PianoTell Recital #1 Is Now Live!

thepianoplayer416 That was short and sweet.
Well done for getting it recorded in such a short time.

Congratulations all. I have only had time to listen to a few bits but you all did an awesome job getting pieces in for the first PT recital.

@BicBic I really enjoyed your playing, and the camera angle was just perfect.

@bSharp That was lovely. I really must listen to more Einaudi. Video effects were great.

@SalmonJack I always like when compositions are linked to a story, and yours is excellent, connected to imaginative video work.

@Calavera Quality audio recording. So much contrast in the piece. I could almost hear a full orchestra backing you.

@rsl12 This really put a smile on my face! Your singing improves with everything you do, and you were so laid back and relaxed throughout. That was fun

@TC3 I have always liked that song, and the arrangement and performance worked perfectly. The retro, black and white movie effect, was icing on the cake.

@iternabe I didn't realise that Faber had such good tunes. I especially liked your light touch.

More later, when I get a chance to listen some more.

Sophia @rogerch You know you are my improvision inspiration right? Compared with your previous piece which featured a lot of daring harmonies, I'm seeing huge improvements with you too. The harmonies just flowed. It's hard to believe that it was improvised throughout - it comes across as an original composition that you could have worked on for weeks. Well done!
TRUTH. This conversation just happened. My husband came in and commented "what a very pretty piece". I told him that it is improvised on the spot and he was absolutely flabbergasted. What more needs to be said

Thanks for the nice feedback and the great story about your husband Sophia. I am flattered!

bSharp 2. rogerch — Improvisation 6
Well played, I always envy those that can improve and make stuff up that sounds great. Where do you place the H4n for recording? I'm considering getting one myself.

Thanks bSharp! For this recording I had the H4n on a tripod about 3 feet away from the open side of the piano, a little further back from the curve, pointing down at the strings. I've tried several different positions and I'm not completely satisfied with any of them.

I'm considering getting a new recorder that removes the need to set gain when recording. I haven't done the research, but I saw a discussion on pianoworld about this a few months back

TC3 @rogerch : Lovely! I always enjoy your improvisations and great envy your ability. Sometime you’ll have to talk more about how you learned to do that. I’m curious where you set up your Zoom. Is it under the piano?

Thanks TC3!

I work a lot on scales and chords in major and minor keys, followed by improvising in that key. I also work on trying to ignore what I know about keys and just play things that sound good. I work on a lot of random things to try to keep things fresh.

The zoom is about three feet away from the curve of the piano, pointing down at the strings.

ShiroKuro @rogerch very nice, I really enjoyed that! Especially gentle glide into the ending! May I ask what the artwork is behind the piano?

Thanks ShiroKuro! The artwork is a painting by Eric Waugh. You can see the whole piece in the Post Pictures thread.

Also, can I ask about your background? You've been playing for a long time, was your training classic or other styles? How did you get into improvising?

I've been playing on and off as a hobby since I was 7 (I'm 57 now). I took 8 years of lessons as a kid and another 8 years as a young adult. My lessons as a young adult were mostly focused on classical but I also played ragtime and new age music. I got into improvising because after a lifetime of reading from sheet music it still takes me a huge amount of time to learn a piece and I wanted to be able to just sit down and play. Learning to improvise has been very fun and rewarding! There is more detail in the Share Your Piano Journey thread.

rogerch I guess you were both using the Kawai SK-EX samples?

Thanks for your nice comment!

We were using different samples. I tried to record it again with the same settings as Rubens but I failed to get a good recording. It's funny how different the touch response is when you use a different setting. The setting Rubens used was more sensitive, so some notes sounded way too loud when I tried to record it again. I often use the mellow grand, or the studio grand with the settings changed to mellow, so I used one of those. @Rubens used a mix of two pianos, but maybe he can tell about that because I don't remember the settings exactly. Yesterday I tried to mix other pianos for fun, but not all combinations sound good. I noticed some pianos have a different stretch, so when combined large parts of the keyboard sound out of tune.

twocats well, since you asked so nicely... https://forum.pianotell.com/d/1114-competing-in-an-amateur-competition-wipac-2024

Rob Thanks! You're the first person to mention the video effect. That was borne of necessity ... I forgot to lock the exposure setting on my phone camera and cars passing by were casting shadows, causing the camera to auto-adjust and just plain flicker. I decided to lean into it and use the corny old-time effect in iMovie to cover it up!

rogerch Thanks for the info. Learning and practicing improv is so much harder for me than learning something from sheet music. I'm never quite sure what to practice, and I feel like I've spent my time just "noodling," making it hard to judge if I've accomplished anything during a practice session.

keff Quite welcome, and thanks again for sharing your playing.

rogerch I guess you were both using the Kawai SK-EX samples?

I used Dual mode sounds: SK Concert Grand, with volume balance at 9, and EX Concert Grand with volume balance at 7. This is to try to replicate the sound of my acoustic piano. Quite different from Josephine's mellow grand sound. I should probably have used the same sample as hers!

TC3 rogerch Thanks for the info. Learning and practicing improv is so much harder for me than learning something from sheet music. I'm never quite sure what to practice, and I feel like I've spent my time just "noodling," making it hard to judge if I've accomplished anything during a practice session.

I wrote more detail about how I study improvisation in the Piano Journey thread

Here’s my next batch.

20. iternabe — The Trout. Wonderful job! This is fantastic progress for 7 months. I think you did a great job bringing out the character of the piece.

21. ShiroKuro — Nuvole Bianche. I have not spent much time listening to Einaudi. Your playing is lovely, and I feel the serenity of the white clouds. I found the most interesting moment to be the very final chord and how the sounds got layered and then faded. There was something strangely evocative of an electronic instrument in that moment, although I know this was your Yamaha C2! I thought the dying sound — and how that last chord changed with the different decays — was really intriguing, and if I have one comment, it’s to think about not lifting the damper pedal until the sound fully dies out — or at least to experiment with this. It may be asking a little of the audience, but I really felt it was one of the more interesting aural experiences of the piece.

22. lilypad — Manhattan 1928. Great job with this! I definitely got ‘roaring 20s Manhattan’ vibes!

23. TheBoringPianist — Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18. Thanks so much for sharing this! I’m amazed that you put this together in so little time. It felt like you were a little tentative at the beginning but quickly got into it. Kudos!

24. Rob — Sunday Morning. What a lovely composition! I can see how you were imagining a ballerina! They make it look so effortless and lovely!

I listened to the submissions in a calm a dark summer night, while riding my bicycle to chill out. And I must say, this was a very nice experience at all. I liked all submissions and I think it is a very successful premiere of #1. I hope I remember all my impressions I got that night and write it down. Well - at least I remember I must change my recording setup as my own piece has a lot of hiss inside and the overall audio quality was very poor. (Good bye DI-box and hello synchronizing audio&video).

Player1 Some quite fast runs with RH, seems challenging to me. I have seen some of your vids before and I must say, you improved your playing by a margin. But this time I noticed something, I didn't realize all the time before: Your knees, they are at height of the keyboard, most players have them below the keyboard. Or in other words, it seems your keyboard is at a very low height. Is there any reason for it? (Just curious)

rogerch In my opinion, this is your best improvisation so far. It could be easily something that has been composed. It is very harmonic and it is pleasing to listen to. Please more of that, thank you in advance!

keff For both, the mp3 and video link, there is a lot to like about this submission: I like this kind of music. And I like how relaxing and smoothely you played it. I like the tempo and the mood that comes by listening to it.

Sophia Listening the first time to it, I wondered: She broke with the rythm, whats up with her? But still, it sounds good... And then: Ah - the piece is itself is switching from waltz to a 4/4 beat. Something fairly uncommon. The only beat switching I am familiar so far was from 2/4 to 3/4. So it was a very interesting experience for me. Sophia, you played is very nice, very relaxed with your hands and you kept a good and steady tempo through the entire piece. In my opinion you played this Alfred's so beautiful, that you can add a checkmark and move to the next piece - or blues lesson. Well done, I liked it a lot.

Sgisela I enjoyed this piece already in the fast pieces recital. And to the risk I repeat, some passages still reminds me to some bavarian traditional folk music - but faster. About fast - this piece is very fast and seems also quite challenging to me. Well done!

Sam Very nicely played and again this is a very interesting piece. Some well place dissonances to create some tension to be resolved later. If I remember correctly, your previous recital piece had unexpected stops. It seems, you are continuing to select pieces away from main-stream. Good choice, I like to have diversity here. Get well soon, with best wishes. And as always, thank you for keeping the recital tradition running. Even if this is the wrong forum, but we all know this wouldn't happen if you didn't run it in PW all the years.

hebele You played this piece astounding well. And you put a lot of feeling into it, so it didn't sound anything like beginner. I can't believe you are just at 5 months of self-learning. It sounds like are are a lot longer into piano playing. I would pull off my hat, if I had one. But I am pulling off my headphones, because that comes closest. Big bravo!

MarieJ Very dreamy and beautifully performed. The art in your video is a superb match to the piece, a very good choice to do so.

plop_symphony Whatever you played, it sounds amazing. A put a lot of feeling into it. I don't know how it would sound if the tempo would be higher, but I can tell the tempo of your choice was just right and the entire piece sounded so lovely. If there is one thing to improve, I would say the very last note deserves an even longer decay for my liking. That's it. Everything else was just perfect.

thepianoplayer416 What a deligthful piece on a beautiful instrument. So nice to see how good you can perform on a proper instrument, compared to the spring loaded travel equiment that held back your skills. Well done.

Nightowl You played the entire piece in a very steady tempo and also very clean. The piece seems not to be easy, there are some challenging parts inside. And you did it completely without a single mistake in one take. This is very good for a couple of months of playing. If there is something to improve, I would say it is the fluidity of playing. I don't find better words for it and can not exactly describe it. Not sure if playing more legato is the right term. But I am sure this comes over time automatically if you are paying just a little bit attention to it during practice. Just a little attention - all things you did right are IMO more important at this learning stage. Can't wait to see your progress in 3 months at recital #2.

bSharp I love Einaudi. His pieces may be minimalistic or whatever they are described to be. (I don't know if minimalism is the right term, but looking to the sheet music, it seems to be everything but easy) Only thing I know, Einaudi need a well performed interpretation to shine. Dynamics, rubato and much more fine details. And you had them all in yours. Very well played, it was a pleasure to listen to your version.

SalmonJack I love the video cut, I love the piece, and I love how beautiful you played it. I think as an adult beginner I can only dream to be able to play (and compose) some day as amazing as you do. You can be very proud of your premiere of this forum's rectials. Kudos.

Calavera I loved your music choices at the very first time over in PW, and I still do. Your performances had been always a joy to listen to, and this is no exception. The big thing that makes yours so outstanding is the fact you are playing this computer-game / anime genre from japanese composers. It is so nice to hear an entire different style of music from you. And on top of that very well performed. Big respect to your playing abilities and a big thank you for your remarkable musical choices of the pieces.

rsl12 This one was so much fun to listen. I love the bluesy style (or jazzy - I can't even draw a line to tell if something is Blues or Jazz), and the lyrics always make me smile when I hear it. (Yes, right now I listened to it the 5th time) The first time I heard your submission it was in a dark summer night, outside, sitting on my bike and wearing earbuds. And then I was thinking about how this would fit into a movie like Toy-Story. You know, when riding a bicyle at night, not reading any text, that brain comes up with a lot of pictures and funny ideas. The one that your song painted into my mind, was to have this song at a scene when two characters in a Toy Story like movie are becoming friends and having a great time together. No talking, no sound effects, just pictures and this song. Big thank you for sharing this piece.
Anything else? Yes - you improved you singing skills. The first time I had the impression you are afraid of wrong notes and you were holding back your voice. Not this time. This time is was way better. Bravo! Can't wait to see your next recital.

TC3 I with I could play the Blues with the same expression as you. Not to mention the difficulty level of yours is way higher. Very well performed, and I like the way of aging the video, especially the vignette effect.

iternabe The piece might be at an easy level, but you compensated it with a very clean playing. And the nice thing about your submission are the dynamics and the fluidity of your playing. It is really a joy to watch your videos (not just the recital piece) and you are doing remarkably well with your progress.

ShiroKuro It is indeed a pity that the audio quality is not the best. But your playing was. You are building this piece very well up, adding more and more complexity. And after a very short time of listening, I thought: okay - this will be some great 6 minutes of enjoying your music. And then it slowed down, seemed almost to come to an end and I really thought: "What? 6 minutes are over? Already? That can't be true, I want more of that. Okay, I can repeat it when is finished." But thank god it wasn't over, this piece kept going and it was just as nice as before. Nevertheless I repeated it, three more times in a row! I think you just got the essence of Einaudi's composition exactly as it is inteded to be. Big thumbs up! This is a very beautiful submission.

lilypad This is another example of a very well performed piece, we beginners can just dream of to be able to play. Did I hear some blue notes? I love the calm mood, it is to soothing, so relaxing to listen to. I think there was mistake (or call it hickup) to hear, but I prefer to listen to a version with all the good expression over a errorfree one that is played more like a robot. Thank you for sharing.

Second bunch of comments coming soon.

Sophia @rsl12
WOW!!!! For a moment I thought I had entered the movie Toy Story - I love, LOVE, LOVE that theme. Your singing has improved SO MUCH, wow, a HUGE leap from the previous recital. And the piano complemented it so nicely... I could listen to that type of music for hours! Love the lyrics too, did I mention it should be used in a movie? And who can help but smile back when a performance ends with such a happy smile... loved it from start to finish!

LOL - Toy Story was also my very first thought while listening to it. And I was NOT reading this comment before. @rsl12 - you should send a demo-tape to Pixar.