PIYW #6: "Play 'Lean On Me' Your Way" is Now Live! (March 2026)

rsl12 · 2026-03-15T13:00:00+00:00

PIYW #6: Play "Lean On Me" Your Way (March 2026) Play It Your Way is a quasi-monthly event for beginners, professionals, classical, jazz, or pop pianists and everyone in between! Since January 16, participants have been working on "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers (1972). Enjoy their performances below. More information about Play It Your Way and about how participants prepared this piece can be found in the Meta Feedback discussion. There is still plenty of time to participate in Play "Over The Rainbow" Your Way, which will go live on April 15. ALL comments must be polite and supportive, even when the performer has stated that any comments are allowed. "How to Give Criticism in a Nice Way: A Comprehensive Guide". Thanks for helping us to keep things friendly! Suggest pieces for future "Play It Your Way" events by using the suggestion box. We need suggestions for all genres of music, but particularly for the "Blues or Traditional" PIYW which will be announced on April 16. (Ideally, the Play It Your Way piece will be playable by many different skill levels, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.) If you are still working on Lean On Me, you can submit your recording here at any time. Click for the submission template: **Performer:** Name or Alias + Location + Experience **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! if(window.hljsLoader && !document.currentScript.parentNode.hasAttribute('data-s9e-livepreview-onupdate')) { window.hljsLoader.highlightBlocks(document.currentScript.parentNode); } You may use the following 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.

Nightowl

Performer: Nightowl, UK. 2 years, 3 months of playing experience.
Comment Policy: Positive comments and suggestions for improvement (no direct criticism please).

Source of music: Faber's Adult Piano Adventures - Popular (Book 1)
Instrument: Donner DP80+
Recording method: Chromebook
Additional info: Faber's arrangement did not include the verse, bridge or outro sections, so I arranged those sections myself, based loosely on a different arrangement (by Hal Leonard) which I simplified to to make the score manageable for my playing level. It's not perfect, but after a month of working on this piece I'm ready to move on.

WieWaldi

Performer: WieWaldi from Bavaria (near Germany), 4 years of actively self learning
Comment Policy: All comments; anything goes!

Source of music: YouTube Tutorial
Instrument: Kawai CN-29 (EX Pop)
Recording method: Headphone-jack to PC (OBS-Studio)

Additional info: This is my take on Lean on Me. Actually I thought it is an easy version, but it wasn't. Now I would call it an early intermediate, because with the beginning at page 3, it had a few tricky spots. Easy to listen to, but not as easy to play. At least not for me. So I modified the arrangement here and there copied some bars from the first page, cut a few embellishments, made some chords more lightweight. Anyway, I don't feel guilty about it, after all, this is called Play It Your Way.

Notice about YouTube Copyright Restrictions after uploading:

After uploading, it showed the following Copyright Resctiction.
Intersetingly, my previous recording which basically the same, didn't.

This are the screenshoot when I dig through the details:

I understand, Lean On Me isn't public domain, yet. It is from 1972, and therefore "only" 54 years old. (< 70 yrs)
Did you get something similar, and if yes: who is the Claimant?

twocats

Performer: twocats from Portland, Oregon (30+ years classical piano)
Comment Policy: Please don't diss my singing. Otherwise, anything goes!

Source of music: diretonic's music in my requested key plus some extremely minimal chords of my own in the middle
Instrument: Bösendorfer 225
Recording method: iPad
Additional info: Both my playing and singing are pretty terrible in this video but I decided to join in the fun of PIYW. I'm playing so tentatively because the piano was very loud over my voice. If I were going to do it again, I'd close the lid and put on the cover and play more into the keys 🙂

rsl12

Performer: rsl12 (USA). Piano has been a hobby for decades. First half of my piano life was focused on classical, but now I'm into jazz.
Comment Policy: All comments; anything goes!

Source of music: Improvised/arranged piano part
Recording method: Phone for audio, computer cam for video.
Additional info: This one gave me a lot of trouble. It's at the top of my chest voice range, and though I think I made some improvements, it continues to sound strained and I have a lot of trouble controlling everything up there. But I'm happy I did it, as I learned a lot from trying to imitate Bill Withers!

diretonic

Got too bogged down ending up with this assemblage of fragments

The above submission was made after this discussion was published. The original message is here.

rsl12

Feel free to add comments and late submissions below. Enjoy!

rsl12

WieWaldi I understand, Lean On Me isn't public domain, yet. It is from 1972, and therefore "only" 54 years old. (< 70 yrs)
Did you get something similar, and if yes: who is the Claimant?

I got the same claim, from the same company! (UMPG Publishing/LatinAutor/etc). Looking online, I'm guessing they are a fake company, and I don't want them to get rewarded for a copyright they don't own. I put in a dispute, with the comment that it's my own original performance. We'll see what happens.

WieWaldi

keff You turned this into an interesting pop ballad. Actually, you could call it "Lean on My Long and Winding Road"^^ I liked what I heard, it sounded very lovely. Both parts fit very well together and your personal interpretation of LOM is very pleasant.

If there is anything to improve, it is the steady rhythm. I would encourage you, to work with a metronome.

rsl12

keff

I'm right up the road. I'll share your load...
The long and winding road...

The mashup is about a man trying to support a friend but, halfway through the message, getting depressed thinking about how the friend ditched him. Hmmmm!

I totally understand how you feel about wanting to differentiate your "Lean On Me" performance. Even for one performance, it can be monotonous doing the same chorus over and over!

rsl12

Nightowl What you played seemed to be exactly the right level for you, so I guess you made the right changes! As usual, you have a natural feel for the rhythm of these syncopated pop songs which serves you well.

WieWaldi

Nightowl
Congratulations to this performance. For someone, playing only 2 years this is remarkable. What is even more remarkable is the fact, you managed to join two different arrangements with two different difficulty levels into a single one. Normally one would expect, the parts from the easy arrangement to sound hollow in comparison. But it didn't. Sounded, like this arrangement was set up by a professional.
I would say this is your best performance so far (except of Moonlight Sonata of course). Furthermore, this one isn't as easy as it sounds, because there are some syncopations that can easily screw up a steady rhythm. This and the fact that some notes are played at the end of the bar and extended over the next one. Making them a "five beat" note. I guess this was the first time, you encountered something like this in your pieces. And you did it. Well done!

If there is anything to improve: I would say the same as in my comment about keff: The thing with the steady rhythm and I encourage to work more with a metronome. It wasn't too bad, but know: there is always room for improvement.

Btw, nice bracelet - love the color ^^

Nightowl

rsl12 That was nicely played and your vocals have improved significantly since the previous recording you shared. You've clearly put a lot of work into arranging this piece into something unique and the jazzy intro was cleverly done (although jazz style is not to my personal taste, I think jazz fans might love it). I noticed that when you sang the verses your voice sounded fairly steady and natural, but the chorus was still a little strained and it might be the case that no matter how much you practice that part maybe your vocal chords will never cope with those higher notes to the point where it sounds natural. Even so, I applaud you for rising to the challenge.

I love the section from 2:00 to 2:22 - you really seemed to be in the groove with your playing there. Also, you played the outro notes beautifully. Decades of classical training gave you the grounding to play other genres with a confidence that I can only envy.

rsl12

WieWaldi Great arrangement--I think it's about perfect for your level! Left hand is tricky, and you did a good job not getting lost with the rhythm. The drums, in addition to keeping you honest with the rhythm, was a fun touch.

rsl12

twocats I wish the mic was closer to your mouth. What I can hear sounds like a beautiful tone, and if you haven't sung this a lot in the past, then I'm jealous how much you added to the voice part with so little practice!!!

WieWaldi

twocats Well done. You made a very pleasing submission. But something is very different in yours: In the intro your voice starts very high in the treble and the chorus stays in the same register. Usually, the intro has the very low notes and then in the chorus it jumps up. You have a beautiful voice, comes out great in the "Lean on Me" and during the entire bridge part.

If there is something to diss, it is not the singing. It is the microphone placement. Especially the beginning it sounds as if there is another person in the next room, and joins to sing along your piece.

Nightowl

rsl12 Thanks! 🙂 Actually I struggled with the syncopated notes and I did something I've never done before - I used a metronome during practice to help develop a steady rhythm. The song sounds deceptively simple - like many great pop songs, so I didn't realise what a challenge it would be until it was too late. That'll teach me not to assume in future! 🙃

WieWaldi Thanks for the detailed feedback, which sums things up nicely. Indeed, the "five beat note" was tricky to get under my fingers but the much hated metronome proved useful to help me to get the rhythm right.

The bracelet is a recent addition to my jewellery collection. I bought it on impulse, when it caught my eye in the shop and I immediately thought of your Bavarian blue (and white) bracelet, which seemed to improve your playing no end! I thought it might do the same for me! 🙃 Also, apparently that particular stone is believed to bring patience to the wearer and I needed all I could get with this piece! 😄

WieWaldi

rsl12 OMG, I adore the warm tones of your personal interpretation, your improvised parts. So lush and bluesy. Also, how well you transition over to the actual song and how smooth you glide back into your personal embellishments.
I don't understand too much about singing. Just guess it is very difficult for a song because of its tonal range. Can tell just from a listener's perspective: you improved from every practice recording and this one was your biggest step up. Still, I had the feeling, your voice was a bit overwhelmed by this song.

twocats

rsl12 I wish the mic was closer to your mouth. What I can hear sounds like a beautiful tone, and if you haven't sung this a lot in the past, then I'm jealous how much you added to the voice part with so little practice!!!

Awwwww thank you! I did know this song from choir in 8th grade, so I guess you could say I've been singing it for a very long time 😂

WieWaldi Well done. You made a very pleasing submission. But something is very different in yours: In the intro your voice starts very high in the treble and the chorus stays in the same register. Usually, the intro has the very low notes and then in the chorus it jumps up. You have a beautiful voice, comes out great in the "Lean on Me" and during the entire bridge part.

If there is something to diss, it is not the singing. It is the microphone placement. Especially the beginning it sounds as if there is another person in the next room, and joins to sing along your piece.

Thank you, it's nice that people like my singing! It was an awkward range for me at the beginning, I can get out the notes using chest voice if I belt it (like later), but if it's quiet I have to go into head voice. I'm not used to belting but I thought it was called for in this song. I usually like to sing songs from musicals, more in the low soprano range 🙂

I am a bit glad that the microphone wasn't up close and exposing all the cracks in my vocals haha.

diretonic

I've got something to upload , is the submission link all-purpose? It's dated jamuary so I wondered if there's a specific link for LoM upload?

Nightowl

keff What an interesting combo of two great songs from the 70s (a decade which produced many fine singer songwriters). There were some nicely played sections in your performance, I think if you work on the tempo/rhythm issues you could improve the piece and make this something special. 🙂