Hello, everybody!

Here is this week's episode.

Haddorff Postcard No.8 with Bach snippets

And this week's musical number, which has nothing to do with this week's episode, really, is from Walt Disney's Mary Poppins, an instrumental rendering of the song "The Perfect Nanny," played pretty much note for note from the Mary Poppins Souvenir Song Album from 1963. WinsomeAllegretto's thread about "the first piano piece you remember hearing," caused me to dig out this book! I was drawn to this piece because the 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, and 7ths sound so darn neat in EBVT III. Plus, the tune is so darn cute! The Shermans were geniuses! This recording features my piano with no enhancement. Straight from the microphone to your ear! Well, maybe not that simple, but... here it is:

The Perfect Nanny Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman (Burbank, CA: Wonderland Music Co., 1963)

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Previous Haddorff Postcards:

Haddorff Postcard [No.1] with "Deep Purple"
Haddorff Postcard No.2 with "I Love Her"
Haddorff Postcard No.3 with "Yes, Sir! That's My Baby"
Haddorff Postcard No.4 with "Mistress Murphy's Chowder"
Haddorff Postcard No.5 with "All Alone"
Haddorff - (no postcard) with "He Wipes The Tear From Every Eye" played on the Haddorff
Haddorff Postcard No.6 with "Constantinople"
Haddorff Pictures (no postcard, yet)
Haddorff Postcard No.7 with a couple of Scriabin Preludes

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For more information about EBVT III, see grandpianoman's thread:

My Piano In EBVT III

Warm regards,
--Andy Strong

Postcard #8 is hilarious - brilliant - and so true !!

Our piano is located in the living room next to the front door. Last February, while I was "trying" to record a bunch of piano stuff over a period of several days, the phone kept ringing, door-to-door salespersons appeared out of nowhere, the neighbor's dogs barked incessantly, and birds chirped along to the music (loudly) in the large tree in our front yard. Then the wife would come home and ask how my day went......

You nailed it, Andy !!

The Haddorff sounds wonderful !!

Heh. I nearly posted my favorite line out of this postcard, but I caught myself before ruining it for others.

Carey, I understand. A few years ago I paid a professional producer to record me playing on my piano at home. Neighbors came to the door. The weekly NOISY trash pickup made it impossible to record for a short while. Etc. Etc. Argh! We eventually made it through, and with some deft editing a decent CD emerged from the whole thing.

Great, Andy! Funny, funny, funny!

It sums up my piano playing perfectly - it seems someone or something is always interrupting my playing, whether it's the telephone, neighbors, my girlfriend, or concerned listeners begging me to stop the pain.

I was waiting for the boy at the door to sarcastically ask you how long it would take to raise money for a piano with $2 donations heh heh!

Haddy seems a wonderful piano, as ever. I liked your Bach, by the way!

Yes, that is so true! Funny and true!
That's why my phone is usually off, and the batteries are out of the door chime...
Even worse, when I did a recording, something used to happen in the last couple of measures or so, never at the beginning...

Does anyone know where Canonie is? We haven't heard from him in two or three weeks! I am taking attendance!

You know how I like to reference other threads in my posts... Did any of you catch the joke in this episode related to this thread? (Please don't click if you haven't listened to the postcard, yet...)



Just wondering.

Andy, lovely Bach! Nice tempo, musical sense, melody lines, beautiful tone. I'm learning the first invention now, quite a challenge to bring up both melody lines smoothly.

BTW, very funny episode!

Hello!!!
Oh Andy Hahahahahaha! I think I appreciate your wonderful subtle humour (as distinct from your blatant humour, which is...ummm well...Funny!(mostly))

Listen to postcard before reading spoiler.You delivered your musical joke so carefully and perfectly, just subtle enough that one finally gets it by the end. Interesting that you guessed how much I would appreciate all the detail in this - how did you know? I will check your spoiler now and it may tell me. Thank you again!

PS I miss Out-Of-Tune-Haddie.... but then I am a little strange

Just read all the comments, and spoiler (didn't see the other thread before as I haven't been to pw much lately, as you so kindly noticed )

I think that posters have been so traumatized by local attacks of pianus interruptus that they were distracted from noticing how nicely put together this is. Me, I live in an unmarked flat behind a house. So I get no unsolicited interruptions - none! it is lovely Your editing gets better and better Andy. Well done.

Canonie!!! You are back! See?!?! That is why I missed you! You get all my jokes!

I miss out-of-tune Haddie, too. She was so right in so many ways! I'm glad I have the recordings of her, like a sonic photograph.

Thanks for listening, everybody!

carey and ChrisKeys, you may have caught this, but if you listen carefully in the background, the first time the salesperson is at the door, you can hear a plane flying over. The second time he is there (it is brief) there is a motorcycle going by. When the little boy is at the door, my cat decided to meow. These were all unplanned, spontaneous background noises! Ha-ha-ha!

Mattardo and ChopinAddict, I had my wife read your comments because she could never understand why the phone is always unplugged from the wall when she gets home! And, Mattardo, why I get so wry when she starts singing along "doot-dee-doo!" when I am trying to practice!

Al-mahed, fortunately, you heard less than a page of each invention. If you had heard more, your opinion would be different. Due to "pianus interruptus" (thank you Canonie--I did not know it had a name, before...), I have not been able to learn the rest of each piece...

"pianus interruptus" ---- what a hoot !!!

A stupid question
At 3.38 what piece are you playing?

I think that is Debussy's Doorbell Prelude, more commonly known as Clair De Lune.

Oops, at 3.38 the piece is actually Bach Invention no. 14 The Doorchimes (this nickname was added many years later and is looked down on by serious pianists)

As Canonie has expressed, yes, at 3:38 or so, it is Bach Invention no. 14. Sorry Baracat, it was stupid of me to not list the tunes somewhere in the introduction. No one should be expected to know everything in the entire universe from all time! In fact, I didn't even know it was no. 14 until Canonie said so, then I had to go look at the others to find out what they were. I usually just open the book and start playing! So, here they are, in the order that they appear:

Bach's "Two-Part Inventions," nos. 1, 3, 14; Debussy's "Clair de Lune;" and, Bach's "Two-Part Inventions," no. 4.

I would also like to say that "The Perfect Nanny," by the Shermans, is a perfect composition and needed no improvement, as the Beethoven that I posted earlier this year, did. (hee-hee-hee)

Thank you two
Now I have to search for this piece

Sorry to bump this thread, but there is more comedy to be had! And, it fits so perfectly with ChopinAddict's observation, that I just had to post it!

I was deep in concentration recording a Chopin prelude recently, when my wife walked through the door with an armload of groceries and said...

http://www.box.net/shared/gavkx06ak8

--Andy

Andy -

I listened three times - and couldn't understand exactly what your wife said....but perhaps that wasn't the point of your post.

Of course - I can relate.

LOL..."the refrigerator's off"..........;)

So - was it ??????

Yes. The refrigerator is right around the corner from the piano. It's noisy! I unplug it. Ha-ha! The last thing in the world the grocery lady was expecting to find, putting away fresh groceries, was a dormant refrigerator. The comment came right after she noticed that the phone was unplugged.

I usually have the house back in order before she comes home!

That's utterly hilarious. I couldn't figure out exactly what she was saying, but I could tell she was quite surprised.

Quite surprised and also a little annoyed...

True confessions, now: the subtext here is, "Why aren't you out of the house earning money?!?"

I just discovered your "Radio Show Postcards" Andy - very clever - most enjoyable, I've been chuckling away for a good while now!

Andy,
Just pure enjoyment. What fun. Thank you for sharing your most excellent sense of humor. You got it goin', man.

Glen