Just checked out David Nevue\'s Website once again and guess what??? He has the new sheet music he promised us a week or so ago:

Sweet Dreams & Starlight
Wonderland
Watching the Clock

I guess I will be purchasing yet more sheet music that I won't be able to play!

If you guys haven't listened to "Watching the Clock" yet, do so right away. It is hauntingly beautiful, and I think it may assume first place in my list of favorite David Nevue pieces. I haven't looked at the sheet music yet, so I'm hoping it's not TOO hard because I really, really want to be able to play it. [crosses fingers, knocks on wood]

Monica, I just checked out the sheet music for "Watching the Clock". The first page will be very easy for you (maybe me too!). I like all three pieces!

P.S. It does have 7 flats if that scares you??

You know, it really doesn't. I've played several things in C-sharp minor, which has a bunch of sharps [too lazy to walk upstairs and count how many], and I've done all right with them. I'm not sure why, but once I know what the key signature is, I can work with it fairly easily. I get more rattled when a piece changes keys or introduces lots of accidentals.

Seven flats sound as easy as the key of C. Only one white note. I will have to have this one. If this is constructed anything like overcome then it should not be to bad.

Sounds a bit tricky after the 2:20 mark though. I hope to one day be able to play all of his music.

Yes, I just did and you're right; It is beautiful. Choices choices...

Drat! That piece (Watching the Clock) is on an album I don't have.

So I just had to go ahead and purchase these new sheets today! I would bet most all of you whiz kids (not me, of course) would be able to play these fairly quickly. I *think* I will be able to play them, but time will tell. I am going to start with Wonderland because that looks like it will definitely be the easiest one for me!

Those songs first pages do not look to bad but, I have to many pieces of his music that I need to finish first (5 so far).

It will probably take me another 2-3 months to finish what I have.

I know the feeling, psychopianoman. I downloaded the music for "Watching the Clock," but I gave myself stern instructions not to even play the first note, because I have way too many things on my plate with all the study groups.

rocky, the music looks highly manageable up to about halfway down the 4th page. Then it starts getting tricky with the rhythms, but all in all it looks much more feasible than GRYMG.

ShiroKuro, you can listen to a short clip of Watching the Clock on David's web site, enough to give you a flavor of the piece. It is reminiscent of "Overcome" in a way in that it has many haunting arpeggios.

Yes, it's really really lovely! This will go on my list of DN music to play, after GRYMG and While the Trees Sleep. BTW, how many pages is it?

Maybe we need to start a support group for those of us addicted to David Nevue music. I could sit at home and study his music all day. I need help.

Watching The Clock is 5 pages.

Actually, looking at the score for "Watching the Clock," it seems like one of the trickiest parts will be not the key signature but how the time signature keeps switching back and forth...[grits teeth] but I'm NOT going to start playing it now! [goes to phone book to see if they have a toll-free number for David Nevue Anonymous.]

I've played through some of "Watching the Clock" and for all you whiz kids I just wanted to tell you that I bet you will handle this piece with no problem. Heck, I might even be able to make it presentable....after months spent learning it!

Stop it all ready. I need a Nevue detox; I am shaking trying not to buy anymore sheet music.

That is the exact reason I buy the packages so I get a bunch and a discount and if you are signed up for the newsletter then you get an extra discount on top of that.

I am a shopaholic so I go nuts for deals and force myself to wait on buying just for a deal.

I downloaded it, too. Reminds me of David Lanz's Cristofori's Dream...

oldcars, I agree, it reminded me of Cristofori's Dream also, except I can't for the life of me play that and I'm hoping I can actually learn Watching the Clock...although I'm not expecting it to be easy for my mediocre abilities!

I have just listened to Kawaigirl's "Wonderland" six times in a row. I'm going to have to give in and order that sucker. I think I like it even better than Watching the Clock.

I think we all need help or we will end up locking ourselves away with nothing but a piano and water.

...and there would be something wrong with that? Throw in a computer and a cheese burger and I'll be fine..

I agree. I really wish I could sit and play eight hours a day or more. I have become anti-social unless you count this forum as socializing.

Cheese burgers rock. Exspecially those ones from Mcdonalds with double meat for 99 cents.

That is what I want to do for a living: be locked in a room with a grand piano, a digital, a synth, a cpu for my socializing and to by music stuff, some recording equipment, and a bathroom.

Now, How do I go about makling this my career?

If nothing else, at least David should be thankful his music is being bought and played by us adult beginners here at Piano World.

I'm ready to quit my job and play piano all day too!

If you could learn WTC, you should have no problem with Cristofori's Dream. Playing WTC in C flat is trickier than Cristofori's Dream (in F) because of the constant adjustment in your mind of remembering which note needs to be played as a flat. Admittedly, pieces in C flat are not common to me, so once I got used to remembering that the C and F notes are played as "B" and "E", it came rather quickly.

Good luck, it's a lovely piece.

Joel

Wow...Txs for listening Monica. The credit definitely goes to David Nevue for writing one of his many beautiful pieces of music.

I downloaded Wonderland yesterday and spent over an hour and a half playing it. It is MUCH easier than GRYMG, yet so beautiful.

...but I am NOT going to start any more new pieces!

Some people have an addiction to gambling...

I have an addiction to piano music recommendations. If another adult beginner, or adult piano player ( ) suggests something, or talks about a piece of music being beautiful, I can't help myself...I gotta get it.

[Edit: sorry, didn't realize this was the David Nevue question thread...not trying to hijack the thread. ]

WHATEVER! You will not make it. Your an addict.

Hey guys. You're all talking about one of my favorite topics. I downloaded David Nueves' emerald valley[/b]. I just got done taking a play at it and it is one beautiful song, not too hard to play either. It has F and C sharps. Anyway if any of you haven't heard it yet go to his website and listen to it. It seems like I just keep finding more and more of his music that I want to play. His music is so addictive.

Yes, Emerald Valley is very beautiful and it's one of my many favorite music from David Nevue. It was also my first David Nevue song that I learned to play. I can spend hours just playing his music.

I am learning Emerald Valley also. I really find myself lately only playing attempting to play David's music and ignoring all my other music...I am really hooked!

I've played through some of it...only the first 2 pages...those aren't really difficult although they don't seem to fall under my fingers very well for some reason. I think it will be quite a while before I can play this whole piece, but I do agree it's beautiful!

I also like The Gift[/b]. Its relaxing and not too hard and its a pretty song. Also Home[/b] is nice I really enjoy that song and it's not too hard. It realxes me when the days are bad.
I have the song Vigil[/b] and I have attempted that song,some of its not too bad but some of it is a real challenge for me. I would really like to be able to play the whole song .I can listen to that song a million times!

I also have the song, Overcome[/b] I really like that song, I think the Overcome [/b] is a real crowd pleaser and it's a good party song and the children really enjoy that song as well. but for some reason whenever I play that song my hands really hurt! Maybe I am using the wrong fingering?Or do they just stop hurting once your hands adjust to the dynamics of the song?

I am glad I downlaoded Emerald Valley[/b] , I think it will become one of my favorites, right now I am actually enjoying working on that one! When I play it, my mind gets so wrapped into the song I can actually visualize myself in a emerald valley!

Arias, you should have a listen to "Winter Walk" it's also very pretty.

You're right! I just got done listening to that song. It is so pretty. Have you played it? How hard was it to play? I may make that the next song on my list to download. Am I going to be able to pay my bills this month?

LOL...Arias....IMO it's money well spent!

I'm learning to play that song and i think in terms of difficulty I think it's about the same as "Overcome".

I hope you'll post a recording of your playing here one day.

I'm embarrassed to tell you I dont know how to record! :rolleyes: Don't you need a digital for that? Can you record from an acoustic piano?

Don't be embarrassed. I'm not a recording expert myself but I did receive alot of help here at the Piano forum for help on recording.
I just use a mic connected to my laptop; however mic placement is very very important.

Overcome did the same thing to me when I played it for the longest time untill I realized I had to much tension in my right hand. For me, I had to quit trying so hard. To do this I turned my digital all the way down and played it without the sound. This allowed me to play the notes without worring about sound, dynamics, or anything; only relaxing the hand. I listened to the music in my mind.

After a while I was relaxed and saw how easy it was to get a nice sound with only half the effort. I just recently found this out abou the vigil as well. This song can only be accomplishe IMO if your hands are very relaxed through most of the piece.

It has only been the past couple of months that I have understood how to use arm weight and the wrist to help play so the hands can have a rest.

I would just start watching your hands when you play the song and see what is going on. Think of your fingers like little gymnist tumbling and landing on notes. You may even have to play a dozen or so times at half speed to see what your hands are doing and have an idea of what to do to help them out. Pay attention to those hands and see what you can do to give them a boost here and there.

Six months ago I didn't know, either. But it's really not that complicated. Buy a mic (and maybe a pre-amp, depending on the mic); then either buy a mic stand or enlist a small child to stand and hold it for you; download audacity off the web for free; and you're basically there.

Search the archives for "record" or "recording" as the subject of the thread...there's been several good threads in the past few months that have addressed this issue.

MONICA Thanks for the advice, I honestly had no idea how it was done from an acoustic piano, next question what kind of mic do you buy and how much does it cost?

PSYCHOPIANOMAN: Thanks for the advice on playing Overcome[/b]. I decided to take a week or two off from trying to play that one and play EMERALD VALLEY instead When I practiced the Overcome [/b]song for just a half hour it seems like my hands didnt hurt as much, but if I practiced more than a half hour, : , I would feel the pain in my hands hours :rolleyes: later. I think maybe you're right I need to learn to relax the hands . The only way I am going to be able to figure that out is to cut back on the tempo and maybe gradually pick up on the tempo again when I feel my hands are starting to get more relaxed.

I like emerald valley and have been toying around with it. I plan to get it down one day once I finish all that I am working on at the moment.

Arias, mics can cost anywhere from 10 or 20 bucks on up, way, way, up. I got a Samson USB mic that plugs directly into the USB port on my computer, no pre-amp required, for about a hundred bucks. But others have done well using even cheaper mics. Heck, piano*dad posted a recording of Anthony using just the built-in microphone on his laptop, and I thought that quality was fine for keeping track of your progress.

The audiophiles on the forum will tell you that for "real" recording quality you need at least two mics and a mixer board. I believe them but I'm also happy enough with what I get to not want to bother.

Monica,
I've been looking for a mic that would plug directly into my laptop w/o a preamp. What is the model you have. I'd like to check it out. Walt

It's a "Samson C01U USB studio condenser microphone." It's easy enough to use, although I gather it's really not all that good, by the standards of the guys who post the long complicated technical threads about recording that I can never understand.

Gee Whiz.....I have a laptop computer. Would I need a special mic. (I guess you can tell I am a moron !)

No, your laptop should work fine. If you look at the back of it you should see a whole bunch of round and rectangular looking plugs. The USB connection fits into one of the rectangular looking ones. If you get a different mic, there will probably be a small round hole it fits into, but the mic inputs are often on the front or side of the laptop.

[gee, I'd better stop with all that complicated computer lingo.]

Monica,
How do you like the sound? I imagine that my standards would be about like yours. Walt

It's okay by me...check out the recital 2 thread and see what you think of my recording.

I just listened to the piece called "Sweet Dreams & Starlight" It's very beautiful.

kawaigirl, I like it too!! It's not difficult to play either....until around measure 62, from that point on I will really have to work at it!

All three of the new sheet music selections are great!

I am working on The Gift and can not get it smoothed out yet. I guess I will have to get it memorized.

Working on Take My Life and Let it Be and it is not smooth so I need to memorize it as well.

Working on GRYMG and am not even close!!!

I like emerald valley and am messing with it but have no clue as to how it is supposed to sound all the way through. I really like this one. Very moody sounding; fun stuff.

I need to get this all down so I can get more music. Must have more music!

The Gift has a lot of the same basic rhythm pattern as Emerald Valley, so once you get one nailed down the other will be easy-peasy.

I didn't get anywhere with The Gift until I broke down and got out my metronome and worked with it slowly for a while. But once it clicked, it all went smoothly.

I forgot, does anyone have any idea on how to play Ascending with Angels the way it sounds on the recording. I can play it smooth but it sounds bad compared to what Nevue plays. I could use some ideas for that song.

psycho....I've only tried that one a couple of times so I can't be of any help sorry. Hopefully someone else can chime in to help!

psychopianoman:

• I found the Gift to be not too hard, once I got the rythym in my mind , where I could even humm the melody while I was sleeping I was able to play it without too much trouble , Emerald Valley is a little harder,I think you have to listen to the recording over and over again until you have the melody in your mind and then it becomes easier to play. I haven't quite gotten there yet, but I'm on my way!

• Ascending With Angels sure is pretty, I haven't even attempted to play that, it sounds hard, I don't think I will try it until I can get Overcome almost perfect. I think one should be able to play Overcome before they play Ascending With Angels.

Ascending With Angels is very repetitive and not very hard, it is hard to hit the notes with the right force. I can not get the expression right for nothing.

Hey Rocky, I put my hands to "Sweet Dreams & Starlight" & yes you're right about measure 62 & onwards...for me it was ...lol
but the music is just too lovely to give up..

I also tried something today and this was to work on speed , tempo & expression by playing alongside to David's recording. I thought that was pretty neat and you can see which areas need to be worked on.

Yoohoo!!!! New music is coming in September. Some of my favs are coming out. I can not wait. I better hit the keys more often!

Can't wait!

I just listened to the 3 that he is going to have coming out and I can't wait either...not that I will be able to play them, but I sure love trying!