For my senior recital, I turned to piano pieces that are rooted in song—music with words. However, the degree recital for the piano major requires at least 50 minutes of solo music; no words—just piano. So, what happens to a song when it is stripped of its words? Through the works of Bela Bartok, Missy Mazzoli, Edvard Grieg, Benjamin Martin, and Billie Eilish, I explore how meaning is expressed and transformed through the genre of solo piano music.