Anyone seeking a quiet reprieve from the summer madness should look no further than the work of Rob Collier. A musician with an impressive and lengthy resume, Collier has parlayed his passion for the form into a career as a professional educator. This Friday night, Collier is set to perform selections from his upcoming release, the aptly named Ten Simple Pieces for Piano.

Collier forged his own path. He became fixated on music at an early age, picking up a variety of instruments in his adolescence. By his teenage years, Collier joined a few bands, a rite of passage for many at that stage of life.

“I remember wanting to run around the room and jump up and down,” he said. “I became obsessed with the Beatles, spending all of my allowance on Beatles tapes, reading books about them, and talking about them nonstop, to the annoyance of my family. I started playing guitar soon after that, which became a way of releasing all of that energy.”

Music occupies the majority of his life. Whether as a performer or educator, Collier spends a significant portion of his day engaging in music, surrounding himself with sound everywhere.

“The way I listen has changed as I’ve gotten older, though,” he said. “As a teenager I used to have music on constantly — in my car, in my room, while walking, while working, while sleeping. Now, because I work with music so much day to day, I find I don’t listen purely for enjoyment as often. And it’s neither a good nor a bad thing. There are times when my brain just needs a break from it.”

His newest release is a beautiful work of art, lithe and restrained. Collier said he believes “the pieces are simple from a compositional perspective. Each piece is based on one or two ideas or processes that unfold through the course of the piece.”

You can catch him Friday, June 24 with Shutaro Noguchi and Connor Waldman at Dreamland.