Performer: rogerch from California. I've been playing for 50+ years
Piece: Flutter by rogerch
Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.
Source of music: Improvised
Instrument: Steinway M
Recording method: Zoom H1essential
Additional info: I've been working on improvisation for about 4.5 years. It's been lots of fun and I've learned a lot!
Performer: Nightowl, UK. I began playing piano 14 months ago.
Piece: Frankie and Johnnie
Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.
Source of music: Alfred's Adult AIO Piano Course Level 2.
Instrument: Donner DDP-80Plus
Recording method: Chromebook
Additional info: The composer's name is not attributed, but the original folk song was written in 1899 by Bill Dooley, and it was based on the true story of a woman who shot her lover after he "did her wrong" by cheating with another woman. The first published copyright version of the song, by Hughie Cannon, appeared in 1904 and has been covered by several musicians over the years.
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
Performer: Peyton
Piece: A Dream of Far Away (part two) by Peyton
Source of music: Original improvisation
Instrument: Yamaha GP-295
Recording method: Studio One
Additional info: It was one of those days... I sat down to just play and this sort of eastern sound began to happen. Once I had a good feeling for what I was doing I got out the camera and started to record. When I finished I listened and thought i would try to add drum sounds from the keyboard. After that I listened and decided to add violin. (It was reminding me a lot of my favorite king Crimson song from the early 70's, Larks Tounges in Aspic which has a woncderful David Cross violin). After that, having so much fun, I decided to keep going and changed the key, slowed it down and went through the same process of piano first, then drum sounds and finally violin. What I'm submitting here is that second version. The first version is up on youtube as well. Thank you for listening.
Performer: Animisha - Tumba, Sweden
Piece: To a wild rose by Edward MacDowell
Comment Policy: Friendly comments only: no suggestions for improvement please.
Source of music: Arrangement by Ilinca Vartic
Instrument: Kawai VPC-1 with Pianoteq Bechtstein D282
Recording method: Audio: Pianoteq, Video: iPhone, merged in iMovie.
Additional info: A lovely piece to practise!
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Performer: keff
Piece: Summertime, originally from Porgy and Bess by G. Gershwin et al. This is a short jazz arrangement from Brent Edstrom.
Comment Policy: Polite comments on the piece are welcome. There are some performance slips caused by recording nervousness.
Source of music: Sheet music obtained from Sheet Music Direct, a subsidiary of Hal Leonard.
Recording method: The recording made by use of a mobile phone and uploaded into YT.
Performer: iternabe from North Carolina, USA. I am about just over 1 year into learning piano.
Piece: Malagueña (Traditional Spanish folk dance theme, arranged by Faber)
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!
Source of music: Faber Adult Piano Adventures All-in-One Book 2.
Instrument: Roland FP-30X + Pianoteq 8.3 Bösendorfer 280VC
Recording method: Audio: digital out of Pianoteq. Video: OBS Studio + Webcams
Additional info: I have been taking zoom lessons from @Seeker. One of the first things he taught me is to be aware of the of strong and weak beats inherent of the music, and making coordinated movement of wrist, finger and arm with that rhythmic throbbing. I practiced to incorporate these movements into this piece. The movements may even look a little exaggerated? The change in sound is undoubtedly emerging. This does not come natural to me, and it still takes a lot of practice. It will be at the forefront of my mind when learning new pieces.
Performer: Sophia + Special Guest Star @rsl12
Piece: Just a "Good Old Tune" by Willard A. Palmer
Comment Policy: Anything goes!
Source of music: Alfred Adult All-in-One Course Level 3 page 72
Instrument: Clavinova, Melodica
Recording method: DaVinci Resolve
Additional info: When I learned this piece with the adorable lyrics, it was just after @rsl12's recital of Modern Major-General and I realized immediately that it would be a perfect match. And here we are, performing together from across the continent!
Performer: rach3master, 25+ years
Piece: Call of Silence: Attack on Titan OST / Hiroyuki Sawano
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!
Source of music: Sheet music
Instrument: NY Steinway D
Recording method: Various Schoeps cardioid and omnidirectional mics
Additional info: This is an emotional track from the popular anime series Attack on Titan, arranged by the YouTuber Animenz. The arrangement reaches such an intensity that I discovered some annoying mechanical noises on a few keys that the tuner was unable to fix, and as such had to painstakingly remove them one at a time in post-production. Acoustic pianos are certainly high maintenance compared to the digital ones I used to record on!
Performer: Arnold Lau, Philippines, 2 years
Piece: A Hermit Crab Surfing by Akira Miyoshi
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!
Source of music: Piano album A Diary of the Sea
Instrument: Yamaha P-71
Recording method: MIDI via Pianoteq
Additional info: Akira Miyoshi (1933-2013) is a Japanese classical composer. A Diary of the Sea was his second piano album for children, first published in 1982.
Performer: Player1
Piece: Legend of Madrid by Nancy Faber
Comment Policy: Open to all comments
Source of music: Faber 3B Lesson book
Instrument: My Casio
Recording method: Samsung S9
Additional info: This is very raw. I haven't been able to play since December 2023 and wasn't able to polish this for this recital. There are a couple of bad performance errors and lots of pauses and hesitations in it that I normally would have been able to fix except I can't play right now.
Performer: MarieJ from Brisbane Australia. Flying solo on my piano journey since December 2011
Piece: I Giorni by Ludovico Einaudi
Comment Policy: General Comments only: Polite, supportive, suggestions for improvement.
Source of music: ‘Ludovico Einaudi - The Best Of’ sheet music album
Instrument: Kawai ES110 with Pianoteq 8 (Standard)
Recording method: WAV file recorded by Pianoteq, converted to MP3 with Audacity
Additional info: I first heard I Giorni on digital radio in December 2011, when I was a disheartened long-term serial starter, about to close the piano lid permanently. Before Einaudi played the final note I knew - AT LAST - that I’d found the type of music that I wanted to be able to play.
Decades later, I’m still in love with the composer, his music, and the piano.
This is still a work in progress, as usual, but it’s the longest piece I’ve ever recorded and my concentration was really stretched!
The video is a parade of the 11 pianos I have begged, borrowed, or bought since I first laid fingers on a shabby old player-piano way back in the 1950s.
Performer: hebele. About one year of of self learning.
Piece: Minuet in G by Christian Petzold. Because it would be a shame if a recital is missing a beginner playing Minuet in G.
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!
Source of music: Random pdf found in the net with strange annotations. I've made it mine by adding more.
Instrument: Roland FP10 with Pianoteq.
Recording method: Pianoteq midi and crappy smartphone front camera. With horrible audio-video sync. Sorry!
Additional info: Lots of bad decisions made here. I've made it unnecessarily hard by trying to learn trills/mordents. Then changed the suggested fingering to play the trills easier. Did not follow a good practice discipline so it took way longer than it should. Now I hope I've passed this rite of passage even if with some scars.
Performer: Pathbreaker
Piece: Op. 116 No. 6, Intermezzo in E major - Brahms
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!
Source of music: sheet music
Instrument: Yamaha N1X, VI Labs Modern D
Recording method: OBS Studio
Additional info:
Performer: Calavera from Belgium. Experience: about 10 years as a child and teenager, and about 6 years since my comeback as an adult.
Piece: Antipyretic by Hitoshi Sakimoto
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!
Source of music: Sheet music
Instrument: Yamaha P-125
Recording method: Garritan CFX
Additional info: Album: Final Fantasy Tactics Original Soundtrack. Arrangement by Sebastian Maurel (with some tweaks).
Here's another fun and brisk battle theme. As learning more demanding pieces tends to take me a million years these days due to my other commitments, I've begun to appreciate and treasure shorter gems even more than I used to. I'm quite fond of this theme's whimsical title too!
Performer: WieWaldi / Bavaria (near Germany), 3 years of active practicing
Piece: Frisco Blues by Christian Fuchs
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!
Source of music: sheet music
Instrument: Kawai CN-29 (Upright Piano sample)
Recording method: Headphone-jack to PC (OBS-Studio)
Additional info: I totally forgot about the recitals, until Navindra posted a wake-up call 20 days ago. Thank god, I have the Eight Easy Blues Pieces sheet music collection to get a beginner's title working. I added a 5th note to the bass line and, it worked out well.
Performer: Sam from Georgia USA - playing about 16 years now.
Piece: Schumann op 15-6 - "An Important Event" from the Scenes from Childhood
Comment Policy: Polite and Supportive comments only - thanks!
Instrument: Yamaha C3
Additional info: One of my local piano groups had a challenge to play something from Schumann's "Scenes from Childhood" and this was my entry. It is under tempo and has a few mistakes, but that is nothing new for me! Schumann's metronome marking is insane - who can play that fast? Not me. Anyway, playing it too fast takes away from the mock seriousness of the whole thing. That's my story and I am sticking to it!
Yes, there are two grand pianos in my music room right now - I am helping a friend who had to move into assisted living and sell her car, house, and piano - very sad. So the extra piano is only temporary until it sells.
Performer: SalmonJack from Hood River, OR, USA. Playing sporadically since 1973. Picking up the pace these days.
Piece: Just Mist 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: So that when the time came to post this, I kept notes on the progress of my composition so I could explain, maybe to myself only, how it evolved. Looking at those notes, dating clear back to November, I have no idea what they mean. This composition tells no story, has no background and is nothing more than something, hopefully pleasant, to listen to. Also, mysteriously, I played it much better a month ago when I wasn't recording. The more I played, the worse I played. I had to cut off the process before it sounded like Alice in Chains playing Mozart.
There are two videos for the same recording. This one is for anyone interested in following the music and its chords and structure. The other, is to look at pretty things while listening.
Performer: Rob
Piece: 'Pembrokeshire Promise.' by Rob
Comment Policy: Anything goes
Source of music: ... Own Composition
Instrument: ... Kawai ES920 (as MIDI controller)
Recording method: ... Native instruments The Giant VST in Cubase
Additional info: This solo piano version, was originally recorded several years ago, as a mutitrack, using various internal piano and orchestral intrument sounds on my then new, kawai MP5, when I was feeling particularly homesick for my native Wales, UK. (The opening notes are a nod to the last line of the National anthem)
Performer: BicBic in Utah
Piece: Mazurka Op.6 No.2 by Chopin
Comment Policy: Any and all!
Source of music: Sheet Music - Peters Edition
Instrument: Digital Yamaha P-140
Recording method: Line out to audacity, iphone video, combined in Lightworks (my latest video editing thing I'm trying)
Additional info: I find the Chopin mazurkas so fun! This is an early one. I believe there is a quote of some musical 'peer' of Chopin dismissing him as just a simple composer of Polish folk music, I googled but couldn't find it though. I like that the Mazurkas are fairly 'simple' in form and style, not necessarily to play though! This is the first Mazurka I've played since my piano restart just over a year ago, but there are a handful I played during my covid piano restart. I'd like to do a couple more this year too.
Performer: sgisela, took lessons through high school, resumed playing in 2020.
Piece: Danza de los ñáñigos, Ernesto Lecuona
Comment Policy: General comments, polite comments only
Source of music: sheet music
Instrument: Estonia L210
Recording method: iPhone
Additional info: This is from Lecuona’s suite of Danzas afrocubanas. I worked on La comparsa previously. I debated whether to try working on this at all because there’s a section with a bunch of ninths in the LH, and my hands can’t play all ninths comfortably. I ended up breaking up the ones that were problems for me, and I think that worked out fine. Ñáñigos refers to members of a fraternal order in Cuba; its other name is Abakua. The order was founded in Cuba in the 1830s, with roots in West African religious traditions. While many of the rituals of the Abakua are private, they also participate in public events, most notably festivities on Three Kings’ Day/Epiphany. (Above is summarized from several online sources).
I don’t usually memorize pieces, but most of this one got memorized almost automatically. There are a few hiccups, particularly toward the end, but overall I’m reasonably happy with this.
