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Child's unfinished "secret song" performed at his funeral by orchestra

<p>Kyan Pennell's unfinished composition has been given a new life at the young boy's funeral, thanks to the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. </p><p>When the 12-year-old died suddenly at the end of January after a devastating accident, his mum Amanda <span style="font-size: 16px">Brierley </span>discovered Kyan was writing his own music. </p><p>After playing piano for just seven months, Kyan had started to write his own composition, that remained unfinished after his untimely death. </p><p>Amanda sent out <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/entertainment/music/grieving-mother-s-plea-to-finish-son-s-composition-answered" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an emotional plea</a> to musicians worldwide to help Kyan's music finally be completed. </p><p>Thanks to the kind strangers of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the piece of music was finished in time to be played at Kyan's funeral. </p><p>Kyan's mum said it was humbling to have the support of so many people during such a difficult time.</p><p>"The kindness of strangers has really changed me over this period of time," she said.</p><p>"We played the first submission and a selection of all the submissions we got on the Facebook thread through the eulogies."</p><p>"By the time it was over I really hoped that tune was in everyone's head, and I think Kyan would have had a bit of a giggle knowing that he'd forced everyone to listen to this beautiful music through other people."</p><p>Amanda said five different orchestral renditions of Kyan's music were played at his funeral service, but she hoped to continue collecting versions of his music that were not recorded in time.</p><p>"Even just having that very first piece — it was one person playing a piano — was going to be enough for me," she said.</p><p>You can hear the Queensland Symphony Orchestra's rendition of <em>Kyan's Piece</em> below. </p><p></p><p><em>Image credits: Facebook - Amanda <span style="font-size: 16px">Brierley</span></em></p>

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Grieving mother’s plea to finish son’s composition answered

<p dir="ltr">A grieving mother has put out a worldwide call for musicians to finish her son’s first musical composition. </p><p dir="ltr">12-year-old Kyan Pennell passed away on January 31st after a tragic accident on his family’s property when he got caught between a trailer and a gate.</p><p dir="ltr">Kyan’s mum Amanda Brierley said he started learning piano just seven months ago, and unbeknownst to her, had started writing his own music. </p><p dir="ltr">"The thing that has given us some little part of Kyan to hold onto is when I found this composition he was working on in the middle of a blank exercise book," she told <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/brisbane/">ABC Radio Brisbane</a>. </p><p dir="ltr">"I didn't realise that he knew how to write music. He said he wanted to know how to get what was inside his head out on paper and he must have been learning how to do that."</p><p dir="ltr">Amanda said Kyan’s neurodiversity gave him a “superpower” to focus and learn more than 30 classical music pieces in just a few months. </p><p dir="ltr">Earlier in February, Amanda posted a photo of Kyan’s unfinished work and asked other musicians to help finish it.</p><p dir="ltr">"This was just the intro, it is unfinished," she wrote.</p><p dir="ltr">"He was building up to a grand mid-section and then would do an ending but he never got to complete what was in his mind's eye.</p><p dir="ltr">"He imagined it to be performed by wind and string instruments, and of course his beloved piano."</p><p dir="ltr">Amanda said she has received dozens of submissions and hoped to collect as many as she could to help honour her "beautiful boy".</p><p dir="ltr">"Finding this composition was an unexpected gift from him," she said.</p><p dir="ltr">"Unfortunately we never got to hear him play it, so I want the world to be able to play it for me.”</p><p dir="ltr">"I just want to be able to change his memory from a tragic accident to something of beauty for others as well."</p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Facebook / Amanda Brierley</em></p>

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