PianoTell Recital #5 — Meta Feedback

navindra

Update 3: 15 August 2025

PianoTell Recital #5 is now live!

Please comment on the performances directly on the recital thread.

Meta feedback on the recitals can be shared here if desired. 🙂

Update 2: 31 July 2025

The recital is now open for submissions!

Who's ready to submit? 🙂

Simply go to the above link to submit, the discussion here is for any other questions or comments or updates.

The recital goes live on 15 August 2025.

Update 1: 15 July 2025

PianoTell Recital #5 opens for submissions a mere 2 weeks from now!

Why participate in regular recitals? This is an opportunity to share your music if you are a seasoned player, showcase your progress milestone by milestone if you're an active learner, stay motivated and on track, or simply contribute to the community fun! This is what it's all about.

For inspiration and a general idea of the recital format, just take a look at past recitals:

Everyone is welcome and what you submit is up to you.

We will open for submissions on 31 July 2025 (ish) and the recital will go live on 15 August 2025.

The recital format will be the similar to last time. See below for details!

Submission

Template

**Performer:** Name or Alias + Location + Experience
**Piece:** Title + Composer
**Comment Policy:** Feedback type desired (see below)

Put the link to your performance here (see below for details).

**Source of music:** ...
**Instrument:** ...
**Recording method:** ...
**Additional info:** Tell your story or share any interesting details related to your performance!

You may use the following template to specify the Comment Policy:

No Comments Please!
Positive comments only (no criticism or suggestions for improvement please).
Positive comments and suggestions for improvement (no direct criticism please).
All comments; anything goes!

Link To Your Performance:

If you have a video, that's great! Otherwise, audio-only is fine.
Upload your performance to YouTube, Vimeo, Rumble, SoundCloud, or Google Drive.
- Your media may be public or unlisted but private will not work.
- The direct link needs to be posted so that the performance is embedded on PT.
Dropbox option: If hosting your performance using YouTube or other service is not possible, then we will provide an upload option.

Submitters are requested to keep their performances up for at least a period of 30 days and as long as possible after that.

Do you want to host your performance elsewhere? Please let me know so that it can be tested.

Example

I hope Marc Martel doesn't mind that I used his video purely for illustrative purposes with some fictional details.

**Performer:** Marc Martel from Canada. I've been playing since 1980!
**Piece:** Bohemian Rhapsody from A Night at the Opera by Queen.
**Comment Policy:** Critical Comments: Anything goes!

https://youtu.be/QkCxE2Lh458

**Source of music:** My buddy Freddie lent me the pages of his original composition.
**Instrument:** Yamaha AvantGrand N3X with Pianoteq.
**Recording method:** iPhone X with large condenser microphones.
**Additional info:** Yes, this *was* my first take, but I worked really hard to learn that middle section!

Performer: Marc Martel from Canada. I've been playing since 1980!
Piece: Bohemian Rhapsody from A Night at the Opera by Queen.
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

Source of music: My buddy Freddie lent me the pages of his original composition.
Instrument: Yamaha AvantGrand N3X with Pianoteq.
Recording method: iPhone X with large condenser microphones.
Additional info: Yes, this was my first take, but I worked really hard to learn that middle section!

What's Next?

Are you participating?

Feel free to pledge to perform a piece in the comments below.

Then — practice, practice, practice!

This is an archive of the original submission instructions

PianoTell Recital #5 Is Now Open for Submissions!

This is an opportunity to share your music if you are a seasoned player, showcase your progress milestone by milestone if you're an active learner, stay motivated and on track, or simply contribute to the community fun! One might even argue that performing is truly what it's all about.

For inspiration and a general idea of the recital format, just take a look at past recitals:

Everyone is welcome and what you submit is up to you.

For questions or comments or updates on the recital, please go here instead.

Submit your performance now!

To submit your performance, simply reply to this post, copy/paste the following template, update your details, and post the reply here.

If you don't yet have an account on PianoTell, the sign up process is very easy and completely free. Just look for "Sign Up" at the top of the site.

Your submission will only be visible to yourself and the recital coordinator until the recital goes live on 15 August 2025.

You can look at PianoTell Recital #4 to get an idea of what the recital will look like when it goes live.

Template

**Performer:** Name or Alias + Location + Experience
**Piece:** Title + Composer
**Comment Policy:** Feedback type desired (see below)

Put the link to your performance here (see below for details).

**Source of music:** ...
**Instrument:** ...
**Recording method:** ...
**Additional info:** Tell your story or share any interesting details related to your performance!

You may use the following template to specify the Comment Policy:

No Comments Please!
Positive comments only (no criticism or suggestions for improvement please).
Positive comments and suggestions for improvement (no direct criticism please).
All comments; anything goes!

Link To Your Performance:

If you have a video, that's great! Otherwise, audio-only is fine.
Upload your performance to YouTube, Vimeo, Rumble, SoundCloud, or Google Drive.
- Your media may be public or unlisted but private will not work.
- The direct link needs to be posted so that the performance is embedded on PT.
Ask for help!
Dropbox option: If hosting your performance using YouTube or other service is not possible, then you may submit your audio (e.g. MP3) or video file (e.g. MP4) here instead. In your recital submission, you can just say you uploaded your performance to Dropbox.

Submitters are requested to keep their performances up for at least a period of 30 days and as long as possible after that.

Do you want to host your performance elsewhere? Please let me know so that it can be tested.

Example

I hope Marc Martel doesn't mind that I used his video purely for illustrative purposes with some fictional details.

**Performer:** Marc Martel from Canada. I've been playing since 1980!
**Piece:** Bohemian Rhapsody from A Night at the Opera by Queen.
**Comment Policy:** Critical Comments: Anything goes!

https://youtu.be/QkCxE2Lh458

**Source of music:** My buddy Freddie lent me the pages of his original composition.
**Instrument:** Yamaha AvantGrand N3X with Pianoteq.
**Recording method:** iPhone X with large condenser microphones.
**Additional info:** Yes, this *was* my first take, but I worked really hard to learn that middle section!

Performer: Marc Martel from Canada. I've been playing since 1980!
Piece: Bohemian Rhapsody from A Night at the Opera by Queen.
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

Have fun!

Simonb

I will try and get something submitted for this navindra.

navindra

Simonb Brilliant! You're certainly doing that awesome b3 full justice. 🙂

ShiroKuro

Alright! I am back from my trip and hopefully can prep and share the piece that wasn’t ready for the last recital
🤞🤞🤞

navindra

Only a week left until the recital opens for submissions!

I hope you all are getting ready to hit that record button! 🎥

Sophia

Nope! Because I already recorded mine 😉

WieWaldi

Sophia Nope! Because I already recorded mine 😉

Striver

navindra

Sophia I'm totally envious of you!

It's going to be a real challenge getting mine done in the midst of travelling, readying a piece, with only one possible day I can record!

Nightowl

I have been working on a piece and have got a mediocre recording of it, but the more I listen to it the less happy I am with it. The playing is not perfect, but on top of that I have issues with poor audio quality and unwanted background noise/reverb. I have been working on the issues, but I haven't yet got them sorted and I'm getting quite fed up with it all now (see my other thread for the full moanfest). I might skip this recital as the tech side is driving me nuts and I'm losing patience with it all.

WieWaldi

Nightowl That'a a pity to hear. Wish you good luck with your setup and a good day for a perfect recording.

rsl12

Nightowl I know some here are very serious about their recording setups, but as far as I'm concerned, a good quality sound isn't that important for recitals. Mostly I enjoy seeing how you've been doing at your hobby, for better or worse!

Nightowl

rsl12 That's very kind of you. I know that many of the people who submit recital pieces are extremely skilled players with many years of experience behind them, so I accept the fact that my submissions will look pretty basic in comparison, but these tech issues on top just make matters worse. Still, in the bigger scheme of things this is just a first world problem and I shouldn't get so annoyed about it.
WieWaldi Thanks, but I'm never going to get a "perfect recording", unless some divine intervention happens! But I'll keep trying to mitigate the issues and maybe I can improve things (if my patience lasts).

rsl12

navindra It's going to be a real challenge getting mine done in the midst of travelling, readying a piece, with only one possible day I can record!

Your recital video from the last time you were in Mauritius was top notch! Whatever you produce will be entertaining just because of the circumstance.

navindra

navindra It's going to be a real challenge getting mine done in the midst of travelling, readying a piece, with only one possible day I can record!

Ugh. My fragile plans have come crashing down to the ground and it looks like I won't be able to keep to my schedule due to a work escalation. I had planned to finish tuning Saturday and record on Sunday, but that's all out of the window now.

I'm not quite sure what I'll do yet as I don't want to break my streak and miss a recital. I may end up doing a digital recording and simple phone video or something like that. ☹️

lilypad

I've been alternating days of interleaved performance practice with the recorder on in case I get something good (not yet) and block practice days to work on those cringe-worthy or train wreck spots.

rsl12

I have a backup recording! I would score it a B-. But I'm still happy because having the backup relieves all my stress.

rsl12

Nightowl I accept the fact that my submissions will look pretty basic in comparison, but these tech issues on top just make matters worse.

Personally, I think the more advanced players benefit the greatest from attention to audio quality, since it increases my ability to discern nuance. The more simple the playing, the less it matters. At least to me.

If you are intent on spending time on it, it might be worth figuring out how to record the sound directly from your Donner. I don't imagine it's much harder than finding the right cord to go between the piano and the recording device. WieWaldi had a good plan for figuring out how to do it, though according to this video, you should try to connect through Port #2 and not through Port #5, which is strictly MIDI data. (Port #1 is stereo and Port #2 is mono, but the problem is that if you connect through Port #1, it disables the speakers, and you can't hear yourself play! There's a way around that, but it's probably not worth the trouble). That means you need a cord with a quarter-inch jack for the Donner end (I'm not sure if TS jack or TRS jack is what you need--contact Donner and ask if the OUT port on your DDP-80 accepts TS or TRS? Or give the TS a try first. Here's a guide--TS = 1 black band near the tip, TRS = two black bands), and whatever is proper for the recording device end (if it's a computer, it might be labeled MIC or AUDIO IN). If you go to any music store with a picture of your recording device ports, the staff should be able to get you the right cord.

Nightowl

rsl12 Yes, that's the perfect example of someone who is able to record something ad hoc, out of their comfort zone, just casually propping up their smart phone to do a recording which turns out perfect! 🤩 I can only dream of such a scenario!

rsl12 Yes, everything you say makes sense and thank you for the tips - all useful info. I'm toying with buying a cable to link to my Samsung tablet or Chromebook, but before doing that I have a few more experiments to carry out. I have a feeling that there could be a very simple solution, I just need to apply a bit of lateral thinking (and some patience).

navindra

rsl12 Thank you! In Mauritius, this time, I'm actually being consumed by a whole other music project not involving the piano. So the one recording day that I have will be the last Sunday before the recital, when I'm already back in the US.

rsl12 All too true. That was probably the one and only ad-hoc recording I've ever done but I used a piece that I was already quite familiar with.

Schubertian2 There is no limit on the length of the recording, so feel free to use your best judgement! I think Sam had previously commented that you lose listeners beyond a certain length, but otherwise there are no restrictions.

WieWaldi

Nightowl <coming back to the main thread about how to record your digital>

Thanks to rsl12 for that great link to a review video of the Donner DDP-80. This means, we can forget connecting the piano via a USB-cable to your chromebook or tablet. Instead, we need to connecting the LINE-output of your piano. Unfortunately with notebooks, tablets and chromebooks it isn't that easy as it is with a desktop PC. PCs usually have those 3 connectors and you could connect the piano directly to the blue socket:

(Detailed explanation of those ports)

Mobile devices usually come only with 3.5mm TRRS socket (for stereo headsets), combining the green and the red port, but no LINE-input signal. This means, you need additional hardware that is able to convert from LINE-Input to USB-audio.
I searched online and found this little device: JOYO Guitar Audio Interface Pocket or KYXAIN Guitar Audio Interface from amazon-UK. If I understood it correctly, the input isn't just for guitar, it is a standard LINE-input with mono 6.35mm TS jack. This means, you need a cable like this one: 6.35mm mono cable 1m straight/angled to connect your piano to this audio interface. I would use zip-ties to permanently fix the audio interface to a leg of the piano, and then only connect the usb-cable when recording. Therefore, a 1m audio cable should be enough. Don't know if the USB-C cable that comes with the interface is long enough to reach your chromebook/tablet. If not, get a USB-C cable in your desired length.

Sophia

No pressure Nightowl, but I agree with everyone here that to me, quality of the recording doesn’t matter. I enjoy seeing you make progress, feeling the "pain" of overcoming our hurdles and obstacles, then sharing the victory of getting a good version recorded after all, etc. I would really miss it if you didn’t. There are so few fellow beginners in this forum, I need the moral support 🥰

rsl12

Nightowl Yes, that's the perfect example of someone who is able to record something ad hoc, out of their comfort zone, just casually propping up their smart phone to do a recording which turns out perfect!

I don't think Navindra does anything casually 🤯 But I think if he did in his situation, it would still be an entertaining video, mistakes and all.