Starr Keys, remember this?
- Falling In Love Again - Hollander, Frederick
- Get Here - Russell, Brenda
- It Goes Like It Goes - Shire, David
- Kiss from a Rose - Seal
- The Last Time I Saw Paris - Kern, Jerome

I do.
And you know why? Because you, and all of the active members of this forum, has some ability behind the love for piano. Yes, I can memorize with ease, but without this community and without what I've listened and learned with you all, I would never have gotten where I am now. IMO, this is the real supernatural gift we all share.

Okay Carlos wins the "Where's Waldo" award for picking up on this. I think you busted me before as well.

Anyway, I'm going to have to re-think a way to get into this top 10 list. For obvious reasons Mozart and alike are safe. My only chance would be to either fill the "unknown" slot or take out David Nevue somehow (itching powder?, fire ants emerging from between the keys?). But we all would lose as a result of those actions so back to the "unknown" slot.

It's my only chance Carlos. Please don't take that from me!

Woo hoo... got mine in! We're up to 32 submissions.

lol.... I was so surprised to see Chopin missing that the other little change slipped by me! I should have expected a teaser from Mr. Super-Hunky!
I guess we should let Sam know there's another wee glitch in the recital index.

I hope to make a (first!) submission, but the red dot is imposing and I can't seem to get a recording without horrible horrible mistakes. That's... normal, isn't it?

Very very normal! In fact, it is so normal that after the recital is launched, everyone who participates becomes a member of a very special group --- the "Order of the Red Dot"

We are all deeply traumatized by that red recording light. I think it is as difficult to be calm with the light as it is to perform for an audience - maybe even more difficult because generally you can feel that your listeners are listening with kind enthusisam... but that red light is just a cold hard stare!

One should never drink and (hard) drive...

You are so right TJ...... One might ram into something!

Suddenly everything came together and I got a recording I'm actually happy with

Now I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Jared's To Zanarkand and mr Super-Hunky's Nothing Else Matters submissions. Love both songs.

C'mon, you're already on the top of the "original and covers" table. And, you are one rare case of not missing any Recital so far.

Carlos, being on top of the 'original composition' list could also be viewed as ...maybe this guys too stupid to read music! Hmmm, I'll keep quiet on that one!

Also, don't forget, I've been accused nominated for being the top of several lists here on PW which include:

.Biggest grandstander
.Overly opinionated blubermouth
.Pompous ass
.Ego-maniac
.Attention hog

I'm not saying I've earned or deserved these titles, but the colorful ribbons are nice to have hanging on the walls and simple things like that make me happy.

Allard: I'm glad to hear you are looking forward to hear the "Nothing Else Matters" piece. Others on this forum will have noticed the amount of buildup and hype I have been putting into this submission...(it's what I do cuz I'm shameless!). hopefully you like the performance. Just another teaser....this piece contains the largest piano glissando know to mankind followed by an explosion of thunder. Lots-O-fun!

Also, if your a really good searcher, you may be able to find a video somewhere of my performance of "To Zanarkand" from several years ago. I no longer have the video. I'm also a huge Nobuo Uematsu fan as well and am looking forward to hearing Jareds rendition.

LOL , you are unique, Mr Super-Hunky.

It does strike me sometimes that there is some new spirit of harmonic connection and cooperation abroad in the world today(and not just in music).

Maybe it will help me to complete what now seems a Herculean task for me. This really feels like the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done, with three distinct styles and different rhythms not only distinctive for each style but changing within the styles themselves. That and I’ve got to sing (since my arrangement is for accompaniment) and try to put together the slide show I planned for it in honor of my sister’s birthday this Sunday--it may have to be postponed for a later time, though, if I can't get a recording till the deadline day.

Thanks for the encouragement. I didn’t realize I’d participated in that many ecitals. It helps give me confidence to know I made so many deadlines.

I don't know SH, I'm almost certain no one has nominated you for "Attention Hog".....

Ah thanks! I really hope you guys like it =) I managed to get a decent recording with only a few little blips! Though I wish I had a better recording method, the microphone doesn't pick up as well as I would like (need to get MIDI cables, or however all that works).

Can't wait to hear everyone's submissions!

My Yamaha P95 doesn't have a proper line out. Had to connect the headphone plugs to the computer with a USB interface, but then the piano doesn't make any sound. Added a splitter so I could also plug in my headphones. It's far from ideal; the splitter doesn't connect very well and the headphones only had sound on the left side, with heavy bass. Thankfully the computer did get the right side and high tones, but it was weird to monitor!

I love To Zanarkand. A year ago I started learning piano with Alfred's and Christmas songs. As soon as Christmas was over, the To Zanarkand sheet music topped the piano and didn't come off for several months. Had to learn it! It took ages since I had to figure out tons of technique with only two months of experience under the belt. Still, slow progress is progress too. A few months later I started taking lessons and played the piece to my teacher. He stated the obvious that this music was still beyond my technical level. Damn right too; the 16ths and 32nds near the end seem nigh impossible.

Yea I'm just playing the original version, I can't take on the Piano Collection version of it yet... those 16th/32nd arpeggios are beyond me right now! Though I probably could do the rest of that version now... hopefully I can soon be at a level where I can do the whole thing!

I think the piano I'm using has just about every type of output, I'm just not sure which one to use and what cables I need! So I just use a portable condenser mic for now, which is fine because I can record myself in the practice room acoustic pianos on campus. I want to look into finding better (and affordable) ways to record the digital piano though.

If it's any help, I replace the 16/32 crazy left hand with a repeat of the 8th arpeggios earlier (you know, where the right hand plays the same) and it still sounds like a proper song.

The old index also has entries for the all-Chopin ecitals that were held over in the Pianist Corner. That's why the category list on the old index showed so many Chopin entries. But in the new index, I am no longer indexing those recitals. Instead it is only the ABF Recitals. So the (probably) correct number for Chopin entries is 131 (I moved the "Chopin." performance to "Chopin").

I'm going to redo the statistics page too while I am fooling with things.

Sam

Does that mean he's still getting credit for "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Johnson Rag"?

I moved those, and another one that was incorrect - Chopin is down to 128 now.

Sam

*bumpety-bump* Just a few more days to conquer that red dot...

I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it.

Work has been a pain.

Cathy

Submission made....

...All the grand plans of long and technically brilliant bit of Beethoven fell aside when I realised that despite my playing being better than I expected and probably capable of reaching a suitable performance, the piano is not in it best (a recent bout of super-wet weather has clearly had an effect and tuning has gone unpleasant).

Add to that daughter being very busy preparing for her AMEB grade 3 Violin exam this week (meaning Piano has taken a bit of a backseat compared to normal) and neither of us were happy with what we could do.

So instead we grabbed a duet that was thrown at daughter a couple of weeks ago to play in a concert this last weekend. Its simple, but a bit of fun and our first attempt to record a duet.

Hope you enjoy.

I've posted the MP3 which is AWFUL recording quality - even by my own poor standards, but We did record that performance on the iPad too - so I should upload it to YouTube and add a link for those who like the visuals (and you can chose which microphone is worse - the iPad or the Dell Laptop!)

a duet!? How fun. And don't worry - so long as your recording quality is at least better than BachMach's (running PW joke), people will listen (sadly people still listen to bachmach, regardless)

Can someone give me some advice about the technical stuff? I have a recording of a portion of a work in progress that i was thinking to submit. but it was recorded using a very basic digital recorder. I uploaded the file into audacity. And cannot save it as 192 bitrate. I used audacity to change the project rate 128 and that was as good as i could do. I have no idea what I am doing in that regard or if that change even made a difference to the way the file sounds. I think it was originally recorded at a bit rate of 64?

Is it possible to submit something like this? The recording is about 1.5 min long and about 1.5 MB file size.

haha...maybe I won't submit it. it was a whim anyway, and it's not a recording where i'm playing the piece well or even for enjoyable listening, it's just a snapshot of my playing a portion of this piece. a very anti-perfectionistic snipit.

are you EXPORTING AS MP3? Then 128 is ok. In that case 1.5MB file is fine and Size seems ok for 1.5 min.

Oh, just make sure you listen carefully to the final result file if it sounds ok, before submitting.

I discovered that I've been playing a wrong note in a chord for at least two weeks - I hate when that happens. My teacher pointed it out last night. That's not the first time that has happened to me. I somehow get a wrong note stuck in my head (or under my fingers) and have to adjust when I finally realize my error. It's always an interior note in a big chord.

So I had to brave the red dot again and re-record. As a result I have dropped like a stone through the recital order and everyone else has moved up! You're welcome...

Sam

I just got some nice stereo cables in to record a higher quality sound file, but last night I just couldn't play it through! Kept making all sorts of mistakes I never make. Hopefully I can still work that out before submissions are due!

Thanks so much wouter! Yes I've exported to mp3 format, and it sounds ok enough I suppose. So...maybe I will submit!