Performer: Rubens from Canada. I've been playing since 1983
Piece: Sonata no.2, Op.36 (1913), 2nd movement, by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

Source of music: Unknown edition that I found online (it's public domain)
Instrument: Kawai ES920
Recording method: USB recording
Additional info: I initially wasn't sure whether to share this recording. But then I heard about a friend who is going through difficult times I changed my mind, because to me this music is about loss, but also hope. It's a piece that has given me comfort through difficult times of my own, so why not share it. There is a special moment near the end of the piece here, at 05:50, a moment of catharsis where the mood shifts from the darkest despair to unexpected hope, magically. From then on it seems the cold and harsh winter night has finally turned into a warm blanket... of snow.

    Performer: Summer, United States, 9 years experience
    Piece: Sonata No.3 in A Minor by Sergei Prokofiev
    Comment Policy: Critical comments: Anything goes!

    Source of music: imslp.org
    Instrument: Piano
    Recording method: IPad lmao
    Additional info: This piece is really difficult. Really fun sonata to play once you get it down, though!

      Performer: Gooseberry from Poland. I started learning to play the piano in 2021.
      Piece: Pigalle by Virginio Aiello
      Comment Policy: General Comments, polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement

      Source of music: Sheet music purchased from Sheet Music Plus
      Instrument: Yamaha CLP 735
      Recording method: iPhone
      Additional info: Sorry for the gloves – my hands get easily cold so I often wear gloves even at home. Actually, I didn’t notice I was wearing them until I was halfway through the recording 🧐! But as I had decided that I would have only one take, just as if it were a real live recital, that was it.

        Performer: Rob
        Piece: Lost by Rob
        Comment Policy: Anything goes.

        Source of music: Own composition
        Instrument: Kawai ES920
        Recording method: Cubase + VSTi
        Additional info: A re-recording of a short piece composed about fifteen years ago.

          Performer: TC3
          Piece: "Worried Life Blues" by Big Maceo Merriweather
          Comment Policy: Constructive criticism welcome -- don't be rude, though 🙂

          Source of music: my own arrangement, more or less (see below)
          Instrument: Roland GP609
          Recording method: Zoom H4n Pro (built-in stereo condenser mics aimed at the soundboard), a Shure PGA52 (underneath the piano to capture more bass), and a Shure SM58 (for the vocals).
          Additional info: This is nowhere near ready for prime time, but I did promise I'd submit something ... The tune is by one of the Chicago blues greats, Big Maceo Merriweather. I've cobbled something together by listening, peeking at some transcriptions, changing and simplifying where needed, and semi-improvising (especially the call-and-response piano bits, which are just from a set of stock licks and scales, mixed and matched). I’ve opted to keep it pretty simple (note the quarter-note barrelhouse LH pattern for most of the tune), as I intend to play with this my "garage band" (my wife on drums and a pal on guitar), and I don't want it to end up sounding too busy or dense (Big Maceo himself plays with Tampa Red on guitar). It all needs some polishing, but it's getting there.


          Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.

            Performer: lilypad from Vancouver, WA, USA. 8 yrs as a child; then since retiring in 2004
            Piece: God Bless the Child by Arthur Herzop and Billie Holiday
            Comment Policy: General Comments

            Source of music: Sheet music book "The Best Jazz Standards Ever"
            Instrument: Yamaha digital CLP-635
            Recording method: Digital/USB/Audacity to normalize
            Additional info: I first heard this back in the late 1960's when Blood, Sweat & Tears came out with it. After making my first recording, I realized that the rhythm was too steady and not like the version I have in my head. I listened to the Blood, Sweat & Tears recording and tried to incorporate their rhythmic nuances. The results were very tentative sounding compared to my original confident and boring rhythm version. I decided to stick with my first recording.


              Performer: BicBic, currently in Utah. Played through school etc, current restart of piano is now ONE whole year!
              Piece: Scriabin - Prelude no.4 in E minor from Op 11
              Comment Policy: Anything goes

              Source of music: IMSLP
              Instrument: Digital Yamaha P-140
              Recording method: Line out to Audacity, combined with iphone video in Powerdirector
              Additional info: I haven't played much Scriabin. I suppose most of his pieces are a bit too tricky for me! Learning the notes of this prelude is the easier part I think, trying to get the musicality is much harder and I don't think I'm quite there. Very enjoyable to play and learn!

                Performer: Javier from Mexico. I've been practicing for 5 years
                Piece: Sonatas K. 208 and K. 380 by Scarlatti
                Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                Source of music: IMSLP
                Instrument: Yamaha B1
                Recording method: Pixel 8 Pro
                Additional info: I'm performing these pieces on my piano recital/exam on november 22 so this was a great performance practice.

                  Performer: SalmonJack from Hood River, OR, USA. Playing sporadically since 1973. Picking up the pace these days.
                  Piece: Bliss Ten 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: Two advantages of writing your own music is that 1) no one can compare my playing to anyone else's and 2) no one can definitively point out the mistakes. (It's a fine line between a mistake and pure genius). I find blissful solitude while hiding in my studio creating music.

                  I started this piece with an interesting contradiction I found in the I-V dyad (in my case, D): you can't tell whether you're in the major or minor key without more context. The first section, even just the first four measures, provide context for both. I'm not sure why that lit me up, but it did.

                  I will play this piece better in the future but for now I have to step away from it to get some perspective.

                  More blissful solitude. Take ride on the Columbia River. My boat is a Finn, an Olympic racing class from 1952 to 2020, a boat I've sailed for more than 50 years. If you want to read about the nut cases like me who sail this thing you can find an excerpt from my novel at http://paganusersmanual.com/finns.

                    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: "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" by WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.
                    Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                    Source of music: Arrangement by CD Sheet Music
                    Recording method: I've decided my Blue Yeti microphone works best on top of the piano, right in the middle.
                    Additional info: I've been taking voice lessons for a few months (as part of reaching my fun goal of being able to entertain at nursing homes). I'm doing this song in an in-person recital on the 17th, and I've been practicing the voice part for about two months (I'll have a pianist). When I found out about this Pianotell recital three weeks ago, I decided to learn the piano part as well. Singing this song was challenge enough, even without piano! I hear lots of faults in the recording that I could correct with more time. The piece is very fun, so I'll try to improve it and keep it in my repertoire. I hope it's entertaining, even with all the flubs!

                      Performer: sgisela
                      Piece: Do Tebe (to you), Vitaly Filipenko
                      Comment Policy: polite comments only

                      Source of music: sheet music
                      Instrument: Estonia L210
                      Recording method: iPhone
                      Additional info: I’ve had a very complicated last few weeks and haven’t gotten around to recording one of the pieces I’ve been working on. So I’m posting this older recording. I submitted a recording of this piece to PW about a year ago, but I continued to work on it a little bit, and while this remains far from a perfect recording, it is closer to how I hear it in my head, compared to the earlier recording.

                      I came across this piece when I was listening to my favorite classical music radio station, WFMT. They have a program called Introductions, which features young musicians living in Chicagoland. One week, they did a special on Ukrainian-American musicians and Ukrainian composers. One of the featured pianists, Myroslav Myhailenko, played this piece, and I loved it. But when I looked for it online, I couldn’t find it anywhere. There are a few recordings on YouTube, but I was at a loss for the sheet music. So I emailed the host of the program, and he very kindly asked the pianist if he’d be able to share the sheet music. Myroslav quickly sent it to me! And I’m so glad he did.

                        Performer: ShiroKuro, Midwest, 25 years
                        Piece: Reminiscence, Takashi Kako
                        Comment Policy: Polite Comments only: no suggestions for improvement please.

                        Source of music: Sheet music by the composer
                        Instrument: Yahama C2 (acoustic grand)
                        Recording method: iPhone on a shelf behind the piano.
                        Additional info: This was my first take. I made one more recording after this which actually had fewer mistakes, except that I made a mistake in one of my favorite spots in the piece. So, since I don't have time to make and upload a recording tonight, I decided to use the first recording, even though it has more mistakes, because the mistakes are less critical IMO. 😃

                        By the way, this is one of the three pieces I'm scheduled to play in the concert that I've been posting about. (Unless I decide it's better left off the program -- what do you think??) The concert is just under two weeks away now. The plan is to play this one last. Wish me luck.

                        And thanks for listening!

                          Performer: Pathbreaker
                          Piece: Larghetto by Germaine Tailleferre
                          Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

                          Source of music: sheet music (Deux Pieces Pour Piano)
                          Instrument: Yamaha N1X, Modern D
                          Recording method: Cubase, Audacity
                          Additional info: Still a work in progress. Hope you enjoy.

                            Performer: diretonic
                            Piece: Chega de Saudade (No More Blues) by A.C. Jobim
                            Comment Policy: All comments welcome

                            Source of music: My arrangement
                            Instrument: Layered sampled pianos
                            Recording method: Cubase
                            Additional info: Recorded a few years back when arthritis was beginning to trouble me hence required a couple of performance edits. Listening now I feel the arrangement here and there is far too busy so I might have another stab at this soon.

                              Performer: Navindra Umanee in the USA. On and off piano lessons since September 2019.
                              Piece: The Entertainer by Scott Joplin arr. by Willard A. Palmer, Morton Manus, and Amanda Vick Lethco
                              Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes! Please let me know what you think of the tuning and sound of the piano as well!

                              Source of music: Alfred's Basic Adult All-in-One Course, Book 1
                              Instrument: Ritmüller UH121R by Pearl River
                              Recording method: I touched up the tuning on the piano using the amazing CyberHammer with the equally mind-blowing pianoscope app. I used close miking with the onboard mics on a Tascam Portacapture X8 near the bottom part of the harp and I had a matched pair of the Audix SCX25A mikes behind me. I mixed the mics using Audacity, and using Logic Pro, added a touch of reverb with Space Designer’s Piano Warmth and let Mastering Assistant work its magic. I decided to favor a player perspective for this upright.
                              Additional info: I originally played this piece for my teacher's 2024 Halloween Piano Party and I recorded it at home for PianoTell. I can't wait to graduate from Alfred Book 1.

                                Well, as there were so many fascinating pieces submitted this round, I have decided to take my time and savour them all over the next few days/weeks. I will comment as I listen... so far I have only listed to

                                iternabe — O mio babbino caro

                                And what a lofty piece to start the recital with! @iternabe we basically started our piano journey around the same time, so it gives this wonderful feeling of "growing up" together. I think you have been making fantastic progress, obviously your zeal and eye for detail are paying off. Very delicately and musically played. And what performance isn't enhanced by a few furry friends watching over you ^_^

                                  Yay!!! Congratulations everyone!! And thank you @navindra for all of your work bringing this together!!

                                  I'm looking forward to listening! But gotta get back to work first!

                                  Sophia I'm doing the same, will take my time and listen / respond to a few at a time. I'm going to try to go in more-or-less random order as well. Where's my D&D dice bag? I must have a d27 in there somewhere ... 😃


                                  Enthusiastic but mediocre amateur.