one on the charts for the past 10 weeks.
The 5 Browns, five Julliard-trained sibling pianists, are redefining the classical music genre and making it more accessible to a younger generation.
“I guess what we”re trying to do is just sort of shake things up a little bit,” said Gregory Brown, 23. “Classical music has been kind of stuck in it”s little bubble for a long time now, and everyone in the classical music world is kind of realizing that something needs to be done to try to bring this music to a younger generation.”
And the Brown siblings are doing just that.
A review in the Dallas Morning News praised the group, stating, “Send them out to schools from shore to shore, with piano teachers on hand to sign up students afterward, and the future of classical music will look a lot brighter.”
However, finding pieces that are arranged for five pianos can be very difficult.
Desirae Brown, the oldest of the five, said many composers in New York weren”t comfortable arranging music for the piano. So, the group chose Jeffrey Shumway, head of keyboard studies at BYU, to arrange most of the music for their newest CD.
“We knew that he was part of the American Piano Quartet,” said Desirae Brown. “The fact that he had worked with so many pianos was a big plus. He had already done arranging for five pianos and published some of his music. We told him what pieces we were thinking about having arranged. He was excited about it and a partnership was formed.”
Having a basic idea of what to arrange, and then having the creative range to compose, was one of the highlights of working with The 5 Browns, Shumway said.
“A lot of what I did for the Browns was in collaboration with them,” he said. “In ”Firebird” [the group”s hit single] I had to select portions of it. They only wanted a nine-minute work and the whole ”Firebird” is over 25 minutes. And I had to select what portions to use to create the best effect for what they were looking for.”
And the effect that Shumway created coincided with the Browns” goals for their music.
“They”re just really good arrangements,” said Melody Brown. “And he”s shared our vision of creating music that kids and adults can relate to and find accessible.”
Like many professional piano players, each of the Browns started taking lessons at the age of 3.
The siblings continued to grow in their talent. When Desirea, 27, applied to college, her sister Deondra decided to fast-track her education and apply as well. Julliard accepted both sisters and, one year later, Ryan, Melody and Gregory were also accepted, breaking a Julliard record b y becoming the first five siblings to ever simultaneously attend the school The siblings continued to grow in their talent. When Desirea, 27, applied to college, her sister Deondra decided to fast-track her education and apply as well. Julliard accepted both sisters and, one year later, Ryan, Melody and Gregory were also accepted, breaking a Julliard
“Our [Julliard] training has helped in all the stuff we do now,” Gregory Brown said. “It”s helped us broaden our spectrum a little bit.”
Shumway, who is also a Julliard graduate, said the Brown”s training gave him more options when arranging music for them.
“I can make these pieces virtuosic,” said Shumway. ” I can make it above what a normal pianist can play. I can make it sensational. So I did.”
