Some of you may remember that I've commented in various threads here how much I wish I had piano friends and casual opportunities to play for and/or with friends, and also how much I wish I had a cello or violin friend for duets --things I used to have before we moved.

Well I recently discovered that my town has a strings orchestra for adults (members are either purely adult beginners, or people who've restarted after playing in childhood). They rehearse regularly and give a few concerts per year. Again, I feel jealous! Why is there nothing like that for pianists!

But, I reached out to the organizer of that orchestra and asked if any of her members/students would be interested in playing with me. She invited me to join their private FB, and I posted there, and eventually I'll pay a visit to one of their rehearsals. I may or may not find someone to play duets with, but hopefully I can start gaining some musical friends.
🀞

    Well let's see if this leads to any actual connections! πŸ˜…

    Wait! I got a hit! πŸ˜ƒ

    A cellist has responded!! Yay, stay tuned, maybe we'll get to play together! That would make me so, so happy!

      I used to think the only kind of piano trio was a jazz type. Then I discovered that there is a classical equivalent with piano, violin and cello. I see collaborative opportunities about to happen.

      As an after thought, I wonder if Einaudi or similar modern composers wrote music for that type of trio?

      Einaudi writes lots of music that incorporates strings, and he has at least score books (which I own), one with scores for his pieces arranged for piano and cello, and the other for piano and violin. There are other contemporary composers who do either two or three part arrangements as well.

      That's what I used to play before we moved. For a while I had a cello friend, who then moved, and then after that I had a violin friend, until I moved.

      With these friends, I've always only played contemporary pieces.

      How great ShiroKuro that you found a cellist to play together with!
      I would also love to play together with others. But there is very little music written for early intermediate piano with another musician. If it even exists at all...

      *
      ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

        I probably missed it, but where are you ShiroKuro?

        I know this group is scattered all over the world.

        FWIW, I'm in north-central Tennessee, USA.

        @Bellyman sorry we're not close! I'm in the midwest, several states away from you! πŸ™

        Animisha there is very little music written for early intermediate piano with another musician.

        this is an unfortunate oversight in the musical literature isn't it!

        @ShiroKuro When our violin-playing daughter was young, I used to arrange music to play with her, pieces by Dvorak, Prokofiev and Ravel, for instance. I would reduce or omit the melodic line in the piano and write out a violin part.
        Conversely, since I play the cello, I would rearrange the piano parts to cello pieces (so she could accompany me) such that they were simpler than the original. In this way we played "The Swan", and Gounod's "Ave Maria" (with the Bach C-major Prelude, simplified), among other things.

        If you want to play with a cellist, investigate pieces by William Squire. They are not particularly difficult for the cello, and often the piano parts are fairly simple as well.

        I know that there are other books of short pieces for cellists and piano accompaniments are often not difficult.

        Lastly, there's no reason why you have to play everything that's written; you can simplify what you see on the page (within reason). It's a good skill to develop.

        @pseudonym58 That sounds wonderful!

        The only trouble with what you've described is that for adult piano learners, they often don't have someone who can do that kind of score modification for them. I'm lucky in that there's a lot of music (both solo and for piano and strings) that matches my playing level -- well, not lucky, I've just been playing long enough at this point. But it can be hard for adult musicians with less playing time under their fingers, even more so if they don't have a teacher or don't have a teacher who can (or has the time to) modify scores like that.

        ShiroKuro I am pleased that opportunities may be opening up for you to play with other musicians. This afternoon I have been attending a meeting of a piano group and although, on this occasion, everyone was playing solo pieces it does provide important social interaction. For the next meeting I am hoping to play a duet with a friend.

        @keff thank you !! What did you play this time?

        I am working on a piece that can be played solo or as violin+piano, so if I have the chance for piano gatherings, I'll be ready!

          @ShiroKuro
          Take a look at the "Sonatine" for violin and piano by Dvorak. I've played the piano part with my daughter, and I've also played the violin part on the cello (an octave lower than written).
          I don't remember the piano part as being difficult, and perhaps you might find a violinist or cellist that would be willing.

          ShiroKuro Following a request I played "Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" which was also the piece submitted to the PT recital. I had another piece (just about) prepared but there wasn't enough time to squeeze it in.

          @pseudonym58 this one? I don’t usually play classical music, but it’s quite nice. Which movement did you play? I think I could probably do the first two, but the last two would probably be a stretch.

            @keff awesome I bet that was a big hit!

              ShiroKuro It was quite a few years ago, but I know we played the first two movements at least. When I played it on the cello, it was part of a recital of violin music that I transcribed, which included movements of the Bach E major partita, the Debussy violin sonata and the Dvorak.
              But you might consider the whole thing, especially if you look at the music and see what you might be able to leave out if it's too complicated to play everything. Sometimes you can do things such as playing a single note bassline instead of successive octaves, sometimes it's thinning out a series of chords that are hard to play in succession. You can let your ear guide you as to what sounds convincing enough. I would bet that most non-professional pianists make some adjustments to anything complicated that they play.
              I've had my cello students sometimes ask me "What do you think the composer would have wanted here?" to which I usually answer "Never mind those details. Back then, the priority would have been to have sold another copy of the sheet music, so that the publisher would have been encouraged to give [him] an advance on more compositions!"

              @ShiroKuro By the way, The YouTube link that you referred us to features a very fast performance. You can play it considerably slower than that and still have it be effective!