Recital #25 is now open for submissions!

Believe it or not, our 25th quarterly Piano World Adult Beginners Forum recital approaches! The recital will be posted some time on the 15th of February, which means that the submissions must be in by 9:00 pm Eastern time, February 14. Please note this deadline is very firm; I cannot start working on the recital until it is closed, and once it is closed, no new entries can be added.

While any and all styles of music are welcome, we do ask that it be piano related. Only one recording may be submitted per forum member (although that recording may consist of a medley of two or more very short related pieces).

If you are fairly new to the piano, please do not be intimidated by some of the talent here in the ABF. We all consider ourselves to be beginners even though we may have been playing for some time. And, we LOVE to hear recordings from folks new to the keyboard. So even if you’re on your first Alfred’s method book, we would *really* enjoy hearing from you.

Recital submissions must be in MP3 format. The maximum size of the file is 20 MB. We recommend encoding the recording at 192 kbs with a constant bitrate, as that works best with the online streaming player. At that bitrate, a 20 MB file works out to be about 7 minutes in length. Your recording will be normalized when placed in the consolidated zip files, but your original link will still be available for those who want it.

If you are new to recording your music, there are several threads in the forum archives that address the ways and means. See the "Important Topics in the AB Forum" thread stickied at the top of the AB forum page. Audacity is an excellent free recording application that can be used.

Submitting Your Recording:

We will be using again the absolutely marvelous automatic web-based recital program that mahlzeit wrote for us. You will upload your mp3 file to the recital server as part of the recital submission process.

When you have your mp3 file ready, go to:

http://recitals.pianoworld.com/

and follow the instructions there. Please note that this URL reflects our new permanent home for all the recital files; if you have previously bookmarked the recital site, you will be automatically redirected to the new address. Once you have uploaded your info to the automated recital software, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You will have the opportunity to revise your submission any time up until the deadline. If you have any problems at all using the new website, or if you do not receive a confirmation e-mail within a few hours, just PM me. If you have not participated in past recitals using this software, you may want to submit your recital piece at least a day in advance in case you run into any problems with it. (Though there should be no problems. Mahlzeit is a genius. )

Mahlzeit's website will use the following submission template to be filled out along with your attached music file. You may want to have your responses to these fields prepared in advance so all you have to do is cut and paste:

Performer's Name: {forum ID and real name if you’d like}
Where you are located: {optional}
Avatar image link: {optional}
Experience: {Yrs/Mos of piano playing experience}
Link to YouTube or other video: {optional}
Home page link: {optional}
Title of piece/composer:
Source of music: {sheet music, improvised score, play-by-ear, etc}
Instrument used: {Piano make, keyboard model, etc.}
Recording method: {audacity, Zoom, digital to PC, etc.}
Constructive technical feedback wanted: {Yes/No}
Additional Info: {Your thoughts on the piece, etc. etc.}


The due date for all submissions is 9:00 pm US EASTERN TIME on February 14, 2012.

Did I mention that the 9:00 pm deadline was firm?

Think "consistency of concrete."

By submitting a piece to the recital, you are certifying that it is a recording of your own performance.

Again, the recital order will be presented in the order the pieces were received, so the sooner you send in your piece, the higher you will be on the list! You can revise your entries on the template (e.g., thoughts about your piece, adding YouTube links, and the like) any time and not lose your place in the recital queue, but if you resubmit your recording at any time, for any reason, you will be bumped to the end of the list.

Should anyone have any questions at all on what to do or how to do it, this is the place to ask. Remember, there are NO stupid questions, as we have a steady flow of new members in AB forum for whom this is their first recital, so your questions will probably help to eliminate other members’ problems. Please ask away!

Let's all go out and brave that Red Dot and share a lot of beautiful music!

<-- is biting fingernails nervously, crossing fingers, and hoping the uploads will run as smoothly as the test recital suggested they would.

Well, the first submission uploaded fine, and I was able to see and listen to it on my end, so I think we're good to go. *Phew!*

[Now I can start panicking about the fact that I haven't even started trying to record my own piece, and the run-through I did tonight had not one but four fatal errors! ]

Just put mine up. Seemed to go smoothly.

What a relief to have that done....

ALREADY?! I haven't even memorized it yet!

I just upload mine, listen to it and everything look fine.

Serge

Dear PW friends,
Unfortunately I will not have a chance to participate in this recital... However I will listen carefully to all the pieces and make my comments.

And Monika, if a problem occurs with the server send me a message because I can always try to copy the pieces to an alternate server as I did last time.

Monika,

One remark on the uploader:
If you check your recording with the "download" button, and press the browser's BACK button, your recording is uploaded AGAIN.

Carlos--- I'm sorry you won't be joining us this time!

I'm in at number 11 - and I see there are some enticing titles up already! This is going to be fun (well,... no surprise there!)

what the....?

it's February??

Scary how it crept up on us, isn't it?

Hey guys, just to let you know, at least one person has had trouble updating his submission and/or adding an mp3 file. Sam's working on it, but I just wanted to give y'all the heads up. Let's just say this would be an excellent recital NOT to wait until the last day to do your uploads, just in case there's more of these problems.

There's also something flukish going on with backwards slashes appearing any time you use quote marks. We'll try to get that worked out, too.

OK, I'm in. Sorry about the squeaky pedal - it's one of those things that's got worse over the last month and I didn't realize how bad it had become.

I saw those /// characters, I assumed it was to escape something and would eventually look OK.

The backslash characters are because "magic_quotes" is on, for you php programmers out there. We're trying to get it turned off. In the meantime, if you use a single or double quote, it's going to insert a \ before it. Don't worry about it, and don't try to correct it because you can't. We'll try to fix it after we get that "feature" turned off.

Sam

I noticed that and thought it was kind of cool.... so I left them.

My performance is a video clip. um... if I figure out how to convert this to a mp3 won't I lose the video?

The recital submissions are all mp3s anyway. There is an option to add a video link to your submission, so you can include that with your submission and those who want to can watch the video. Is it already on youtube? If it is, there are many sites that can give you just the audio in mp3 format.

I hadn't put it up on youtube yet. I can though. Hmm okay so I have to find a site. Arghhhh.

There is software that will allow you to separate the audio from the video on your computer, but it might be easier to just put it on youtube and then get the audio using a site such as http://www.youtube-mp3.org/

I found a program. All done! Okay have to upload video, figure out info and submit. Thanks Sam!

I would suggest to convert the SOURCE to an MP3, and not use a youtube clip for that.

The problem with youtube is that the sound usually is very low quality. Not suited for a good piano performance.

Very true. I sadly had to do that because I didn't plan to use the recording that I did for the recital so I deleted the source audio. I may have a copy on a computer of mine in Los Angeles, but I'm not sure and I'm in New York. It's definitely not ideal to do it this way.

I'm in!:) YAH!

Sam R -
I see you lived up to your end of the postcard bargain... good on ya'!

I've got to get down to recording... though I've just discovered that I need to do a brief pedal on one spot (where I need to jump quickly with the left hand and don't want the note before the jump to sound staccato), and how that sounds (never having pedaled before) is pretty random... but it'll be good to get this piece recorded and submitted so I can be at peace with it.

Mine is in! Sadly mine is horrid sounding anyways because it's just recorded as video on a cheap digital. I did however convert it using a program I downloaded and not a youtube thingy. Thanks for the advice gents.

I'm in! Last recital I didn't even think about submitting until the weekend before the deadline so there wasn't much wait time but this time with two whole weeks to spare the anticipation will probably drive me nuts.

LBE can't wait to hear it. Martha My Dear is definitely one of my top 3 favorite songs from them.

I'm screwing up my performance like you wouldn't believe. I don't know why because it's not that hard and I had it down pat for a while.

Cheryl, did you put a hex on me? If you did please take it off. I'm working on the tear jerker I owe you but all of a sudden I can't make it through the piece without a sudden brain fart and finger fail!

I'll make it nice, I promise but you've got to take this spell off me.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered? Do you believe in magic? "You put a spell on me" he says..."No baby, it wasn't me".

(Is there music in the air?)
I will however do my best to remedy the situation - and of course, musically.

Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Reverse the hex, that is making a mess
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
You've got to believe it will work quite a lot
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

Salagadoola means mechicka booleroo
Now let fast fingers flow over the keys
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Salagadoola menchicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Let your heart soar and ignore the red dot
bibbidi-bobbidi bibbidi-bobbidi bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

Well ... I've been very busy (really!) and I can not even get near a piano with the mindset to make a decent recording. Maybe next time.
At least I'll listen to your pieces.