PIYW #11 — Meta Feedback

rsl12 · 2026-08-16T04:58:45+00:00

Update 2: 15 October 2026 "Play 'Don't Know Why' Your Way" is now live! Click to listen. KevinM Simonb Platybat Platybat WieWaldi diretonic You can continue to use this thread to discuss your preparation of the piece, or to discuss any other matters regarding Play It Your Way. Update 1: 16 August 2026 PIYW #11: Play "Don't Know Why" Your Way Play It Your Way is a quasi-monthly event for beginners, professionals, classical, jazz, or pop pianists and everyone in between! We are starting work on "Don't Know Why" by Jesse Harris. Use the links below to find the sheet music you like, and when you are ready, post your performance in the submission thread. Perfection is not expected! Previous PIYWs: PIYW #10: Play "Last Song" Your Way PIYW #9: Play Chopin's "Wiosna (Spring)" Your Way PIYW #8: Play "How Long Blues" Your Way Full List of Previous PIYWs Thanks to Rsl12 for this month's selection! Please suggest pieces for future "Play It Your Way" events by using the suggestion box. The theme of the next PIYW (to be announced in October 2026) is "Winter Holiday", but feel free to submit good ideas across all genres. Guidelines This is not a contest! It is meant to be a casual and fun event. You can use this thread to discuss your preparation of the piece, or anything else related to PIYW. To submit a recording of your performance, go to the submission thread. All PIYW submissions will remain hidden from public view until 15 October 2026. However, there is no deadline for when you need to submit your performance. Although most participants submit their recording before that date, you may submit at any time. Use the recital schedule to plan your participation in future recitals! "Don't Know Why" by Jesse Harris (1999) Norah Jones' version (2002) is best known... ...but the original version (1999) was written and performed by Jesse Harris From Wikipedia: "Don't Know Why" is a song written and composed by American singer-songwriter Jesse Harris that originally appeared on his 1999 album, Jesse Harris & the Ferdinandos. A cover of the song later appeared on Norah Jones' debut studio album, Come Away with Me (2002), and was released as her debut single on January 28, 2002. Jones' piano-playing has been compared to that of Floyd Cramer, having a "style and grace, a musical maturity not found in many keyboard players today." From an interview with Jesse Harris: Expressiveness on the whole is not Harris' forte. His lyrics are slippery and ambiguous, rarely confronting anything head-on. Sometimes this makes them seem merely vague, but in his better moments he manages to be evocative without exactly defining the thing he's evoking. The songs are mostly about relationships of one kind or another, and they tend to involve someone or something fading or leaving or not arriving at all (as in "Don't Know Why"). Who or what is actually at stake is left to the listener to decide. "Songs kind of exist in an abstract place," Harris says. "I've never been one who wrote autobiographically. I keep a journal, and so maybe because of that I don't feel a need to articulate things in my life, I don't need to find expression for them. So songs can kind of exist in a world of their own, and they don't have to bear the burden of me talking about my personal life. He finds the best analog for his method in blues songs, with their succinct metaphors and repetition. "Great blues tunes are quite abstract and sort of universal," he says. "It doesn't have to be that person's story, you know?" At the same time, Harris resists categorization as a traditionalist of any stripe. His sepia-toned cover photo notwithstanding, he insists he's not trying to revive anything. "I don't know, it seems any time you try to do something in a 'traditional' way, it seems kind of hokey, or like a put-on," he says. "I don't see myself as doing anything in a traditional way -- just making music that appeals to me in the best way I know how to do it." Links to Sheet Music / Lead Sheet You are not limited to only the music linked below. Feel free to find or create your own version. You do not have to complete or perfect the piece to submit it, and don't be afraid to simplify or shorten the piece. Improvisation, backing tracks, and backing humans are all allowed. Sheet music (special thanks to ShiroKuro for providing many of these links!): Easy: https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/lisa-donovan-lukas/dont-know-why-easy/MN0289472 https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/dietmar-steinhauer/dont-know-why-easy/MN0285295 Early Intermediate: https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/jennifer-eklund/dont-know-why-early-intermediate/MN0231564 Intermediate: https://www.musicnotes.com/marketplace/sheetmusic/MK0104779 https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/lisa-donovan-lukas/dont-know-why-intermediate/MN0289399 https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/william-haviland/dont-know-why/MN0239920 Piano with Johnny Version #1 (Video Link) Piano with Johnny Version #2 Jennifer Eklund's version (Video link) Christian Fuchs' version (Video Link) Lead Sheet Lead Sheet (Beginner's Guide to Lead Sheets)

WieWaldi

Platybat Oh! I assumed you mashed them somehow together. That would have been an interesting mix. Was thinking about one half if this and second half that. Alone the joining of both would have been interesting. Anyway, it is very nice to have someone playing Jonny May's version. ( After ShiroKuro jumped ship on that. ) And to have someone else to play CF's version. ( After Sophia jumped from board as well! )

@rsl12 - one day left - one day as long as you want it to be - how is it going?

rsl12

Mine is terribly rough. I didn't practice singing enough!!

WieWaldi

rsl12 Then don't sing. Just playing piano is fine. After all, this is a piano forum 😃

ShiroKuro

WieWaldi

Or something like that!

Nightowl

rsl12 You could record two versions - with and without vocals, then see which one sounds better. It might help to use the piano recording as a backing track then you could practice vocals using that.

rsl12

"Play 'Don't Know Why' Your Way" is now live! Click to listen.

KevinM
Simonb
Platybat
Platybat
WieWaldi
diretonic

You can continue to use this thread to discuss your preparation of the piece, or to discuss any other matters regarding Play It Your Way.

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