PianoTell Recital #7 — Meta Feedback

navindra

Update 3: 15 February 2026

PianoTell Recital #7 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 January 2026

The recital is now open for submissions!

Who's ready to submit? 🏹

Update 1: 15 January 2026

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 Quarterly Recitals:

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

We will open for submissions on 31 January 2026 (ish) and the recital will go live on 15 February 2026.

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 Norah Jones doesn't mind that I used her video purely for illustrative purposes with some fictional details.

**Performer:** Norah Jones from New York, USA. I've been playing piano on and off since I was a kid!
**Piece:** Don't Know Why by Jesse Harris
**Comment Policy:** Critical Comments: Anything goes!

https://youtu.be/tlriGKmxrQ4

**Source of music:** I learned this by ear.
**Instrument:** Kimball spinet
**Recording method:** iPhone X with large condenser microphones.
**Additional info:** I've always loved this song by my friend Jesse. It's all about missed connections and I totally connect with that. This is one of those songs where the pauses mean everything. Thanks for listening!

Performer: Norah Jones from New York, USA. I've been playing piano on and off since I was a kid!
Piece: Don't Know Why by Jesse Harris
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

Source of music: I learned this by ear.
Instrument: Kimball spinet
Recording method: iPhone X with large condenser microphones.
Additional info: I've always loved this song by my friend Jesse. It's all about missed connections and I totally connect with that. This is one of those songs where the pauses mean everything. Thanks for listening!

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 recital announcement.

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 Quarterly 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 coordinators until the recital goes live on 15 February 2026.

You can look at PianoTell Recital #6 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 Norah Jones doesn't mind that I used her video purely for illustrative purposes with some fictional details.

**Performer:** Norah Jones from New York, USA. I've been playing piano on and off since I was a kid!
**Piece:** Don't Know Why by Jesse Harris.
**Comment Policy:** Critical Comments: Anything goes!

https://youtu.be/tlriGKmxrQ4

**Source of music:** I learned this by ear.
**Instrument:** Kimball spinet
**Recording method:** iPhone X with large condenser microphones.
**Additional info:** I've always loved this song by my friend Jesse. It's all about missed connections and I totally connect with that. This is one of those songs where the pauses mean everything. Thanks for listening!

Performer: Norah Jones from New York, USA. I've been playing piano on and off since I was a kid!
Piece: Don't Know Why by Jesse Harris.
Comment Policy: Critical Comments: Anything goes!

Have fun!

keff

navindra Feel free to pledge to perform a piece

Aiming to submit Take Five by saxophonist Paul Desmond.

rsl12

I put up an announcement on Reddit:

I've got a Billy Taylor tune in the works. It's not quite there, but hopefully it will come together in time.

keff Aiming to submit Take Five by saxophonist Paul Desmond.

That's a fun one! I played it years ago. 5/4 is tricky of course, but if I remember right it was also in a tricky key.

keff

rsl12 but if I remember right it was also in a tricky key.

A friend advised that it fell under the fingers in eflat minor. This was after I was well on the way to learning it in e minor.

ShiroKuro

Gyaaa! I knew this was coming. I have a few pieces in the pipeline, now I have to pick one!

Also note to self: START RECORDING EARLIER. I always wait until there’s only a day or two left and then it’s hard to schedule the time during my practice sessions. As others here have said, just planning to record a few takes every session, or well maybe just every session during the two weeks before the recital date, will hopefully make it easier and maybe paradoxically make it take up less time in total… we’ll see.

The bigger thing is to decide which piece to record….

ShiroKuro

P.S. @navindra Norah Jones! ❤️❤️❤️

Player1

I have Passacaglia ready to go. Unfortunately my tremor isn't cooperating so I can't seem to get a good recording. A couple of months worth of days with dozens of tries each day but so far but nothing I'm willing to submit yet.

ShiroKuro

Player1 I’m sorry to hear you have a tremor that impacts your playing! I hope you’re able to just enjoy playing. Maybe just play to submit the best take you get?

@KevinM those options all sound wonderful! And I agree with @rogerch , there’s absolutely no reason not to submit a new recording of something just because you’ve shared it before.

Actually one of the pieces I’m playing right now, I may have recorded it for a PW recital as well, although it would have been years ago. I should go check the recital index.

KevinM

I think I'm going to choose a piece closer to the date. I've got nothing close as yet. I'm currently working on a collection of pieces, and hopefully one of them will submit to my fingers in time.

Erster Verlust by Schumann
Shark Soup by Sam Wedgwood
Sonatina in C Major first movement Clementi
Bist du bei Mir Stölzel - Arrangement in Henle for solo piano (a different arrangement to the one I previously recorded).

Also I'm relearning a piece I learnt 4 years ago, Mendelssohn 19.1, the very first of the Songs Without Words pieces and one I truly love. I submitted a recording to a pianoworld recital at that time. I'm not sure how people would feel about me submitting a new recording here of the same piece.

rogerch

KevinM I'm not sure how people would feel about me submitting a new recording here of the same piece.

I think it’s fine, go for it!

Player1

ShiroKuro I’m sorry to hear you have a tremor that impacts your playing! I hope you’re able to just enjoy playing. Maybe just play to submit the best take you get?

I've had tremor for a long time. It's getting worse and the associated problems that go with it are too.

What I have so far for a recording of Passacaglia is so full of mistakes/wrong key strokes/off tempo/filled with pauses/etc that it's just not viable for a submission. And those are the ones where my playing doesn't break down completely into uncontrolled key bashing/cacophony.

I have a month and I'll keep working on it. No promises.

ShiroKuro

Player1 Hang in there!!

Nightowl

Player1 That's a shame, but it explains why you've not been around much lately, it sounds like you've got a lot on your plate right now.

I've had similar frustrations when trying to get a decent recording. I managed one that is passable but there are small errors and a lack of dynamics so I kept trying for a better version. However, I got sick of the process, so I took a break from the piece for a couple of days. Now I play it for a limited time each day, but I'm not trying to record it. That takes the pressure off, I'm enjoying the piece again and I'm playing it slightly better now. I'll try recording again on Friday, which will be roughly 3 months since I started working on the piece. It's the longest time I've ever committed to a piece but I feel the 3rd month of practice was needed and things have started to come together now. Good luck.

Sophia

Player1 Passacaglia

That is a beautiful piece, I look forward to it 🙂

navindra

The recital will open for submissions next Saturday!

Great to hear about all the plans and progress so far! Myself I'm also fretting a little bit about what exactly I'll be recording. It'll surely be something from Alfred's again, but I'm in between pieces and not sure anything is truly ready yet for showtime.

Hang in there everyone!

Sophia

I've got my piece ready to submit, just recorded it a few days ago 😃

navindra

Sophia Niiice! Can't wait to hear it!

I wonder who's going to be first to submit? The fact that I open up the recitals at such non-deterministic times doesn't help! 😃

Sophia

Haha it seems the Europeans are at an advantage there... they usually bag the first spot(s)!

keff

Sophia Haha it seems the Europeans are at an advantage there..

I also have a recording that could be used. I like to submit early but not necessarily first.

WieWaldi

I am European, but I don't have a recording. I am not even finished learning my piece. It is 3 pages: Page 1 is done, page 2 is work in progress, and page 3 is something I have played through a few times and figured out, it will be the most difficult.
Wish me luck to get it done before Navindra submits his — which is basically the same as closing the call for submissions.

Nightowl

WieWaldi I'm sure you'll crack the piece soon, you always do! You could always shorten the piece a little - just play the chorus, then add a little flourish at the end - done! 😀

I have a recording that is OK but I'm still working on the piece and will probably attempt another recording at the end of this week. Like your piece it's 3 pages long and sometimes I find my concentration wanes about midway through - this seems to be an unwanted side effect from playing this piece, because it has a certain hypnotic vibe.