Just Once More
(feat. Ioana Galu)
Ioana Galu
Erica and Ioana together, March 2024.
Erica and Ioana met in 2019 when Ioana was invited to be one of the special guests in the Brookings High School “Flood of Jazz” showcase. Erica was apart of the orchestral group “Strings Attached” performing in the showcase. As violinists, the two connected and became instant friends. Ioana privately taught Erica soon after for a couple months until COVID-19 put their lessons on pause. In December of 2020, Erica invited Ioana to the recording studio to enliven the vision of a beautiful violin part in her song Just Once More. Ioana improvised on the violin, while Erica was playing the piano and singing along. Erica often describes Ioana’s piece in the song by saying, “It is one of the most beautiful violin parts you will ever hear. This song would not be what it is without her.”
Dr. Galu is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of South Dakota, specializing in Violin/Viola Studio. She is also one of the members of the Rawlins Piano Trio.
I originally wrote Just Once More as a longer song, around four to five minutes; I then wrote another verse to it about a year after I had finished it. At first I was intending on leaving this part for live performances only, but I fell so in love with it I couldn’t bare to have people not hear it if they didn’t attend a live show. Naturally, I wrote a second additional verse I couldn’t part with either! Instead of having one song just shy of six minutes, I figured I would create two versions of the song and put them both on the album. The full-length version (now tagged the “extended version”), and a shortened version (no tag), would give people the opportunity to choose which version they want to listen to!
