It looks like nobody opened this thread yet.

I will post the video of Fur Elise, my recording is a few months old. It's a really funny piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETrd1U22q08&feature=channel_page

GreenRain - excellent rendition of an always enjoyable classic piece - what piano and/or recording set up did you use to get that rather unique sound quality?

Regards, JF

My piano is Petrof upright. Not the best piano one could have, but much better than digital piano.

I recorded with digital camera.

I'm glad you enjoyed.

The great Russian composer Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1913) excelled in many diverse forms of music from the Piano Concerto to Symphonies to Opera to Ballet Suites.

He was an absolute master of melody and the many short, but often strikingly dramatic and beautiful pieces that comprise his Ballet Suites ("Swan Lake". "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Nutcracker") are among the most gorgeous ever composed.

Here is a shortened and simplified version of one of his most famous and popular pieces from "Swan Lake" - this is a piano transcription that appears as a study piece in Alfred 3 - I've entended the ending slightly to include a little more of the melody in the LH that first appears in the RH in the beginning:


Theme from "Swan Lake"

Regards, and enjoy! JF

Wow, that was really nice!

I love how well you can control those repeating chords. I also liked that left hand can be heard and at the same time you bringed out the melody in right. I really dislike when some pianists play left hand so silently that you can't hear it at all. Will you attend this recital?
I would love to hear more...

BTW: How long have you been playing?

Very nice start to May. I enjoyed both of those. JF I agree with Piano Rain on the control. I liked the ending.
Green Rain I had to get my headphones to hear the acoustical value of your Petrof. I think your recording overloaded my lap top speakers. Anyway it was way better through my headphones. Good job.

I felt guilty for skipping the piano bar last month to prepare for the recital #14. This month I participate with a piece I wrote myself. This my first attempt at creating something myself so please be nice, don't laugh. Oh and no chuckles either, I can hear it

Here is Memories

Enjoy

Nice, everyone. No laughing from here, TrueBeginner - really well done.

Cathy

TrueBeginner - very nice effort on your lovely musical creation - some beautiful, slightly dark and throbbing theme(s) running thru the piece - sounds like music from some bittersweet love story in a foriegn film that takes place on the Greek Isles - tightened up a bit and with suitably sophisticated lyrics it could be a big hit for, say, Andrea Bocelli - fine performance too!

Regards, JF

True beginner, no laughing or chuckling. That was absolutely beautiful!

My early submission for May comes with a question. Okay, I've been working like a demon on Schumann Opus 15 (Kinderszenen) for a month now. I'm not the quickest learner so it'll be at least another few months before I'm anywhere on the first 8 which is my real goal. I think 9 is beyond me and I don't think I'll manage the 10, 11, 12 trio of doom for a bit.

Okay, question. With Traumerei (No. 7) how does one handle the 12th with the tied C in the middle of it in the last bar? I can see how the melodies work around it, but I can't play a 12th and definitely not with a note in the middle of it.

Anyway, Traumerei, with too many errors and counting issues in it. I wish I could have done video for it, so you could have seen my cat jump over my shoulder to check out the open window and the birds outside multiple times. It's only three minutes with my poor pace and she went back and forth four times. I swear you can hear my eyes rolling at one point. It needs a lot of work and next time the cat is going outside.

@TrueBeginner: very nice. Some really nice parts as mentioned previously.
@John Frank: agreed on Tchaikovsky being a master of short themes. Thanks for reminding me of other things I should I work on.
@GreenRain: what's so funny?

Impressive start to the month, especially since it's recital submission time.

Very contemplative Traumerei, Home in My Shoes.

Cathy

GreenRain, excellent job on Fur Elise - steady and disciplined, but with real expression.

John Frank, nice work on Swan Lake, especially where the melody is in left hand and you are keeping steady accompaniment with your right hand.

TrueBeginner, beautiful, creative composition, and so well played! Nice peaceful mood. It's beyond time for you to change your name!

Home in My Shoes, beautiful expression on Traumerei, nicely done. We have a cat that loves to jump on the keyboard and strut around on it, but only when I am recording!

My piece this month is A Minor Blues. This is a standard 12-bar blues form in a minor key. I am playing the piano, but the bass and drums are computer-generated. I am playing from a lead sheet, so everything is improvised except for the basic tune.

http://www.box.net/shared/7njl6mfap9

Riddler -

Cathy

There is a fabulous walking base line in there that I would like to hear a little more pronounced. This is really good! If I was in New O I would order another huricane and sit back... head bobbing and toe tapping...somebody turn up the volume please!

I entered this one into the may recital. It's a song by Gillian Welch called Tear My Stillhouse Down. Something to sing after one too many Jack Daniels....

Riddler... Great Aminor blues!! When you say the bass is "computer generated" does that mean you are not playing it? If so..How do you do that?

homeinmyshoes... timing and mistakes be damned... you play it with feeling and a nice job too. (that first big mistake almost sounds like an intentional one...gives it a jazzy feel for a few seconds... Keep working it. It's a great one to have under your belt.

Truebeginner- OK, I thought it was going to be the moonlight sonata for a second but you took off with it. It has a very dreamlike feel to it. I especially like the "off notes" or what ever you call them in the middle.

Greenrain- one of the better versions of Fur Elise that I've heard in a while.

Frank- I love that melody too. Nice job.

Riddler - I really like the Blues and I really like stuff in minor keys, so I guess you can guess how I feel about your "A Minor Blues" piece - excellent job! - you've really got a really good feel for the Blues and how it should sound - more please!

Peyton - fine "bluesy" number yourself - good effort on both the vocal and the accompaniment - enjoyed that a lot too! However, one suggestion: the piano seems to dominate with your vocal slightly in the background - you might want to consider reversing this (unless this was your specific intention for special effect) - perhaps get a little closer to the mic? But, an excellent job overall!

Regards, JF

Thanks, When mixing I went back and forth on that, making the vocal more prominent/less prominent (easy to do since I had the vocal and piano on separate tracks). I decided since it was a piano forum to put the piano up front. Now, like you, I'm thinking I should have given more to the vocal. One of these days I'm going to get it right!!

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your positive comment. I need that to boost my confidence I just had some time to listen to all the other submissions so far to the piano bar and I love them all

GreenRain, I wish I can play at your level. The sound does not do justice to your playing (maybe you could use Audacity to filter out some noise & some high resonnance). And I love all the pictures you put in your videos.

JF, I especially like the ending where the left hand plays melody that you added, it makes it feel richer like adding another voice to the piece. My daughter loves SwanLake after she watched the barbie movie, so she got the 4 hands version of it and asked me to play duet with her. I asked her to give me time as I could not sight read to save my life, while she could play almost up to the tempo after her fourth tries

HomeInMyShoes, I love the dynamics in your Traumerei interpretation. This piece is easy to overplay and yours was just simple and gave me a dreamy feeling. I remember when I was a child I played those popular classics on guitar, dreaming one day I could play them on piano. Now that I am able to learn piano, I no longer have the determination and patience for classical musics.

Riddler, I am always a fan of your "band". Your music is really the definition of piano bar.

Peyton, I admire people who can play and sing at the same time. I already struggle with playing left hand, right hand, pedals, couting tempo...don't mention adding another element to worry about.

TB

Peyton - great fun. That was one of my first tunes back when I was learning 3 chords in the key of G on a guitar (which is all the further I ever got on a guitar). I always like your repertoire

Cathy

Could someone please explain the difference between a Piano Bar and a Recital?

Some outstanding pieces so far this month. I really enjoy the variety of genres being performed.

Peyton - I'm a big Gillian Welch fan and your rendition of this tune is quite nice.

John Frank - Beautifully done!

Riddler - This is a cool piece. Did you fire your vibes player or did he/she have the night off?

HomeInMyShoes - I would have liked to have seen a video also, but your playing is very good as is the quality of the audio transcription.

GreenRain - As I said in my YouTube comment - your playing is terrific and I love the sound of your piano.

TrueBeginner - You are really getting good!

The piano bars happen every month, whenever someone decides to start one and posts a recording in a thread they title "[name of month] piano bar." They can be less formal, people post works-in-progress, experimental stuff, whatever.

Which is not to say that people don't post the same in the recitals - I do . The recitals were started, in my understanding, as a way of recording one's own "state of the art" at a given time, so one could look back in the future and say "my how I've grown." I think originally the recitals were the only avenue for sharing one's actual playing, and then as the technology became more familiar and available the piano bars were started as another way to share our music.

The way people approach the pieces they post in piano bars and recitals is as individual as the people - kind of the norm in the ABF I usually play backing for other instruments, so once a quarter is about what I can do for solo pieces, and they tend to not be as polished as what some others do, tho they're a stretch for me. But some people play pieces they've spent some time polishing, or have had as a goal for awhile.

Bottom line - it's all about sharing our music. There's downloadable zip files of the recitals and many folks put them on their ipods forever There's red dot medals for recitals, which I always hang on my office door. You can put medals in your signature for every recital in which you've played. You usually get a pretty good amount of feedback, tho there's not usually a big amount of technical feedback (there might be some). You can have a glass of wine at intermission

There are links to previous recitals in the Important Topics sticky at the top of the ABF forum if you'd like to hear the variety. Lots of great stuff.

Hope that helps.

Cathy

Here is my May Piano Bar submission. This is a piano/voice cover of the 1968 Paul Simon classic The Boxer.

Well done Bill.

I think that's my favourite you've done so far Bill. And I thought I couldn't listen to Paul Simon after way too much Simon and Garfunkle on family car trips.

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone. I'll get a better version at some point, but it's in the mix of the n things I'm constantly working on, although it's getting more attention than a lot of stuff.

I'm trying my best not to click on Peyton's so I can hear it in the recital. MUST NOT CLICK...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXqhgjVxZQk

Recital I played with a friend of mine.

Matt

Great fun, all you piano/voice submittals.

Cathy

Hey everyone! It's been a while. Been super busy. Here's a special song I wrote for my mom and ALL mothers for this upcoming Mother's Day!! Lemme know what you think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Mw97IiMGI&fmt=18

Phil

Matt - very nice cover! Your playing complements your friend's excellent vocal.

Matt, Excellent playing! Wish to hell I could play half as well as you.

Phil, beautiful performance! Great playing, great song, really nice singing and... great recording quality. Those added strings work well too. Mom will be happy!

Peyton, Tear My Stillhouse Down was lots of fun. I envy you and Bill for being able to play so well and sing at the same time. You guys can chew gum and walk at the same time!

Bill, see above. The Boxer brought back old times, indeed.

Matt, great job accompanying the vocalist. Was that your own arrangement?

Phil, very good, very professional. Of course it really doesn't matter at all what we think - she'll remember this till the day she dies! (I know this from personal experience!)

Cathy, Carl, Peyton, John, TB, Bill, thanks for listening.

After reading the comments I realized that in this case I did not describe my backing track properly. Normally I use Band In A Box software to provide the bass and drums, and sometimes a soloist too (e.g., vibes or trumpet). To use Band In A Box, you type in the chords and tempo, select an accompaniment style and a soloist style, then click on PLAY. It does the rest. That's what I mean when I say that everything but the piano is computer-generated. In this particular case, however, I used a backing track provided by my teacher. I think he wrote it (note-by-note) in Finale software, but provided it to me as an MP3 file. He might have played the bass solo on a keyboard and recorded it in Finale - I'm not sure. At any rate, in this case the backing was not computer generated in the sense that I usually say that.

Of course, there's no getting away from computers these days: I was playing that MP3 file on my computer!

Ed

I must say, you all truly inspire me!

And make me slightly jealous

Bill - nice cover of the Simon tune - excellennt accompaniment and enthusiastic singing as always.

Matt - fine accompaniment - very polished - thanks for sharing.

Phil - outstanding as usual and as we've all come to expect - very entertaining - but just out of curiosity since you're so good and an opinion from you for a change would definitely carry some weight what did you think of everyone else's pieces so far this month?

Regards, JF

Wow some very good songs in here for this month.
I enjoyed listening to every one.

Here's my contribution; another original

Someday mp3

Score


.

Joe - This is a very nice tune played with wonderful touch and emotion. Thanks for posting this gem.

Very nice indeed!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zizmvmodvih

Rach prelude 32/10
Work in progress... including mistakes, like missing the LH 10th.
Except for the cadenza I haven't really started with the rest of the piece yet. Hope I'll have time for some serious practicing sessions soon.

Joe - lovely selection very well played - thanks!

Regards, JF

Dittos. Very melodious. Builds up nicely.

Joe, great tune! And beautifully played, too. The modulation really adds a lot. You should write some lyrics!

Babama, that was terrific! How I would love to be able to play a few Rach preludes! Keep working, I want to hear the rest of it.

Ed

babama - very nice. I'll have to admit that I know very little about Rachmaninov and have always had the impression they were super fast. So this was a nice surprise - some of the bombast I thought would be there, but such a nice build up to it.

Cathy

Joe - very pretty piece.

Cathy

Molto,

If you have recording capability, please feel free to join in. In the piano bar, there are no rules, and no deadlines, and if there is a mistake in your recording, don't sweat it, because there are no STERN AND DEMANDING TASKMASTERS strutting back and forth, threatening to rap our knuckles (as John Frank likes to do in the recitals, though I must say I think it's all hot air and he has probably never rapped a single knuckle).

Ed

Hokay, I felt so despaired after my recital piece that I re-recorded the piece I did for the recital a year ago. It swings more now. So here's It Had To Be You:

http://www.box.net/shared/svhl6rzih5

Cathy

Ed - I "resemble" that remark - I have neither strutted nor threatened to "rap knuckles" (kick butt maybe, but certainly not rap knuckles ) - I have always been throughly encouraging to all participants in both venues and the absolute epitome of gracious accomodation and the purveyor of only complimentary submittal reviews.

For example, I have only had good things to say about all of your recorded selections (a policy which, however, could be subject to serious reconsideration in the future )

Regards, JF

Jotur - I love the intro - did you write it? You are right - it really swings! Nice.

This was my first time to listen to a "bar" on this forum. I'm really impressed. Thanks everyone for being so willing to share. It sure makes everyone seem more personal. What a great group.

THIS IS MY FIRST POST! be kind...
I hope this works...

[email:http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1&vi...isp=attd&zw]http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1&vi...isp=attd&zw[/email]

Bill, thanks. The intro is the verse - I got the whole arrangement from Sheet Music Magazine and they usually publish the original for-the-public sheet music like my mama used to have

Some friends of mine and I were playing old swing tunes together and the fiddler brought The Song is Ended But the Melody Lingers On, which at the time I'd never heard. But it happened that the lastest issue I had of SMM had it. So I got it out and we played together. Something was - horribly wrong. After some discussion we discovered that I was not only playing the verse first, which he had never heard, but I was playing in 3/4 and he was playing in 4/4. So we compromised and now we play the verse in 3/4 as an intro, and then fly into the chorus in really up-beat 2/4 Mills Brothers style. It's a fun arrangement.

Cathy

enfrancais: I think you'll have to upload the file to a file service like www.yousendit.com. It's free. The google email thing won't work I don't think.

I'm signed up, but I'm not sure where I would send the file.
Sorry, this is slightly OT

Send it to yourself, or you can email it to me. When you send it, it will give you a link on the website. You can then post that link here for others to retrieve the file.

Let's try this:

[email:https://rcpt.yousendit.com/686922496/6a9bb447e021235341e218b78486bf8f]https://rcpt.yousendit.com/686922496/6a9bb447e021235341e218b78486bf8f[/email]

and then you click the orange button on the right and then you open it...right?

Thanks for bearing with me here!

enfrancais - I edited out the "email" brackets at the beginning and end of your link and it works:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/686922496/6a9bb447e021235341e218b78486bf8f

When you want the link inside your post you only need the web address. But the site works fine - you're right, once we get there by clicking on the above link, we click on the orange button.

Nice Spanish Dance - quite sprightly! Congratulations on your entry into the wonderful world of piano bars -

Cathy

For a minute there I was sure you were gonna say you compromised and played it in 3.5/4!

Sound great. I was not familiar with the verse, but I liked it. The whole song has a good swing feel.

Ed

Well, OK, upon further consideration, and in light of umbrage taken, and fearing retaliation (perhaps going so far as to take me off of his Christmas card list), I retract my statement above, so as to not point the finger of blame at a certain party, and restate it as follows:

... In the piano bar, there are no rules, and no deadlines, and if there is a mistake in your recording, don't sweat it, because there are no STERN AND DEMANDING TASKMASTERS strutting back and forth, threatening to rap our knuckles (as A CERTAIN UNAMED PARTY likes to do in the recitals, though I must say I think it's all hot air and John Frank has probably never rapped a single knuckle).

Hope that's better!

Ed

enfrançais,

Nice work on that piece, especially in the left hand near the end - I always find it difficult to play anything but chords in my left hand. (Gotta practice some Hanon!) Glad to see you overcame the file transmission problems.

Ed

Riddler;
Thanks for the props! Truth be told, that was the 2nd take on the ending. It seems the left hand has a mind of its own.

Your A Minor Blues was fantastic! Especially since I can't improvise to save my life.

Hmm...sounds like a challenge to me. See you Monday

I have been extremely busy at work the last few days, but I managed to listen to everything submitted thus far. Those who know my musical tastes will not be surprised to learn that I liked Cathy's submission the best, but they are all terrifically enjoyable to listen to - even Peyton's drunken wailing. Oh, wait -- you said it was something to sing after too much whiskey, not that you'd already had too much. Oh, well.

Wow, everyone sounds so great... tough acts to follow. JF: I really enjoyed your rendition of Swan Lake, very beautiful. Jotur: I have the original faded sheet music in my small family collection (mom used to play accordian and grandma the electric organ) for "It Had to be You", and you played it so well - you inspired me to try to play it now!

My recording below is a song I heard on an oldies station in the past with a recording by Roger Williams, and I just made up my own by-ear arrangement of it.

TILL
http://www.box.net/shared/f0kv2x99e3

Next time I'm really drinking before I play!! Look out.

Elssa, you're the original one-lady band. I haven't heard that song for a long while, it dredged up memories. Nice modulation there near the end, adds some drama.

I'm not sure, but I thought I heard Peyton volunteer to buy the house a round next month.

Thanks, Peyton.

Ed

Thanks, Riddler. I'm having fun modulating into different keys lately (Rosa's site is a big help with that). http://www.forum.learnpianowithrosa.com/

Now if only I could learn to improvise the way you do (or anywhere close to it). I'm working on "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", but as usual get stuck with the improvising. Any tips much appreciated.

I did not do a recital piece, but I decided to learn the theme from the 1978 horror flick "Halloween" and submit it to the May piano bar instead. I am still a beginner (have been playing less than a year), so it's not terribly complicated:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=617BFhthQeU

Thanks for watching/listening!

W

Gave me the "chills"

Haha, thanks

Waltz - that was fun

Cathy

Elssa - that was really lush - well done.

Thanks TX-Dennis - it seems to me that anyone but me would put their experiments in the piano bar and their good stuff in the recital, but - the recital is what inspires me. So maybe a year from now you all will hear a good improvisation of San Antonio Rose

Cathy

Thanks Cathy

Chopin Mazurka op.24 no.2 in C Major

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q33TiGK4A9A

Elssa, thanks for the compliment! Have you seen this list of improvising tips?

http://www.banjohangout.org/lessons/files/jazz_tips.rtf

Quite good, I'd say.

Ed

Elssa - Very nice. I love the "huge" ending. You produce a lot of sound in your recordings. You are the Phil Spector of ABF (minus the violence).

Thanks for the great link, Riddler! This is going to be a big help.

Thanks so much, Bill! Yep, I'm one of those people that actually prefers the version with the strings added to "Long and Winding Road".

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=186

"Lennon said of Spector's work on Let It Be: "Phil was given the s--ttiest load of badly recorded s--t with a lousy feeling to it, and he made something of it."


I think "Till" is one of those very dramatic ballads (see lyrics), so thought I'd ham it up a bit at the end with the modulation, etc... Hope it wasn't too schmaltzy. I wish I could tone down the strings a bit, but that's the way they are with my keyboard.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/till-lyrics-jerry-vale.html

Well, I don't have any completely new songs to contribute but I do have fun breaking out the stuff I've learned and try to record them again from time to time. Mainly just to perform something I'm fairly comfortable with while dealing with the red dot.

I was also processed these recordings through the pianoteq trial version (they just released a linux native version which I'm using here.) My recital entry was processed in the windows version. I'm pretty sure pianoteq will be my next major piano related purchase. If anyone here has a digital and had tried the previous version (2) and has yet to mess with version 3 I think it should be tried again. The presets can now have different mic setups so you can get player perspectives, audience, an "ambient" setting with mics pretty far back and so on. Not to mention all the other settings that could be messed with.

Any errors heard are purely the result of player input.

I Due Fiumi (5/21/2009)

Stella Del Mattino (5/20/2009)

It's been ages since I posted here...
Congrats to you guys and gals for keep posting so much music since I know it's not easy to learn and record a new piece.

My contribution...
Album for the young N°26 - Schumann
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtFAnH8I2Pc

Thanks for all the pleasure to the ears I have found in this Piano Bar, and in the recital I have missed. I haven't been there for a long time now, and still have hard time trying to read the boards carefully, not to mention posting. My student's live has become too busy for my taste, as I haven't progressed a bit with my piano for the last few months. Even though, I wanted to share a little piece that caught my eye yesterday and which I decided to learn and record on the spot.



Cheers!