Now that it looks like Perry is dropping out, it looks safe to post this footage of Rick Perry playing the piano.



He's not exactly at the D. Magnus level, but pretty good, I'd say.

Cool! Didn't know he plays. Not that we can really tell much about how he plays with all the talk there but heck, it's okay.

And I wonder how many people know that there's a lot of piano in the Huntsman family. (I know he's still in it, but we could say he isn't really so this is fair game, isn't it....)

Here's Jon doing some pretty good jazz or pop, not sure which we should call it ("Go Johnny Go") -- at 8:14:




....and here's one of his daughters:



It's not how I'd play it but what the hey, she can play.

There's so much "reverb" in that video that I can't make much of a judgment about the playing.

Regards,

You sure you can't? I sure can -- lots.

Here are some ways (among many):

-- Rhythm, I think we'd agree, is an important sign of how someone is. (I think it's the very most important single sign, and usually pretty much a giveaway in itself.) And, even granting that the sound quality affects what we'd think of the rhythm, IMO one can almost always tell a lot about it anyway, and in this case I have no trouble telling.

-- We can always tell something about phrasing.

-- Even with the reverb and the youtube compression of dynamics, we can almost always tell something about the person's sense of dynamics and the dynamic range.

If you mean we can't tell "exactly," I'd agree. But it seems that what you're saying is beyond that.

Well, then; good for you!

It seems to be asumed that we know who Rick Perry is and what he is dropping out of (out of what he is dropping (?)).

OK -- but what about the other stuff, especially rhythm?

You really don't easily get a sense of a pianist from that?

(I have you a 'choice' of things, not just dynamics!)

He's a candidate for the republican nomination in the U.S. He hasn't dropped out, yet, but a lot of people thought he did when he said he was going to reassess his campaign after his dismal showing in the Iowa caucus.

You should call it rock and roll. But I wouldn't expect you to know that since you didn't even get the title of the song correct. It's an excerpt of Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry.

Huh -- it wasn't "Go Johnny Go"???
I'm (still) serious. I coulda sworn it was!


(edit) OK, Mr. Weisenheimer.
I took another listen -- it's what I said!
Most sincere apologies if that's not the correct exact title of the song.

Perry has also been the Governor of Texas for the past 11 years.

OK, how about now let's talk about if it's really impossible to tell that much about someone's playing when there's reverb....

yea, but please don't hold that against me.

gw

Getting us back to music.....

Here's someone who I wish would start coming to the amateur competitions:

....and here's someone who probably won't be entering the amateur competitions, nor running for office any more....

I understand. I lived in Dallas during the reigns of Clements, Richards and Bush.

The current Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

You know he's dead, yes?

Was he ever truly alive?

They say he's dead, alright.

During the day he sleeps in the dark, on soil from his native land...

Soil from Yorba Linda, California ?????

I'm a political junkie, Damon.

I thought Yorba Linda was a hamlet on a wooded mountainside in Transylvania.

I really don't know how you can be an American and not know the title of that song. Particularly an American your age.

Well - that makes two of us........I thought the title of that song was "Go Johnny Go"...... and I'm even older than Mark !!

As for Perry's piano skills - he'd better hang on to his day job.

Huntsman too.

OK, I'm not a real American.

Maybe we need a (non-political) thread dedicated to video clips of celebrities playing the piano -- people we don't normally think of as pianists.