PIYW #3: "Play 'Autumn Leaves' Your Way" is now live!

rsl12 · 2025-10-15T11:00:00+00:00

PIYW #3: Play "Autumn Leaves" Your Way (Oct 2025) Play It Your Way is a quasi-monthly event for beginners, professionals, classical, jazz, or pop pianists a...

twocats

Simonb I'm always impressed by people who can improvise! 🙂

WieWaldi great job with the pedaling, the piece flowed very naturally. And great job on pushing yourself to play a piece that you said you find difficult! It did not sound effortful at all.

Sophia loved your crisp jazz sound!

kanadajin I really liked this take and the way you played it. Sorry to hear that your keyboard is acting up!

HeartKeys wow, really lovely improvisations!

rsl12 your jazz/improv skills just keep getting more impressive!! This take has evolved quite a lot from your experimentation with different styles, guess you had to pick one for your final video! I can't imagine that you could easily transition from one to another 😂

Nightowl good job! It's always hard to be a beginner when others around you have been playing for longer, but you're working hard and I'm glad it hasn't put you off from submitting a piece. Keep at it and soon you'll be working on intermediate pieces!

Fruitboom very cool Bach-like style at the beginning and end! Very nice playing with great transitions between the styles, really like your jazz touch. Welcome to the forum! 🙂

rsl12

twocats your jazz/improv skills just keep getting more impressive!! This take has evolved quite a lot from your experimentation with different styles, guess you had to pick one for your final video! I can't imagine that you could easily transition from one to another 😂

First of all, I appreciate you listening to my practice recordings! I liked those other styles too, but like you said, I had to choose an angle. I can't just cram everything in there because I want to use up all the things I practiced, though often it's tempting! But that's jazz--practice a bunch of techniques and vocabulary, and then just a few get used. On the plus side, all those techniques become more easily applied to other tunes, so the practice isn't wasted.

Sophia I would end with "and the best part: no Pachelbel anywhere in earshot" but that would be crude and unkind

Um, don't let Heartkeys hear you say that!!

Besides, you could come back with "the best part, no duet partner in sight" and that would make us even again

First of all, if I have to have a partner, I'm happy to have one as committed and resourceful as you! But truly, duets are stressful, aren't they? I was afraid I would be holding you up by learning too slowly, or messing up my part and making us both look bad. But the finished product is more fun when it's a duet.

Simonb

Hi twocats

I've quoted this many time before over on PW (and maybe here as well), but I remember seeing the great Dave Brubeck interviewed 20 or 30 years ago, and he was asked, or complimented, about his improvisations when playing a well known tune. His reply was one that has stuck with me:

"How much is improvised when you've played the chord sequence a 1000 times?"

Cheers

Sophia

twocats Yours was the first I listened to, twocats, and I really enjoyed this version. A pretty ballad with lots of fluffy little details. And that page turn... very elegant and almost invisible 🙂 The classical influence is clear!

keff

HeartKeys Wow, Autumn Leaves and many others.

Simonb

Hi twocats

Lovely version, and a lovely Piano!

Cheers

Simonb

Hi WieWaldi

Well done, that was nicely played and a very pretty version.

Cheers

Simonb

Hi Sophia

Extra marks for Simba!
Most enjoyable, well done.

Cheers

Sophia

Simonb Haha it started so quiet... and then you went to town with it! Very nice improvisations, such a busy RH! Thank goodness you transitioned back to sweet and mellow, pfew... a much needed wind down much like a horse needs after a good gallop, can't just put it back in the stable now can we 😃 Hope you feel better soon!

Sophia

WieWaldi WieWie that was so pensive!!! Lovely and I liked the fact that you added some actual autumn leaves to the scene - nice touch. This was so different from anything I ever heard from you - you are obviously a versatile musician and can play anything when you put your mind to it! Your next piece could very well be 100% classical and still be perfect, despite all your assurances that it is not a genre you could ever excel at. I personally think you can do it all....

All jokes aside, I think this may be the best you ever played - and that is a super high bar because I'm usually impressed (and insanely jealous, though I would never publicly admit it of course) with anything you play 🙂

Sophia

PianoMonk Lovely to see you back Monk! At first I thought where is he going with that arrangement... and then suddenly the BIAB chimed in and it all came together... lovely smooth jazz and gorgeous improvisations as I've gotten so used to hear from you 🙂 Very nice! Thank you!

keff

rsl12 Excellent.

keff

Nightowl Well done.

Nightowl

keff Thank you. It's a very simple arrangement compared to your version, which had a unique style of its own. Your decades of experience show in your confident performance, I think you could play any piece you set your mind to.

Nightowl

twocats Your decades of experience are evident in this lovely performance. You play with a delicate touch and your hands move seamlessly up and down the keys, showing that small hands can do great things! 🙂

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement on my performance. You're right, it can feel a little daunting for me to submit pieces on a forum where there are so many gifted and experienced players, but at the same time it's inspiring for me to see the amazing things that can be achieved if one is willing to put the work in.

WieWaldi

twocats The melody and the ornaments really flow under your fingers. It's a pleasure to listen to your calm playing, it's very soothing, and I would give you a gig in a penthouse bar in downtown Manhattan. Your own elements blend very well into the piece, you had a great feeling for this piece.

Nightowl

Simonb Well, if that's how you play when you're under the weather, I can't imagine how impressive it would be to hear you play this when you're back to full health! As always, very well played and I particularly enjoyed the little trills in the final part, along with the very delicately played ending.

Nightowl

WieWaldi What a lovely arrangement. I like the way the jazz elements embellish the piece, without overpowering the soulful melody. Another enjoyable performance from our resident BBK (Bavarian Blues King). 🙂

Sophia

kanadajin Wow, that's what I call Swing with a capital S! I love that walking bass <deeply jealous> and you really explore many styles here. And with five minutes of solid playing, I didn't hear any keyboard jams personally 🙂

rsl12

twocats With careful ears, I caught the cat singing along. And the phone chime was kind enough to accent the last note! It's a phone/cat/twocat trio.

Nice playing, better than the musescore recording (though the musescore recording has the nice quality of sounding more spontaneous). Glad you found time away from your "work" pieces!

PS. Right after your submission, Pianotell says "A Month Later..." lololol you waited so long and finally you're getting feedback!

Sophia

HeartKeys Haha that was so clever - as you said, various mashups but you managed to get back to the main theme every single time again! You often act a little shy about having no formal training as a pianist, but that actually makes you uniquely you... I wouldn't change a thing if I were you. Your playing is just great! A seven minutes long solid performance, with many famous pieces hidden inside. If it were a painting I think Esher would have to move over 😃

Nightowl

Sophia A fun arrangement indeed, played in a jaunty upbeat manner - nice! 😀 Your version had a lot more notes than mine, but you still managed to reach the end 20 seconds faster than me - typical speedy gonzales, always ahead of the rest of us BBs! 🙃

As a side note, it's amazing how elegant Simba looks, even when giving himself a thorough wash! The two of you are a class act, for sure.

Sophia

rsl12 Rsl... what can I say.... nothing quite cuts it so I will repeat what my husband just said when he walked in and your recording was playing "wow, he is talented". I think that probably sums it all up 😃 Great walking bass and I also enjoyed the transitions to the calmer parts. I would end with "and the best part: no Pachelbel anywhere in earshot" but that would be crude and unkind, so I will leave that bit out. Besides, you could come back with "the best part, no duet partner in sight" and that would make us even again 😋😜🤪
No truly, that was really well played, lovely ending too 😍🥰

rsl12

Sophia 😋😜🤪

If I ever need an emoji expert, I know who to call. Do you study them??

Sophia Duo Ronphia will be back someday soon with another dazzling performance, right? Right!

Let's do it! It's your turn to pick a piece.

WieWaldi Why did you spend all this time, studying Wynton Kelly? It's time for him to study you!

Lol

WieWaldi it seems, in this recital it is quite common to pack some different styles into a single piece.

Autumn Leaves is very flexible--it can sound good at all tempos and many different styles, so it makes sense!

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