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Where is the recording?

Yeah about that... Lets just say the wifey's needs some more "lessons" on how to get that done...

Oh. . . I thought Undone's post meant you had done another recital recording. Be sure to let me know when it's ready. Your last one was really good

W

Thanks, it was my 2nd "real life" Recital. I will be submitting "Wonderland" for the May online Recital so I'll get a good recording of if soon hopefully. Piano's getting a tune-up tomorrow (woot!)

Oh, you use an acoustic? I see now why midi isn't an option for you and instead must use Zoom. That's really cool. What piece did you play for your real life recital?

Yep picked up a Zoom when I realized the "tinny" sound of my previous online recital was due to MIDI. I played Wonderland in person and I'm going to try to get a nice recording of it for the May Recital..

Here's my performance of Swinging Sevenths:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_upLy8vacc

To be honest, I did not put much time in learning this. I started on it last Thursday but have spent most of these past days working on 10.3 and doing scale work. After 10.3, this song just felt "dull" but whatever, I guess I now have my introduction to the 7th cords

W

Waltz – Swinging Sevenths is sounding good. It’s really not a bad little piece, but I know what you mean about working on this after 10.3.

Undone

Waltz - good technical execution of "Swinging Seventh" (which is actually a neat little swingin', jazzy piece) - however, you might want to consider slowing it down just a little and putting a little more "swingin'" feeling into it - for comparison & contrast check out my version on page 1 or that of Z32 there also, which is even slower than mine - while this piece is, technically, not as demanding as the Chopin Etude it has it's own requirements in terms of the feeling that's put into it's execution and should be given the fair amount of study time that it deserves.

Likewise, your technical execution of the Chopin Etude was very good, but as mentioned by Undone I think you might want to consider slowing that one down too and adding some romantic expressiveness to your performance.

All of these things will come with time, practice and experience, but overall a very good job on both pieces.

Looking forward to some of you guys getting to Book 3 soon!

Regards, JF

TTigg – Looking forward to hearing your recording in the upcoming recital. If your wife had managed to get a good recording of you playing this at the live recital and you submitted this to the ABF recital, we’d have to come up with a new medal for “double duty recital”.

Undone

Hi all!

What's everyone working on this week??

Waltz - I went to try and watch your videos, but YouTube isn't cooperating with me this morning. I'll have to try again this afternoon - looking forward to hearing, looks like you've gotten some good feedback!

Just wanted to pop in and say hello as I haven't posted on the Alfred's threads in a long while. Let me know if I can help or answer any questions!!

Best,

Kim

Hi all. I just started book 2, finished Down in the valley. It was pretty easy. Started the Bridal Chorus, Again pretty easy. Spending alot of time working on my recital piece. Looks like I might make it by May 14th.

"ello there" Currently finishing up on "Marriage of Figaro" (middle measure with fast string of notes if not hand friendly) and "Theme from Festive Rhondu" then (drum roll) it's finishing the book #2 with Canon in D .

Wow, so many responses!

Undone, thanks for the feedback. It does have a relaxed feel and I remember (from when I read this thread from start to finish when I first joined) that previous AB2 posters generally liked playing this; maybe I should have been fairer. . .

JF, hey, I’m glad you gave me your input! I agree with what you said in every regard and certainly have been working on playing 10.3 with the accents, dynamics, and tempo for which it is meant. Swinging Sevenths wasn’t that easy and there are lessons to be learned here. I understand, and will give it more practice time until I feel it can be put to rest. I will make another recording of 10.3 soon and this time I hope it will have the romantic (or, for me, suppressed melancholic) feel it should have. I am still battling keeping the crescendo in control.

Kim, I’m so happy you’re interested in watching my vids! They aren’t great but I’m still a beginner. Let me know what you think and I will always appreciate advice and input.

Wj3, I’ll be sure to listen to both your and Ttigg’s performances in the May recital. Keep working hard

W

As an additional question: what exactly is the difference between "swing" and "blues"? Silly question, I know, but, to be honest, I don't know what defines each.

Waltz, blues (other than a feeling/performance style) is somewhat defined by the "blue note" in the scale that is used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_note

Swing is more rhythmic type change.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_(genre)


At least that's my understanding...

Thanks Kenny. My only knowledge of swing was the Long-Short pattern. . .

I also think perhaps I also misrepresented what JF meant by "romantic". I original assumed he meant the common use of the term. However, perhaps he meant the romantic style as by the "romantic era" in classical music of which Chopin was certainly a part. Sorry if I made that error in interpretation of your post.

Whitney Houston once implied that in this age, while it may be impossible to fully empathize with others, one can always empathize with oneself.

I started Polovetsian Dances tonight. The sheet music looks simple but my first attempts at playing it indicate it may be slightly harder than it looks. I'm "rolling" the LH chords (as said was optional). It also said something like "pedal as you wish". What did everyone else do here, Undone, JF, Ttigg?

Waltz - It's been awhile since I played/recorded this (again, see pg. 1) but just from looking at the music I would say try pedaling on the 1st beat of each measure & holding it thru the measure, since the LH chords appear to change consistently at these points - you may or may not like the way this sounds, especially since you're rolling the chords, but give it a test run - I didn't roll the chords, and actually (from my notes on the sheet music) added some extra chord accompaniment by breaking up the whole note chords in measures 3,7,8,11,15,19,23 & 27 into 1 half note chord and 2 quarter note chords for a slightly "denser" or more complex sound - I also changed the tempo from Moderato down to Andante (personal preference).

Have fun with this gorgeous piece (you might want to go to YouTube and search for various versions of the popular song "Stranger in Paradise" adapted from the "Dances" - this is absolutely one of the most beautiful songs ever derived from a classical piece (just like the song "No Other Love" adapted from Chopin's 10/3 that I linked to above).

Regards, JF