Eric Christian is a New York-based pianist and composer. Trained at the renowned Berklee College of Music and deeply rooted in the classical tradition, his music prioritizes melody and emotional depth over elaborate production. It’s a concept that works: he has sold over 100,000 sheet music scores to musicians in 200 countries who want to play his pieces themselves. We sat down with Eric to talk about his creative process, how to realize an orchestral vision without an actual orchestra, and why he’s never afraid to be the first to test new technologies.
From classical training to a signature sound
You started playing piano at age four and later studied film scoring at the Berklee College of Music. How did you arrive at the sound you create today?
Honestly, that’s probably the most difficult question. For a long time, it felt impossible to answer. Even during my entire time at Berklee, I had no idea what my own voice as a composer actually sounded like. I graduated with a degree in composition, but I felt like I had never truly written a piece of music. It wasn’t until much later, when I was living in Paris and immersing myself in Satie, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel, that I began to understand what I really wanted to express as a composer.
How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?
I wouldn’t even try. I’d just let them listen and let the music speak for itself. I look for simple, beautiful melodies that are universal. That’s all.
The printed page as an eternal foundation
You once said that music should be shared, not just performed—and you’ve sold over 100,000 sheets of music in 200 countries. What does it mean to you to write down music, as opposed to just making a recording?
Putting music on paper is the foundation of everything. That is the true language of music; a recording is not. Don’t forget: most of the composers who inspire me never heard a recording of their music during their lifetimes. Recordings are just a bonus, a nice extra. Written musical language is the bedrock.
“I often think: If the power went out globally, what would we have left? We would be back to square one. I don’t trust electricity, nor do I trust technology—but a piece of paper? I trust that.”
New platforms and AI as a creative catalyst
You take advantage of the opportunities platforms like TikTok and Instagram offer to reach people. Now, you are one of the first classical composers to lean heavily into hooks. What draws you to new platforms even before others in your scene are aware of them?
Andy Warhol once said that in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes. In our day and age, that is absolutely true. It’s very easy to be popular for a fleeting moment. But remaining relevant in the long term—that is the real challenge. I believe there is an audience for every type of art; you just have to find it. Every platform speaks to a different audience, and the wider you cast your net, the better.
How does the music AI Suno fit into your workflow? At what point does it come into play, and what does it enable you to do?
Suno is my final quality check once I have something new. My process involves writing small, repetitive melodies—loops. When something catches my ear and it starts circling incessantly in my head, I know it’s good. Such melodies don’t come to you often. Even though my music is composed entirely for solo piano, I don’t imagine it that way in my head. I hear it much larger, symphonically: How would this melody function in a soundtrack? You take that melody and arrange it in different ways. Suno gives me the ability to hear the music in seconds, exactly how I imagined it. Orchestral mockups used to take hours. If I’m really serious about a new melody, the final step is to feed it into Suno and see if it truly works. It’s a great feeling when it does.
Is there a current piece you can use to explain your process? How did it start, and how did it all come together?
Honestly, they all go pretty much the same way. Hemingway once said about writing books: 'Just write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.' You only need one good, honest line, and the rest grows from that. I think the same applies to music. I only need one good bar; everything else builds upon it. Most of the time, it’s pure coincidence: I sit down at the piano, and my hands move as if by themselves. I don’t hear the melodies in my head beforehand—my hands find them. That’s an important point, by the way: I don’t feel like I’m creating them, but rather discovering them.
No fear of change
When you allow remixes for a song, you open your work to anyone who wants to make something new out of it. How does that make you feel?
To be honest, that’s been happening for quite a while. I’ve sold thousands of my sheets of music, so people have been doing whatever they want with my music for a long time. Just recently, someone sent me a remix of my song 'I Love You When I Drink Champagne.' He didn't actually have a license for it, but I was so pleasantly surprised by the sound that I allowed him to release the track for free. I love it when I can inspire others to create. That’s exactly what it’s all about.
What would you say to a classically trained musician who is skeptical of such tools?
You adapt or you perish—it’s that simple. It is a tool, and a brilliant one if you use it correctly. It is precisely these opportunities that give us a decisive edge. Read Malcolm Gladwell’s book *Outliers*. Here and now, we have access to something completely new and unique that has never existed before. These are the opportunities you must seize to stand out from the crowd.
You can find more of Eric Christian's music on Suno, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Spotify.
Get your music on the radio
Are you ready to present your songs to a wide audience? Submit your tracks via the AI.OnAir Control Center, benefit from heavy rotation, and build your own premium artist page.
Jetzt Song einreichenFrequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Eric Christian is a New York-based pianist and composer who gained worldwide recognition through his emotional piano pieces and the sale of over 100,000 sheet music scores.
To him, musical notation is the true language of music. He views it as an eternal foundation that would endure even in the event of a global power outage, unlike digital recordings.
He uses AI tools as a creative catalyst and a final quality check. He uses them to test whether the melodies and loops he composes also function in a larger, symphonic context.