Welcome to PianoTell's 1st ever recital!

Click for an index to all the performances:
  1. Player1 β€” Energico
  2. rogerch β€” Improvisation 6
  3. keff β€” A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
  4. Sophia β€” Fascination
  5. Sgisela β€” Joropo
  6. pseudonym58 β€” Images (5) for orchestra
  7. Sam β€” Perpetual Motion #1
  8. hebele β€” Downtown Abbey theme
  9. MarieJ β€” Week #7
  10. plop_symphony β€” A Lincoln Tribute
  11. thepianoplayer416 β€” Air in D minor
  12. BicBic β€” Prelude in B flat minor - No.16 from Op.34
  13. Nightowl β€” Plaisir D'Amour
  14. bSharp β€” High Heels
  15. WieWaldi β€” Rainbow Connection
  16. SalmonJack β€” Alia
  17. Calavera β€” Chrono Cross - Scars of Time
  18. rsl12 β€” Always Chew Your Food
  19. TC3 β€” St. James Infirmary
  20. iternabe β€” The Trout
  21. ShiroKuro β€” Nuvole Bianche
  22. lilypad β€” Manhattan 1928
  23. TheBoringPianist β€” PrΓ©lude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18
  24. Rob β€” Sunday Morning
  25. diretonic β€” Borrowed Blues
  26. Josephine & Rubens β€” Waltz Op.70 no.2
  27. Serge88 β€” Misty
  28. twocats β€” Rustle of Spring
  29. navindra β€” Bluebird
Click for an optional template that you can copy/paste to comment on each performance:
1\. @"Player1"#p13518 β€” Energico


2\. @"rogerch"#p13529 β€” Improvisation 6


3\. @"keff"#p13530 β€” A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square


4\. @"Sophia"#p13534 β€” Fascination


5\. @"Sgisela"#p13540 β€” Joropo


6\. @"pseudonym58"#p13598 β€” Images (5) for orchestra


7\. @"Sam"#p13625 β€” Perpetual Motion #1


8\. @"hebele"#p13668 β€” Downtown Abbey theme


9\. @"MarieJ"#p13754 β€” Week #7


10\. @"plop_symphony"#p13763 β€” A Lincoln Tribute


11\. @"thepianoplayer416"#p13922 β€” Air in D minor


12\. @"BicBic"#p14003 β€”  Prelude in B flat minor - No.16 from Op.34


13\. @"Nightowl"#p14123 β€” Plaisir D'Amour


14\. @"bSharp"#p14368 β€” High Heels


15\. @"WieWaldi"#p14427 β€” Rainbow Connection


16\. @"SalmonJack"#p14468 β€” Alia


17\. @"Calavera"#p14503 β€” Chrono Cross - Scars of Time


18\. @"rsl12"#p14531 β€” Always Chew Your Food


19\. @"TC3"#p14547 β€” St. James Infirmary


20\. @"iternabe"#p14577 β€” The Trout


21\. @"ShiroKuro"#p14590 β€” Nuvole Bianche


22\. @"lilypad"#p14591 β€” Manhattan 1928


23\. @"TheBoringPianist"#p14635 β€” PrΓ©lude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18


24\. @"Rob"#p14638 β€” Sunday Morning


25\. @"diretonic"#p14674 β€” Borrowed Blues


26\. @"Rubens"#p14780 @Josephine β€” Waltz Op.70 no.2


27\. @"Serge88"#p14770 β€” Misty


28\. @"twocats"#p14814 β€” Rustle of Spring


29\. @"navindra"#p14837 β€” Bluebird


Enjoy!

    Performer: Player1
    Piece: Energico by Nancy Faber from Faber's Adult Piano book 3B
    Comment Policy: Any feedback is appreciated.

    Additional info: This piece ended up being an unintended duet with the cat, he actually wasn't all that bad in the vocals department. I maybe could have tried for another attempt to get rid of the playing hesitations and pauses, but the duet vibe was too strong.

      Performer: rogerch from California. I've been playing piano for 50 years, improvising for 4 years.
      Piece: Improvisation 6 by rogerch
      Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.

      Source of music: Improvised
      Instrument: Steinway M
      Recording method: Zoom H4n Pro
      Additional info: I recorded this as a warmup before attempting to record my piece for the ABF Fast Pieces recital. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

        Performer: Keff from UK. Intermediate player. Experience with this particular piece: just over a month at the time of recording the audio file.
        Title: A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. Music by Manning Sherwin, lyrics by Eric Maschwitz.
        Comments Policy: It is a work in progress and this particular recording contains a few lapses of concentration. I am not particularly looking for comments but questions are welcome.


        Source of music: Sheet music found on SheetMusicDirect.com purchased 1 July 24.
        Recording method: Recorded from acoustic piano with AudioTechnica microphone and Audacity. The thick blanket placed between the rear of the soundboard and the wall my upright is standing against has probably muffled the sound.
        Additional details: The video file was recorded in one take using mobile(cell) phone at the last minute. I was surprised how nervous I became doing this video.

          Performer: Sophia, Canada BC. Started (for real) in January 2024.
          Piece: Fascination by F. Marchetti
          Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

          Source of music: Alfred Adult All-in-One Course Level 2
          Instrument: 1990s Yamaha Clavinova
          Recording method: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
          Additional info: Not much else to say β€” I'm still steadily working my way through the Alfred books so this is basically a snapshot of where I am right now.

            Performer: Sgisela. I took lessons through high school, then re-started in 2020.
            Piece: Joropo by MoisΓ©s Moleiro
            Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.

            Source of music: Sheet music. The publisher from whom I bought it seems no longer to be in business (unfortunately), but it seems like it’s available here.
            Instrument: Estonia L210
            Recording method: iPhone
            Additional info: This is an old recording, as you will be able to tell when you see the video. But I submitted it for the ABF fast pieces recital and got a lot of positive comments. My submission for the upcoming ABF recital will be a work in progress piece (if I can manage to record a reasonable chunk of it), so I thought I would submit this older recording for the the inaugural PT recital.

            This is a Venezuelan joropo, which is a style of music/dance from the plains of Venezuela and Colombia. Traditionally, the instruments are a harp, a cuatro (which is a member of the guitar family), and maracas.

            This recording was actually meant to be a practice recording. I played it a little quicker than was fully comfortable for me, and there were definitely some issues with hands togetherness and some areas where I rushed. I was committed to playing this for a virtual holiday party, but when I tried to make a performance recording a few weeks later, I got recordings where I had fixed the togetherness/rushing issues, but I didn’t like the recordings as much. They lacked an energy that this one had. So I went with this earlier practice recording and edited in the holiday things.

              Performer: Kurt Kaufman from CT, USA. Formerly professional orchestral cellist in US and Belgium.
              Piece: Images (5) for orchestra by Claude Debussy, arr. Kurt Kaufman.
              Comment Policy: Anything constructive.
              Special Note: Since the five movements are separate videos, this is a playlist, of which the first five are the Images.

              Source of music: The original work is now in Public Domain. It, and my arrangement are available at IMSLP. The videos also include the sheet music.
              Instrument: Originally orchestra, this arrangement for piano solo.
              Recording method: At home on 2007 Yamaha C2, using Zoom H1n and edited in Amadeus Pro (reverb).
              Additional info: Took me a long time to learn to play this music, longer than the arranging itself! The introduction on the sheet music explains the arrangement process in a little more detail, but I used a serviceable music notation program, StaffPad, on an iPad.

                Performer: Sam S from Georgia, USA.
                Piece: Francis Poulenc - Perpetual Motion #1
                Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.

                Source of music: IMSLP
                Instrument: Yamaha C3
                Additional info: I have had some health problems recently (I broke my femur in a bicycle accident - I think that counts as a health problem!), so this piece is about the best I can manage right now. I was watching the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Rope", and one of the characters (one of the murderers!), sat down at a piano and started playing this piece. A little internet detective work and I found it. The movie is very odd, with a unique filming technique, and an even odder plot, so well worth finding and watching.

                I am under tempo, but the best I can do right now. It is not really perpetual motion, since it does have an ending, but the 2 measure LH repeats over and over. The RH is sometimes in g minor, sometimes in dorian mode, and sometimes uses the whole tone scale - so just as odd as everything else. But it all works! I have no idea why Hitchcock chose this music for his movie, but it does seem to fit.

                Sam

                  Performer: hebele. 5 months of self learning.
                  Piece: Downtown Abbey theme by John Lunn
                  Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                  Source of music: The arrangement is from Faber Adult Piano Adventures Popular 1 book.
                  Instrument: Roland FP-10
                  Recording method: Pianoteq
                  Additional info: The tempo is supposed to be way faster and I am not happy about dynamics as well. But it had already too many challenges for me. It was my first introduction to legato pedaling and arpeggio sign.

                    Performer: MarieJ from Brisbane, Australia. I've been flying solo on my piano journey since December 2011.
                    Piece: Week #7 by Fabrizio Paterlini
                    Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.

                    Source of music: Sheet music from composer’s website.
                    Instrument: Kawai ES110 with Pianoteq 8 (Standard).
                    Recording method: WAV file recorded by Pianoteq, converted to MP3 with Audacity.
                    Additional info: Gooseberry’s lovely choice for PianoWorld's ABF Quarterly Recital #74 reminded me that I'd lost track of Paterlini. I enjoyed playing this piece and hope you enjoy listening.
(When I first retired - decades ago - I explored creating wearable art by painting dyes on to pure silk. The accompanying video is made up of several of my better efforts.)

                      Performer: Arnold Lau, from the Philippines. Been playing for 1.5 years.
                      Piece: "A Lincoln Tribute" by Carol Matz
                      Comment Policy: Critical Comments

                      Source of music: 1st movement from the "Our Nation's Capital" recital suite (Alfred Music).
                      Instrument: Yamaha P71
                      Recording method: MIDI via Pianoteq
                      Additional info: Alfred has a recital suite (at least 3 movements, sometimes 4) for every single U.S. state (and DC), as well as a few dozen others for multi-state regions in the U.S. and some other countries, which I think is pretty cool. The tempo is a bit slower than indicated but I think this made more sense for a tribute.

                        Performer: thepianoplayer416. A long time user of Piano World Forum.
                        Piece: Air in D minor by Henry Purcell
                        Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.

                        Source of music: Online download.
                        Instrument: Yamaha C3 grand
                        Recording method: Canon M-200 camera
                        Additional info: I was out of town and came home recently. Came across an interesting short piece and decided to do a recording.

                          Performer: BicBic, currently in Utah. I played throughout school and intermittently since, current restart of piano practice is about 10 months.
                          Piece: Shostakovich - Prelude in B flat minor - No.16 from Op.34
                          Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                          Source of music: Sheet music - Peters Edition of Op.34.
                          Instrument: Digital Yamaha P-140
                          Recording method: Line out to audacity, merged with iphone video using Cyberlink.
                          Additional info: This is my first Shostakovich piece. I got this book of preludes after my friend was telling me about playing Shosta 5 in her community orchestra, and I felt like I wanted to play some Shostakovich too. I got this book of preludes as I believe it is overall a little less difficult than the more well known (I think) preludes + fugues. While learning this (and still now sometimes) I added in octave scales into the 5 mins of scales I do at the start of each practice session, to help with the two LH octave bits, which was the parts of this piece I found most tricky.

                            Performer: Nightowl, UK. Started playing November 2023.
                            Piece: Plaisir D'Amour by Giovanni Martini
                            Comment Policy: General comments, polite, supportive suggestions for improvement.

                            Source of music: Alfred's AIO Course Book 2.
                            Instrument: Donner DDP80+
                            Recording method: Acer Chromebook
                            Additional info: This is my first attempt at recording a piece on my digital piano, which was purchased a couple of months ago. The piece was quite a challenge for me and there are a couple of hesitations, but after umpteen attempts to get a half decent recording I felt this was likely to be the best I could manage at this stage. The tempo is a bit slow and the left hand is too heavy in places, but I'm just pleased I can play this lovely piece without any major gaffes. It's a piece I will keep working on as a labour of love.

                            "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                              Performer: bSharp from California. Playing for about 8 1/2 years now.
                              Piece: High Heels - Ludovico Einaudi
                              Comment Policy: General Comments

                              Source of music: Sheet Music from Essential Einaudi.
                              Instrument: Yamaha C3X Grand Piano
                              Recording method: Recorded video with my Samsung S23, and the audio with my laptop, Audacity and a Blue Snowball microphone. Video was rendered with Cyberlink PowerDirector.
                              Additional info: I hadn't played this piece in a long time, but came back quickly. Thought I would share this for the 1st PT recital! There are a couple of errors in the middle, I brainfaded and forget what I was doing, so you can think of them as added ornaments πŸ˜ƒ If you follow the sheet music you'll see there are things I missed. I played this from memory.

                                Performer: WieWaldi from Bavaria (near Germany) with 21/2 years of active practicing.
                                Piece: Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog
                                Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                                Source of music: Sheet music (musescore).
                                Instrument: Kawai CN-29
                                Recording method: Headphone-out -> DI-box -> Sony A6300 camera.
                                Additional info: My avatar is Rowlf the Dog from the Muppet Show. What else fits more than playing a tribute to his beloved show master Kermit the Frog?

                                "Rainbow Connection" is a song from the 1979 film The Muppet Movie, with music and lyrics written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher. The song was performed by Jim Henson – as Kermit the Frog – in the film. "Rainbow Connection" reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1979, with the song remaining in the Top 40 for seven weeks in total. Williams and Ascher received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 52nd Academy Awards.

                                  Performer: SalmonJack from Hood River, OR, USA. Playing sporadically over fifty-two years. Picking up the pace these days.
                                  Piece: Alia by SalmonJack
                                  Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                                  Source of music: My own composition.
                                  Instrument: Kawai MP9000
                                  Recording method: Kawai MP9000, Logic Pro, MacBook Air.
                                  Additional info: I suppose that when writing your own stuff a piece never stops being a work in progress. Alia is based on two disparate concepts: the melodic minor key and a character in my novel. As a character, Alia progressed out of a crushing domestic life into adventure sailing and then to an idyllic setting in the Pacific Northwest. Her introductory chapter is here.

                                  Musically, Alia is a start, a shell, a baseline (not bass line though that's how it begins) that can someday become something much larger. That will have to wait until my routine summer activities give way to our usual winter snowscape.

                                  The melodic minor scale is the natural minor with a raised 6th and 7th but only when ascending. It reverts to the natural minor when descending. Theoretically, this exists to help create smooth melodic lines in the minor scale but I don't think about it in those terms. I just want it to sound OK.

                                    Performer: Calavera in Belgium. Experience: about 10 years as a child and teenager, and about 5 years since my comeback as an adult.
                                    Piece: Chrono Cross - Scars of Time by Yasunori Mitsuda
                                    Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                                    Source of music: Sheet music
                                    Instrument: Yamaha P-125
                                    Recording method: Garritan CFX
                                    Additional info: Album: Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack. Piano arrangement by okeiko.

                                    I submitted this game's ending song (Radical Dreamers) a couple of years ago, and now I'm delighted to share its equally excellent opening theme. I'm not sure how I feel about scars of time, but this tune has most certainly been etched in my memory since my early teens. In spite (or because) of the piece's simple structure, I've always found it a joy to listen to. Its effectiveness is a real testament to Mitsuda's ability to come up with strong, riveting melodies.

                                    To be honest, while I enjoy playing the theme on the piano, I think only orchestral performances can really do it justice and reveal its 'true' beauty. Mitsuda's composition is incredibly rich and vibrant, and even the original version from 1999 sounded great despite the constraints of the sampling technology he had to make do with. That's why I love it when game composers shoot for the moon regardless of technical challenges: it ensures that their music remains relevant no matter how primitive the original tunes may sound. If it allows the Calaveras of this world to enjoy timeless musical gems, leaving all those scars in the fabric of time might be justified after all.

                                      Performer: rsl12 (USA). Piano has been a hobby for decades. First half of my piano life was focused on classical, but now I'm into jazz.
                                      Piece: Always Chew Your Food by Trout Fishing in America (Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet) with additional lyrics by rsl12 (inspired by Bellyman and maybe a little by Pallas )
                                      Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                                      Source of music: Improvised accompaniment, improvised solo.
                                      Recording method: I recently upgraded from using my phone to my new Blue Yeti microphone! I just put it on top of my piano and aimed it at my mouth as best as I could.
                                      Additional info: To motivate my daughter to keep practicing flute over the summer, we arranged for a two-family end-of-summer recital, where everyone from our families was to participate. She and her friend did a duet, and I did this song as a voice-guitar duet with the friend's mother on guitar. For this Pianotell recital, I added a piano accompaniment and few additional lyrics based on feedback from some of you. As you may know, I've been working on voice for a few months now, and I think I'm getting better! I'm unfortunately on the tail end of a cold with a lingering cough and sniffles. Sorry for the gross body noises!

                                      Trout Fishing in America is a Houston-based duo that makes fun folk songs and also quite a few children's albums. Here is their version of the song, if you're interested.

                                        Performer: TC3. I noodled on piano here and there when I was younger, then decided to take it up more seriously around 2012, but I only started practicing semi-regularly a few years later ...
                                        Piece: St. James Infirmary arr. by Gerald Martin
                                        Comment Policy: Constructive criticism welcome β€” I'll take all the help I can get!

                                        Source of music: The Joy of Boogie and Blues, arranged by Gerald Martin.
                                        Instrument: Roland GP609
                                        Recording method: cell phone with Zoom H4n Pro
                                        Additional info: A nice little arrangement; I especially like the abstract approach to the last several measures. The sheet music suggests a slow tempo and the example recording is played at about 60 bpm, but that seemed a little slow for me so I bumped it up a tad. It could still use some work but it's getting there.


                                        Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.