Thanks, jazzwe.

"I'd Have Killed Kobalevsky if He Weren't Already Dead!"

Yes, although I misspelled Kabalevsky who I did want to kill after being forced to play some of his more insipid pieces although when I finally learned to play them right they weren't bad. My problem is trying to read after playing (mostly) guitar by ear for many years and being able to sing almost anything with very little effort.

Lots of great music in the Piano Bar and it's only the 6th!

JohnFrank, your arrangement of "Sorrento" was very pretty. I love those Italian ballads, probably as a result of my accordion days.

Peyton, I can see why you like Gillian Welch's songs; they're very similar in tone to some of your compositions--wistful and sad. I enjoyed this greatly. Your Schumann was beautifully played, too, but I'm biased toward your vocal work.

Balladeer, if you had asked me ahead of time whether a jazzy arrangement of Danny Boy could work, I would've been dubious... but your rendition would prove me wrong. I really liked it. You could get free drinks for life by playing this in any Irish pub.

LisztAddict, when I tried to access your piece, the playback seemed to be at a way accelerated tempo. Is is just me or has anybody else had the same experience?

ten left thumbs, that's a perfect summer piece! It made me wish I was reclining in a beach chair sipping a frothy tropical drink with a little umbrella in it.

Thanks Monica. Yea, Gillian can come up with some pretty wistful songs. I was thinking of trying her "Revelator" but I'll be damned if I understand the lyrics.

Monica ... Thank you. I am trying to learn how to 'help my playing grow up' by adding some colors and textures via study with Sudnow. Though I've many miles to go, your observation tells me that I'm having at least a little success. Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment.

Balladeer

riddler: I always enjoy your Band in a Box arrangements... they sound so polished and professional. And if I had written a song as beautiful as Coltrane's, I wouldn't let a little thing like a divorce get in the way of playing it.

Jazzwee: another great jazz piece in the piano bar! I just loved that delicate arpeggio you used to end your arrangement.

Elssa: What a terrific, relaxing arrangement with the bossa nova rhythm and wave sounds! They sure sounded like real waves to me.

angelojf: "Norwegian wood" is my all-time favorite Beatles song, and I liked your take on it.

Nicole: Welcome to the forum! What a great way to introduce yourself. I'm impressed by both your composing AND playing skills. I agree with jazzwee; there was very much a flavor of Russian folk music in it.

Here's my contribution for July: "Golden Fly 4" by Alessandra Celletti. It's a very simple piece, but very pretty in its simplicity. A while back Ed Weiss had a thread where he proposed that one could compose beautiful pieces with only two chords. The thread got rather heated and ended up locked, but his point was a good one... and this piece I'm playing consists of a repetitive melody line played over two, and only two, chords. But I think it is almost mesmerizing. (At least, it is when Celletti plays it!) I also discovered that that "simple" doesn't necessarily mean "easy" to play. I tried hard to duplicate the rubato she uses while playing this, not entirely successfully, and drawing out the melody voice on the second go-around was harder than it appeared.

p.s. I recorded this during a rare hour when I had the house to myself, so I didn't bother to wait until my hair had dried...

Oh, nice, Monica - very soothing. I like the camera angle a lot - did you hang it from the stair railing or something?

Cathy

Monica, I listened first before reading what you had to say and thought right off that I liked the Rubato. It is a very meditative, contemplative piece. I'll second jotur's question... where did you put the camera? I like the angle.

Angelojf, nice job on a great song.

Monica, this piece is a new one to me. Nice piece and your rubato and phrasing make it even more so. You look really relaxed playing that, by the way.

Thanks, everybody! As for the camera angle, what I did was to make our tripod as tall as it would go, and then I balanced the whole thing precariously with two legs on our ottoman and one on the chair. That puts the Flip so high I can't see out of it and have to guess that I'm pointing it at the right angle, and as you can tell, I didn't guess accurately as I cut off the bottom end of the keyboard.

It's a pain in the neck to set it up that way, but it does give the best angle I've discovered in several attempts, so I may keep using it.

Hi Monica, saw this on Youtube yesteday so I got to watch it twice. Lovely piece and you look so serious playing it.

Monica ....

I thoroughly enjoyed that - as I do all of your playing.

Balladeer

Nicole - It's a real achievement to write and play your own work! What on earth was going on in the video? And was that a heavily pregnant man I just saw?

Monica - That was very enjoyable. Sometimes it's great to see what musicality you can get out of very simple ideas.

Thanks ten!

Guess you have never been to San Francisco.

Remarkably, in that clip, everyone was at least partially clothed. That is the annual Bay to Breakers "Race" in which, except at the start, very few race but rather meander in various stages of intoxication and dress.

Amazingly enough, I haven't.

Thanks for the explanation!

Thanks, Monica! Here's another one where I used the waves/seashore sound:

EBB TIDE
http://www.box.net/shared/3y1klmja9q


I really enjoyed your piece/playing! I'm just trying to learn to make videos now also, bought a microphone stand (only $20.00) and mini-tripod to tape onto it and am fiddling around with Windows Movie Maker as well...very difficult to get the angle just right, as you say!

ooo - I like the organ Very nice, Elssa -

Cathy

That was wonderfully relaxing, Elssa.

How did the Piano Bar thread fall to page 2!?!

Very entertaining stuff everyone. Finally catching up on the forum today and practicing a bit.

A better recording than the previous one of Traumerei. Less cat interference.

Schumann, Traumerei

That was beautiful, HomeInMyShoes! Although I still think the cat added a homey touch.

Nicole - interesting piece you composed, and you played it well. Hope you continue to participate.

Monica - you are right - that is downright mesmerizing. It has enough variety to maintain interest, but enough repetition to induce a relaxed state of mind. So, OK, just start issuing orders, I'll do whatever you command!

Elssa - great job on a song I've always liked! Nice orchestration. Great ending!

HomeInMyShoes - exquisite! You play with wonderful expression.

Ed

Thanks, Riddler! I'm always trying to come up with new endings.


This is a duet that I played with my friend, Stella, recently. We didn't rehearse it or use an arrangement, so there are some boo-boos, but we had a lot fun. (I'm on the left, trying to do the boogie rhythm with the left hand):

Alley Cat Duet
http://www.box.net/shared/rhzm8ngem5

BTW, I'm just learning how to use these editing programs, Windows Movie Maker and VideoSpin, and have had a few glitches with them. I used VideoSpin for this video, and the only problem is that The Player freezes up, so I can't play it back and review it before it is saved (as .wmv). If anyone uses the VideoSpin or Windows Movie Maker, I would sure appreciate advice on how to fix this problem. Thanks.

Traumerei, recorded with an H4.

http://www.roomp3.com/mp3-17774-Toma-Traumerei.html

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to post up the same piece as HomeInMyShoes. My apologies! Feel free to ignore mine, I'll put it up in another month.

The day I can't learn things from someone else playing something I've worked on or am working on is the day I should stop playing. That was quite nice Toman and no apologies necessary.

That was a really fun duet Elssa.

Toman, I couldn't get any or your pieces to play. Maybe it's not Mac friendly?

^Not sure what the problem is Peyton. I found that the file hosting site was a bit of a popup monster (not for Mozilla, but looked a bit plaguey for Explorer.)

Well, I got an okay recording of the song I wanted for the next recital. So you guys get the backup plan. Here's Jean-Michel Jarre's Equinoxe Part III. Another one of those songs that I've been playing for what seems like forever.

Jean-Michel Jarre - Equinoxe Part III

very nice!!!

Hi Peyton,
Very beatuifully played. The sheet music from Schuman Chopin Carnaval Opus 9 is hard to find. Would you please tell me where you purchased it, did you buy the entire Carnaval Opus 9, or just the Chopin Carnaval. On another subject, are you going to the piano party in Cape Cod? Sounds like a nice weekend with lots of people who love the piano.
Dot