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I've read JohnSprung somewhere now talking of Night and Day, by Cole Porter. I'm bringing a version to listen to and get it into the Program. I don't know if he has heard this one and/or like it. Cole Porter singing would be ideal but the recording I've found is not good.

Night and Day - U2

Ok, ok, this song is great to play it in whatever manner we want! Good thing I already know a more classic version... Frank Sinatra singing freely

I guess I need to post a classic version now: Frank Sinatra Classic

Alas, neither of those is all that great for ear training, unless your goal is to work on the challenge of a source with poor pitch control. (Part of Sinatra's charm was that women could imagine their boyfriends singing about that well....)

There's a very nice Ella Fitzgerald recording, but it's too advanced and complex for what we want.

Here's Fred Astaire, vocal at 0:23, instrumental at 1:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV5e7mWcQJE

Here's a four hand version that opens with a clear exposition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elA4Nslt654

It's very difficult to find one very faithful to the original. I'm now confused (usual ) and would be difficult to know the original melody. It's such a famous one that each has to make it a bit different. I listened to Ella's one of the first but didn't look faithful either.

Anyhow, I am liking them all. This one by The Temptations is beautiful too.


Edit: I went to get the first notes; started it in B, and the Key is not clear yet because I have there A G# G G# so still don't know if it'd be G# and the natural G is an alien, or it is Ab and the A is the extra.
I started the second sentence with 8 Bs in a row!


Edit2: Checking the original Key (won't say in case someone wants to find it), I thought mine should be A Major or E Major, and then tried the first chord of each (Chord site) and only E Major sounds good, so I am doing it in E Major, though funnily there is not a single E in my song yet, after 43 notes.

Feliz Navidad a todos los tocares del piano! (Although with my fractured Spanish, I may have wished Meery Christmas to all piano keys!)

Ja ja ¡Feliz Navidad!

Your imagination is very good! It's true we say "tocar el piano" so that's the verb, but the person is as simple as "pianista" (un pianista o una pianista).

¡Gracias!

My recent songs are Twinkle Twinkle, The Fatmer in the Dell, and Old MacDonald had a Farm. I've worked these all out before, and they came back easily.

For Christmas I worked out Deck The Halls, which I hadn't ever worked out previously and I was pleased that although there were some challenges, it fell into place.

My song for today is Lightly Row, which is a tune I learned at age 8 when I was first teaching myself piano using my mother's method books.

I was away from the piano for some days, but when at home I've gone back to some of the songs I already worked on, like Unforgettable, which I keep forgetting. Hmm I think the only new one was Night and Day.

Edit: I've just found this interpretation of I Wish You Love. He starts and ends it playing only the melody! It is for effect, but the truth is that these beautiful songs sound very good even with just melody.

I was at a jazz concert last night and they played Night And Day! I thought of you. They also played La Vie En Rose, which could be another possibility for working out the tune.

My song today is Rain Rain Go Away, which is interesting because it's a chant more than a tune. (Who Stole The Cookies In The Cookie Jar is another chant-more-than-tune.). But I have an interest in working out the intonations of speech as actual pitches, so it's a fun challenge.

Only three more weeks of nursery rhymes and then I start on folk songs . But seriously, I'm finding it useful to lay in this foundation of simpler tunes. This is generally true of a lot of my learning: I like going back to the very basics and spending time there before building upwards.

If those songs are easier for you, great, but they as melodies are not easier than famous romantic songs. The only difficulty with real songs might be linking the several parts, but folk songs must have them too, I guess. In any case, for the exercise the best is to do songs we want to do and know very well.

I was at a jazz concert once and it felt like they played night and day!

A happy new 'ear' to all my friends on this thread

Jaja

Happy New Year!


Edit: I don't know why I laughed in Spanish. Maybe because I read you somewhere that you were living in Granada in the past

Sí, Albunea. Fue en la discoteca La Chumbera que tuve mi primera y última experiencia de cannabis. También me emborraché esa noche en 1977 - pero solamente dos veces desde entonces. ¡No se lo digas a nadie!

Tenían un cóctel eponimo, una Chumbera, para el que me encantaría conseguir la receta.

Jajajaja Ya veo que aprendiste muchas cosas... ¡como español perfecto!

I think your last sentence is right on the money.

I think which songs motivate people or that they find easier to start with will vary by person. For me these nursery songs seem easier because they mostly move through the scale in simple ways. Also using my list of Piano Magic songs (which I've ordered by genre) gives me a systematic way to work through songs which for me motivates me to keep at it consistently.

My most recent songs -- Do you know the muffin man?, Pop goes the weasel, and London Bridge -- bring me into territory of songs I haven't worked out before. They took some trial and error, but I feel like I could easily hear when I had a wrong note vs. a right note, which didn't used to be true for me.

How are things going for you? What are you working on?

Did you notice I was being too lazy with this? Well, I was. I read you now and went to play one: I Wish You Love. It's a very good one, recommended, though the first part after "Goodbye" (no use leading without chin, etc.) is similar but I am a bit confused with all that; need to hear it more.

For my personal taste, our list might as well have been Rod Stewart's Great American SongBook. I have one of the CDs, the one with "My Foolish Heart", and have listened to it lots. My tesitura is also like his. The accompanying music sounds fantastic to me. Other CDs I know by heart are the duets Frank Sinatra did in the 90s, with amazing music.

Last I've been picking is Call Me Irresponsible. I started it in Eb.

Greener, you'll have to be more active here for some months to push PianoStudent88, because I'll be busy myself to do a new song every three days.

Last I've been playing around with is Sabor a Mí: