Play It Your Way: A new monthly(ish) recital

rsl12 · 2025-05-18T18:03:19+00:00

The idea: 1. In the next few weeks, a group of us pick a jazz/blues tune we all like. 2. For the August recital, we all submit the same song! 3. Profit...

Sgisela

rsl12 not sure how much I’m going to participate in this, and sorry I missed it, but what are the genres to be included?

rsl12

Sgisela Unless someone suggests a better idea, my plan is this:

Everyone can submit suggestions at any time into an online form. Those suggestions are kept in a little database, and each month, the person in charge chooses ~~a few pieces~~ one piece from that database. I don't mind being that person, but we could also rotate the responsibility.

So the genres to be included really depends on what suggestions users give. I expect there will be a lot of classical and neoclassical, based on the user base.

Sgisela

rsl12 interesting. For some reason I had the impression this would be more blues/jazz/pop plus. For me, I was going to put out there that I’m a sucker for showtunes and that weird pseudo genre of the great American songbook. But I’ve never really gotten into playing these kinds of things. If one of those songs came up, it might motivate me to work on it.

Anyways, I’ll think about adding some suggestions to the list.

rsl12

I just put together a "Suggestion Box", to gather suggestions for PIYW pieces:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenMA_kh-3_ejbG-miFDZ2czPPB3BvSmt4_siAO05xmsgLsXw/viewform?usp=dialog

You can start using it now! Is everyone OK with Beale Street Blues for the first one, or should we wait for more suggestions?

WieWaldi

rsl12 Is Beale Street Blues set for the first recital of this kind?

Looks like nobody is sure what is decided. But rsl started this thread so he can decide for the 1st piece and good.
And when is the deadline?

I didn't find sheet music, that makes me happy. But I found a lot of interesting approaches. Means I have to take something from here (Lead sheet), from there (Bass lines) and make my own arrangement for my own toddler level with musescore. But not just the crawling toddler level. No, toddler level that tries to walk upright. 👶

To make it short - I won't start doing this work until I am sure, this is the piece. I am still stuck in my Easy Blues Lesson 11. Turned out, this is hard work. Harder than the previous ones...

rsl12

Ughh.... mod power has caused me to mistakenly mangle @twocats post... I'm so sorry. I deleted her mangled post. She asked if we were doing a few pieces a month. My response is no, I quoted myself badly. At reddit, we did a few pieces a month, but here we are only doing one piece a month.

twocats

rsl12 it's ok 🙂

My question was, did you want people to vote every month? Because I'm also ok with the organizer making an executive decision if it keeps things simpler. There will be so many of these, lots of opportunities for various works and people to join in!

Edit: also I think you would do a good job of picking

rsl12

I think voting every month is impractical. I was going to make the decision for the next month, and then possibly pass over the responsibility to anyone who thinks it would be fun to choose.

twocats

Sgisela I’m a sucker for showtimes and that weird pseudo genre of the great American songbook

Hey, me too! That would be fun!

Sophia

Sgisela or some reason I had the impression this would be more blues/jazz/pop plus

I personally would love a broader genre, something for everyone. Since it's going to be an (almost) monthly recurring thing, it means more people might be enticed to participate in at least one of them (or more). There are enough classical pieces that are simplified enough for even the least experienced player. For example Alfred book 1 had a super simplified version of Brahms Lullaby, then a somewhat more elaborate (but still highly simplified) version in book 2, and I'm sure there are tons of other versions floating around. I think that most of the more popular classical pieces will have many versions to choose from as well.

Some might be more partial to a certain genre and in that case, they can just cherry pick what to participate in.

twocats

Sophia rsl12 specifically said that he didn't want the name to imply that it doesn't include classical. Sounds like it's going to have a bit of everything 🙂

Animisha

I do the best I can to not compare myself with others, but only with myself, but won't it be really difficult, when everybody plays the same piece, to keep this comparing voice inside your heads to shut up?

twocats

Animisha won't it be really difficult, when everybody plays the same piece, to keep this comparing voice inside your heads to shut up?

I hope you can internalize that it's just for fun and it's not a contest for who played it "best". The participation is the fun!

rsl12

Animisha for the Reddit version of this, there were quite a few who participated silently. They would play the pieces monthly and listen to other users' performances, but wouldn't post their own, for the reason you stated.

I think you are right that it is harder for beginners, who worry about the quality of their work compared to others. It requires bravery and openness, and trust that other users will enjoy listening to you, no matter your skill level. You're welcome to participate silently, but of course I think it would be more fun if you participate fully.

WieWaldi

Animisha I do the best I can to not compare myself with others, but only with myself, but won't it be really difficult, when everybody plays the same piece, to keep this comparing voice inside your heads to shut up?

rsl12 Animisha for the Reddit version of this, there were quite a few who participated silently. They would play the pieces monthly and listen to other users' performances, but wouldn't post their own, for the reason you stated.

If you play silently, you can compare yourself to the others. No - you will compare to the others. Normally you are your hardest judge, so I don't know if playing silent helps.
Only if you don't listen at all to the contributors, and we can't listen to yours, then it works. But this will screw up the idea totally.

Sgisela

Animisha I understand that sentiment. I think the spirit behind the project is that it’s a collective endeavor and that people are embarking on it together and supporting each other. But if the effort is going to cause more angst for any given person than feeling like they’re getting support and energy and motivation, then maybe it’s not the best thing for that person.

Animisha

rsl12

rsl12 there were quite a few who participated silently. They would play the pieces monthly and listen to other users' performances, but wouldn't post their own, for the reason you stated.

Actually, it is the voice in my own head that I fear the most. Not the comments of others. I find this piano community very supportive. ❤️

TC3

If it makes people feel better, I promise to play very poorly when I participate! 😃

Sophia

TC3 If it makes people feel better, I promise to play very poorly when I participate! 😃

Would it help anyone if I said that whatever you play poorly, I would play much poorlier? 😋

rsl12

No one is objecting to Beale Street Blues, so let's make June the "Play 'Beale Street Blues' Your Way" month. No due date--a due date seems to stress many people out--but I, personally, am going to try and finish by the end of June.

I'll start the official thread in the next couple of days, but your reward for paying attention to this discussion is that you can start working now and have a head start!

Nightowl

Sgisela I am that person! I'll enjoy watching the fun though, I'm sure people will be very inventive in how they tackle this collaboration.

Rob

I have to confess that I have never heard of Beale Street Blues, and had to look it up on YouTube!
Maybe I will be a 'silent' participant this time round.

rsl12

Rob I have to confess that I have never heard of Beale Street Blues, and had to look it up on YouTube!
Maybe I will be a 'silent' participant this time round.

Aw.... I know you would make an amazing recording.

rsl12

Random thought: a few pieces out of Bartok's Mikrokosmos might make a good classical PIYW. Pick one from each volume (each volume is a different difficulty). Even though it's not technically one piece, it's close enough. But I'm not the right person to pick them. If anyone is more familiar with Mikrokosmos, please make a submission in the submission box!

ShiroKuro

rsl12 I have actively avoided Mikrokosmos all there’s years…
😅

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