Monica? Isn't it that time again? I think the recital will open for submissions Feb 1st and go live Feb 15th. Don't panic!

Sam

Yikes. I know what I'm going to play ... but the longer I'm with the piece, the better I want it to be. Help!

A recital on this forum? Sounds exciting, how does it work?

Record your playing. Save or convert to an mp3 file (Some people also do videos, but that's an extra). Sometime around the 1st of the month the recital will open to submissions - Monica will post a link in this forum. Then on the 15th of the month it goes live and into history...

Sam

I'm feeling fairly comfortable with my piece and even managed to get through it well at a nearby piano store despite my 5 year old banging on the high notes then banging on a piano behind me. I just need to find time to record it now.

It should be easy enough to tell which specific piece this is because I will include the title.

Yay! I'm excited for this one. My piece has been "performance-ready" for a few weeks now, although I haven't played it under the influence of the red dot yet. But the problem is, I feel like Andy when he says, "the longer I'm with the piece, the better I want it to be." There always seems to be more to work on.

Just wait until you hear the recording! That always sends me back to the woodshed big-time.

It *is* that time, and I *am* panicking!!! Especially because of that other thread about your recital index suggesting that the migration to Frank's servers hasn't been finalized.

I've been swamped with all sorts of life stuff lately, so I'm not on top of things as much as I prefer. But I need to touch base with LaValse and see where we are with respect to the software. I'm having nightmares of it being February 1 but mahlzeit's program not working.

I am almost ready.....:) with yet another new (for me) genre!

Looking forward to facing down the red dot again.
I've been doing some little recordings here and there - it really does help take the sting out of a recital recording session!

Wow, this one snuck up huh? Only two weeks till early bird gates open. I could have sworn we just finished up the last one.

I have no idea what I'm going to play but that's okay as if I play something too much I just get sick of it anyway and end up moving on to something else.

I figure this time I'll work backwards from the submissions date. I'll practice a week or two prior to the submission date which will get me into my sweet spot of both enjoyment and playing abilities. After that, my attention starts to waver and when nobody's looking I'll start noodling around with new melodies so two weeks notice is perfect timing to get going.

Not sure what I'm doing at this point. I'm learning something new but I don't know if it can be performance ready by then . I'd like it to be but I haven't quite finished memorizing yet. Everything else I've got down good enough right now has been in the piano bar at some point in the past year.

........by the way Mr. Super-Hunky, sweetie.....have you forgotten something (again? ...still?)...sigh

I have my tune just about ready to record. I need to smooth out a couple places. We're going out of town for a week this weekend, so I will miss some time with the red dot. (Or blue, in my case). I'm determined to be in this time!

LBE, I thought the piano bar was for performances that weren't quite ready for a recital. So if you've worked on any of your pieces since then, couldn't you re-record it for the recital? I have to admit that I don't follow the piano bar, so I would have missed hearing your performances.

There are occasional submissions to the recitals of the exact recording already up in the piano bar so I'm not sure it's a big deal either.

Piano bar = anything goes. Just like in reality. If you're willing to get up and play....then do it.

The piano bar is a no stress way to *experiment and test* things out if you will. Recital quality performances are certainly welcomed as well as current works in progress that are less than perfect. It's all good. Almost anything goes. Relaxed and casual.

The quarterly recitals on the other hand are different. It's an entire process that covers the full gamut of human emotions all the way from a sense of accomplishment and fullfillment to an almost unbearable amount of stress and persecution due to a single flashing red LED light. Some people begin to realize that this flashing light is nothing more than pure evil and was designed by the devil himself.

I have personally found this to be true because even if I cover up the flashing light with a rag or something, just KNOWING it's on can produce the same ill effects on me and cause me to screw up.

I also have come to the conclusion that the only reason I haven't chucked my Zoom across the room yet is because it cost me a couple hundred bucks. If they were cheaper, I'd probably stock up and buy in bulk.

That would score a "L" in the patience category but a huge "W" in the instant feel-good dept!

If all goes according to plan I should have a completely empty house for a day next week so new or old something will get recorded or rerecorded before the recital. Not sure which song to aim for but I do know this time around will be something non-classical.

Uh oh. I haven't a clue what I can do for the recital. Ballade no 1 is nowhere near performance ready, and I don't have enough time to prepare something really nice. If I can find the time, maybe I'll do prelude in E minor, or maybe an excerpt from Ballade no 1, if that's allowed.

This one REALLY sneaked (or snuck, if you prefer) up on me!

All set here! I made my recording for coming recital already right after the previuos recital, because since the last recital I've been working on a piece that I expect will take me more than 3 months.

I've been looking forward to it. I have April by Thaikovski almost ready. I know at this stage I can't improve it much after so many months at it but I think you will like it, it has some great moments

Not necessarily so - The Piano Bars are really for posting recorded pieces that one would like others to listen to and hopefully enjoy - and usually one would appreciate getting some feedback on. This is the basic purpose of the Recitals too. The Bars are often used for additional pieces one has recorded - mostly it has nothing to do generally with them not being ready for the Recitals (although this could be the case in a few cases, but is mostly not the case, just in case you still think so - case closed ).

And if one doesn't follow the Piano Bars on a regular basis I would like to know 10 or 12 good reasons why one doesn't - good luck with that!




One just has to love the layed back, understated, mellowed out take on the traditionally ever-so-slightly over-hyped seriousness of the Recitals here I always thought that a flashing red light meant that one should first stop, look both ways, and then proceed at one's own risk...


Trap

Edit to insert additional pithy commentary...

Jees Loise..... all ready????!!!!

I think I’m going to participate in this edition, but I’ll take a piece already learned. It’s my first time!


Happy Birthday Sam!

I selected a piece at the beginning of the month! I'm just practicing a few little things on it and it will be good to go! I did a quick pre recording to see how it sounds and considering my level, I think I'm fairly ready. I even picked something slightly above my level so it's my first piece in level 1. It's actually been quite fun to learn!

I also find the red dot to be evil. Soon as it turns on it sucks all the breath from me! It's a piano recording sucubus!

Well, in that case, thanks for the explanation!

Not enough time in the day, too much to do, housework, paying work, piano practice, piano playing, family time, sewing, walking the dog, teaching my grandson to play the piano, tennis, painting my nails (wait... I don't do that!)
Anyway, you're right, no really good excuses!

Oh, ten days to prepare for this? Sure.

I've been meaning to make a new video of Besaid Island on my Youtube account, with no cheeky edit cuts. I figure this gives me an excuse to actually do it!

Yes, happy birthday Sam! The new norm, ahem, is to celebrate for 6 days to a week!

As usual, I have no clue. You'll probably get something really simple, since I've had a couple of requests from seniors at my gigs lately and that's what I've been working on. But I'll be there, last minute as usual.

Cathy

I don't celebrate birthdays anymore...

I actually recorded something over the Christmas holidays and was very proud of myself for being so far ahead of schedule. Until I went back and listened to it - sounds like crap! What was I thinking? I'll have to try again, except now I have forgotten that piece...

Sam

That doesn't mean we can't celebrate it! Happy Birthday, Sam!