While I am listening to Lennon.... oops... I mean Newman sing Imagine for the third time I'll share one more piece that I recorded last night. This piece is also from my 'Good Bye Lenin' series of Yann Tiersen covers. For some reason this piece was removed from the latest version of the soundtrack CD for this movie.

Amaruk Mmm I like that too. Could be another good one for me to learn.

Thanks for the compliments ... you are very kind. I'll find another Lennon one to do for you.

Well done...I wish I could get my son to play.

Your Joplin was excellent...I love You tube as a way to hold onto pieces that I elect not to maintain.

Mr Super Hunky mentioned Cristofori's Dream on the recital discussion thread. I had tried learning the song some eight months ago, my second real song, after To Zanarkand, but found it too challenging beyond page 4 (of 9). I couldn't manage the octaves, 10-wide broken chords or even reading notes above and below the lines. So I shelved it.

My easy piano book has a simplified version. Too much so: the broken chords so characteristic of the song were replaces by two-note blocks, octaves replaced by single notes in the melody, and the middle part much shortened. I restored the chords to sound more like the original but left the short middle part alone. It sounds something like this now:

Huh, well, I guess everybody has already left November's piano bar so I can sit down and play some of practice pieces. :-) This one is called Out-of-tune piano and it was written by Emil Hradecky just for beginner players like myself. It's available in his A little jazz album book. In my performance I'm afraid of not enough tempo (should be faster), instability of tempo (still learning) and 2 wrong hits, but posting this anyway to share something after a year with piano -- more or less live recording of part of practise session rather than a specially crafter performance for recital.
Recording is done on Motorola Droid 3 with RecForge Lite application so the sound is neither the best...

https://www.box.com/s/a7gv4sphenpj87vvy2ec

Karel

Hmm Yes, its seems we've been abandoned!

Newman -- very nice smooth playing and nice singing. Pleasure the hear.

I've been slightly out of commission these past few weeks, but I wanted to comment on some of these fantastic Piano Bar submissions before too much time went by.


BillM~ I like your version of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes very much. The accompaniment is spot-on and your voice control with this song is wonderful. This is now added to another one of your keepers!

Weiyan~ You are developing some good finger control as demonstrated in your Bach playing. Look forward to hearing it once you get it up to speed and steady tempo.

Cebukid's daughter~ played Schumann excellently. The trading of the left and right hand melody lines are really well done. Bravo!

Cebukid~ Weeping Willow Rag is fantastic! You keep the upbeat and down beat going so very well. What a joy to hear. It is clear from the sound you are enjoying playing the piece - almost as much as I enjoyed hearing it!

Pavel~ Thank you for your Chopin. You picked a beautiful melody and play it superbly.

Teodor~ Thanks for the tutorial. I am much more interested in hearing you perform the song in its entirety. Your voice is very musical sounding.

Newman~ Your accompaniments are getting much richer and more refined. Your voice fits, Imagine, perfectly. Your growing confidence shows with each submission. I really like this skill of accompanying yourself as you sing - fantastic!

Amaruk~ Your enthusiasm for Yanni Tiersen shows in all you play. You have a fine connection to his music and play it very expressively. I really enjoy it.

Allard~ Never heard of David Lanz. You play your version quite nicely. It sounds as though you are really connecting with the music's dark intent.

Karel~ Fine work on the slow blues tune. Really good work after only a year? Fabulous, indeed. Look forward to hearing more.

Glen

Glen, Amaruk, Newman, thanks a lot for you comments and listening
I became Chopin addict..I have to listen Chopin's music every day. Now I am learning the easiest Nocturne - no.21 C minor posth. Hoping to be able to make solid recording till the end of the year . It would be nice end of my 1st year piano learning.

CebuKid - You must by very proud of your daughter - she is a chip off the old block. How wonderful to share your love of piano with her.

CebuKid - I am glad you are maintaining this Joplin piece - a real crowd pleaser. Your piano on this one has the perfect tone - kind of honky tonk although I don't remember it normally sounding this trebly. Did you do something to the audio to give it that sound?

Newman - kind of cool what you did to the piano accompaniment on Imagine. I love this song, in fact I also covered it in a recent recital. Love your vocal. This has a slight country flair to it that is quite different and fun. Very creative!

Amaruk - You got so much emotion out of this short piece - very well played, as usual.

Allared - I do think I have heard this done in an earlier recital. You play this quite nicly with good balance between the left and right hands. Your piano has a pleasing tone in the higher registers.

Newman-

The recital has been sucking the commenting energy out the second part of the November piano bar. But I must comment on what a nice job you did on the vocals for Imagine. The best piano comping job for a vocalist on this song ever (IMO)is by a guy named Mike Orta for a singer named Nicole Henry. Just gorgeous, but not ridiculously inaccessible. Check it out. I've always wanted to do a purely instrumental version based on the way that he does the comping, but I never got around to it. Really nice job!

Not abandoned ... however a greater focus (for me) has been placed on the recitalists this month, and the November Bar has been a lot to keep up with, in addition to this. But, I am listening to all and very appreciative of the fine playing, and playing/singing entries from everyone. So another group applaud, if that is ok.

Plus, getting some Christmas stuff polished for you all, as I know you are all getting pumped for Christmas carols. But, will spare you for now and save for the December bar .

I've been so busy the last few months I haven't even had time to play the piano! I even had to quit my piano lessons a few months ago. I finally have a few minutes to listen to some of the piano bar!:)
Newman- I was just expecting to hear the piano on this song Then came your beautiful voice Wonderfully done!:P:P
Weiyan- pretty Nicely done
KenJazz- Pure Imagination- Great!:)
Theme from Mash: Another song well played
LadyPayne- Mickey Mouse March: I love this song!:) Awesome!!
Amaruk: Yann Tiersen- Coma: I loved the video! Very pretty song.
Bill: It was a very good year- This was a very relaxing song to listen to, and I love listening to you sing:)

Yes, I understand. I looked into the last recital but found it too overwhelming to listen to it all. For me the pace of the Piano Bar is much easier to handle. and thanks for the feedback.

Do you think so? Thanks. Lately I've found it hard to hear me progress ... but maybe I am.

Thanks Bill. Yes, I was working on the original arrangement with the little run and could play it but was noodling around as usual and stumbled on the chord pattern.

Teodor, nice playing....but your recording is being disrupted by pedaling noise. It would sound much better if you adjusted your mic or camera position.

I recently had this issue and worked it out by moving my video camera and my microphone around. Experiment, it will clean up your nice playing...

Teodor - a curious little piece. As you may have read me note before, I don't understand classical music in the way Iunderstand pop music - and this had me baffled.