Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Recital 32 --- Call For Submissions

Oh, I forgot another one I do when recording... I start speeding up... no doubt in hopes I can get through it faster before I make a mistake. It's kind of like speeding up in a car so you can get to the gas station before running out of gas...

Almost all my recorded performances have been faster than my practices. I believe it is because when I speed up, it keeps me from thinking, anticipating, and evaluating the ongoing performance ... less intrusive thoughts going on.

I have a recording I'll use if I have to. But I'll be the poster girl, again, for Sam's "agonizing pause" and Peyton's "get past the last measure" But I'm not submitting yet - I may still get a cleaner recording. On Thursday. Yikes.

Cathy

I tried again this morning and got a "better" recording - a little slower. So I resubmitted - everybody below me moves up one!

Sam

I am so glad to see this subject discussed here. I have often wondered if people actually do this in the recitals. Not to seem snarky but I would view this as a blatant "cheat". I have no patience with that and unless I can get a clean ( surely if not perfect) recording then, well, I'm just not going to post as if I had recorded this as presented. Thanks Peyton and dynamobt. I was beginning to think my green eyed monster was emerging in my thinking.

Looking forward to #32 Sand Tiger. I love that song....I walked down the aisle to that last year.

As splicing, editing, and otherwise whitewashing one's recordings seems to be the professional norm, calling an amateur availing him or herself if this facility a "blatant cheat" seems a bit extreme. The recital is neither a competition nor an audition. Pieces submitted to be enjoyed not judged.

As far as splicing goes... I have no problem with anyone doing it as long as they let it be known that's what they have done. It becomes more of a "recording" than a recital piece. Not that there is anything wrong with that...

If someone implied they had played a piece all the way through but in fact spliced... well, to me that would be kind of cheating.

Now this strikes me as an appropriate application for "don't ask, don't tell."

It`s def. not easy to get a decent recording over a protracted time, like anything bovver 3 min, sometimes less, in a certain time scale. I did a two part rendition of French Suite No5 (it lends itself to that) but when I learned to play it "as written" (lol) I managed it in one!! Once . . . . . .

You're resubmitting pieces, and I haven't even managed to send mine...

Tonight, I'm going to use another computer to (try to) record the piece. I'll be happy if I can send a file to the recital, no matter the level of playing... At this point I can't be too picky.

But that's the "problem", that it is indeed a recording. Even if you think of it as a live recital, you're still going to record your piece many times before getting a recording that you're willing to submit - and that's not cheating, right? Sometimes I think I would be less nervous in a recital with actual people listening to me (well not many!) than when I record. A recital comes and goes and listeners probably forget your mistakes or don't even hear them, while a recording is there forever.

That said, the ABF recital is a great chance to practice "performance", to try and play a piece from beginning to end without stopping, to learn how to play through mistakes etc. But alas, it is a recording after all.

Seriously, I recorded my piece well over 300 times to get half a dozen more or less acceptable recordings. I played my piece straight through at least 10 times every day for the last month or more before I submitted it. Every time I played it through I had the Zoom on. For the majority of the time the goal wasn't so much a clean recording as to gradually overcome a severe red dot phobia/ allergy. (My hands have been know to morph into crab claws. ). I regarded the recording as a sort of aversion therapy like getting a war horse used to noise and smoke.

[quote=-Frycek]Seriously, I recorded my piece well over 300 times to get half a dozen more or less acceptable recordings. I played my piece straight through at least 10 times every day for the last month or more before I submitted it. Every time I played it through I had the Zoom on.

THAT is dedication/perserverance/stubbornality (one `l`or two?) all rolled into one! What a guy!!

I've barely had time to touch the piano for the last 10 days! Mamma mia.

I hope I can have a calm moment tomorrow for recording!

Looks like a great line up so far, that's for sure!

"Calm moments" are out there. From my research, it appears that they come about the day after you submit!

But hey, at least they are out there! Sanity WILL prevail. When?, the day after you submit!

Right, here I am recording it over and over to get a take that I'm not too embarrassed to submit. Not exactly a live recital where you get one chance. So I can't fault people for editing their recordings if that's what they want to do.

And my memory of my "live" recitals is usually much better than I really played. Last summer when I played the Arabeske live I made mistakes. I had someone recording it for me in the audience. Afterwards I got some good comments and I was feeling pretty good about it. Then I made the mistake of listening to the recording - yikes! Much better to delete the recording and remember the good parts of the performance.

Sam

Well it's certainly dishonest if it's not acknowledged. I realize it's not a competition but when a piece is posted then one assumes the person posting can actually play it as represented. Sorry if this offends you but clipping and enhancing the ambience is a lot different IMO than recording hands separate and putting them together via software or mechanics. And for the record I wasn't accusing anyone it was academic not judgmental. You're correct it's to be enjoyed and I do enjoy them. I think I must have hit a nerve or two.

I wasn't defending anything as deceptive as that nor do I imagine anyone else was. And I seriously doubt than any of the present company are so desperate for recognition that they would feel the need to go to such lengths.

Gee, I started something with my "splicing" comment. I was sort of kidding!! I wouldn't do it even if I I was able. But, I have no problem with how anyone gets a recording done to be submitted on ABF. If it's you playing in all segments, so what if it's in more than one take? But, I think every one of us really looks at these recitals as if they were real RECITALS. You play your best, or at least the best you can catch in a recording. And put it out there for everyone to hear. It is like a recital of sorts. And I think this is a very special thing we do here on PW hosting organized recitals. It's pushed me in a way lessons had not. I think that's true for most of us.