Play "Don't Know Why" Your Way! (PIYW #11, October 2026)

rsl12 · 2026-08-16T04:58:45+00:00

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 (there is still plenty of time to participate in this one!) 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)

ShiroKuro

rsl12 you may be right.. i should look at it again. If not the chords then, it was the rhythm. At this point I don’t recall, but I may be mixing this up with some other piece… I remember putting a piece aside, thinking that my lack of chord and theory knowledge was the barrier.

rsl12

I'm starting to do my listening research. I'll post about it later, but for now, here is Norah Jones on Sesame Street.

ShiroKuro

rsl12 that is adorable! I will never not love Elmo!! 😃
/missingthepoint

😅

WieWaldi

Sesame Street?!?

rsl12

WieWaldi Don't tell me you like the Muppets, but don't like Sesame Street!

Hold on, I looked into Sesamstrasse. Wikipedia says:

In Bavaria, Bayerischer Rundfunk felt that the Sesame Street set was too gritty to suit German children, and consequently developed its own children's programme called Das feuerrote Spielmobil.

What, Sesame Street is too dirty for Bavarian tastes?? (the article hilariously notes also that Oscar the Grouch was a controversial character in Germany!)

WieWaldi

Don't know about the opinion of the Bayrischer Rundfunk of that time. I can just tell, it was aired in Germany. But the Muppet Show is simply the better show. Period. Ok, Ernie and Bert were great and they were from the Sesame Street. And Lefty as well. But all in all, the Muppet Show was leagues better.

Nightowl

WieWaldi Well, you seem to be an aficionado of The Muppet Show. In fact, it would seem that you really are a total Muppet! 😀 I think you're right about Sesame Street being inferior to The Muppet Show, but that's probably because Sesame Street was aimed at children, whereas The Muppet Show was intended for an adult audience so the humour was better.

Back on topic, there is a lot of interest in playing DKW and some of the arrangements I've heard are really lush. I'm looking forward to watching the submission vids.

ShiroKuro

Nightowl some of the arrangements I've heard are really lush.

they really are, aren't they! I feel like there's so much to do with this song, it definitely seems lends itself to more creativity than Last Song. Which is not a dig at Last Song by any means, just an observation. (Or maybe it's a sign of my own lack of creativity that I don't see avenues for that in Last Song... )

I'm looking forward to watching the submission vids.

Me too!

rsl12

TulipAcid Was thinking about Don’t Know Why (as in I don’t know why Don’t Know Why is so difficult…it shouldn’t be) and the metaphor of perhaps it’s like learning a different language … one that is somewhat related to one’s parent language (like Spanish and Italian are related.) Similar grammar, overlapping vocabulary, but with their own distinct embellishments. SK, you can inform me if I’m misguided, but I think the AAB form and chord progressions fall into grammar, and the more exotic chords take us into the realm of dialect, then we have the rhythms and particularly the embellishments that really distinguish the language of jazz from classical.

I'm moving the conversation back to here!

What sort of music do you play with your mandolin orchestra? I've only heard you play the Moccio, so I agree that, if that's the kind of music you generally play, there's a pretty big difference!

The specifics of the analogy aren't important--I agree with your point that playing music that is far from your "native language" is harder. But just for fun, I would say that there is a family of "Romance Languages" that derive primarily from Europe, which includes most music you and I probably listen to. African-American music is perhaps a language within the romance languages, and includes dialects such as blues and rock, gospel, and jazz.

My current strategy is to walk through the chord progressions in the as written voicings in the intended rhythm as much as possible. Add the tune back in, then the embellishments. Then remove the stick from my *** and see if I can get into the groove.

Sounds like you are a true musician! A very practical approach. I feel like you could benefit from using lead sheets (probably you've already used them for strumming in your orchestra?). It's harder to use lead sheets on a piano than in a chordable instrument like mandolin, but I feel like you could learn pretty readily. On the other hand, since you are "new to the language", using an arrangement might be useful to get used to all the new elements.

TulipAcid

rsl12

Strumming??? 🤯

Not much strumming. It makes our classically exposed guitarists sad. And the jazz adjacent ones. Really, everyone.
😆

At 67, I have to be efficient in learning. We’ll see how much I can muster. 😉

I have Mark Levine’s book somewhere. I started looking at that 10 years ago and got side-tracked (switched from mandolin to mandocello, learn the repertoire on the new instrument…)

I think that book (dusty and currently hiding) was what influenced my approach to this...

As for your other questions…

Our orchestra members are violin/fiddle/viola/cello refugees as the community orchestras are difficult to get into. Our guitars lately are people our conductor met on the pickleball court. Unexpectedly good players … on guitar too.

We play an eclectic gamut of things most people have never heard of. Golden Age (1890’s-1920’s) music consisting of marches and grand concert overtures composed specifically for American and European mandolin orchestras. Some arrangements of baroque/classical stuff, operas. Contemporary stuff composed for us by locals (folk inspired melodies, either American or Irish or Spanish or Greek or…) Contemporary stuff composed from all over the world that makes our audiences' eyes roll. Movie and TV themes arranged for us (this year Funeral March for a Marionnette from Alfred Hitchcock & theme from Star Trek, Jai Ho from Slum Dog Millionaire.) A traditional Beatles set. We end with a rag or something jazz adjacent where a few will improvise/solo. Our current closing tune is, as our conductor sometimes announces “Rag for a Boy with High BMI” aka “Fat Boy Rag.” Stuff in that vein. With a harmonica solo along with the various other solos.

rsl12

WieWaldi And Lefty as well.

I had to look up who Lefty was, as he is not a popular character in the USA. So then I thought "maybe the German version of Sesame Street is inferior". So I looked up a list of characters on Sesamstrasse, and there are a lot of beloved characters that are not on this list! Do you know Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Cookie Monster, Big Bird?

WieWaldi

It was quite popular in Germany. I think there were even episodes produced for German TV besides having the US ones overdubbed. I don't remember Oscar the Gouch, but he doesn't look too unfamiliar, either. The character I remember the best were of course Ernie and Bert, Samson, Tiffy, the Cookie Monser, Grover, and Big Bird. And of course Samson and Tiffy, but the latter ones were produced for Sesamstrasse in Germany, only.
Lefty might be more popular in Germany because his voice is brilliant. Instead of "riiight" he says "genauuuuuuuu", longer and way cooler. Still, I think the greatest characters were Ernie and Bert. Especially Ernie, but without Bert he couldn't shine that bright.

Sophia

Well, probably not entirely unexpected, but I'm bowing out of DKW for the time being. The version I purchased is absolutely lovely, but above my head. Of course rsl called that already, because by now he knows my abilities (far outnumbered by my limitations) so well now. I can play the intro and fairly smoothly at that, but it was a struggle to learn even that.

I probably need another year or two before I am able to handle a piece like this... I mean I guess I could learn more if I really wanted to, but right now I don't feel a desire to learn two stretch pieces in a row. And the easier arrangements don't appeal to me, so I prefer to wait till I can handle this one. The sheet music is stowed away safely to revisit at a future date 🙂

Now I fully expect Wie Waldi to carry the torch of the CF version - no pressure there, right WieWie? 😋

WieWaldi

Sophia But but but

Sophia

I have full trust in you!

ShiroKuro

Sophia I totally get where you’re coming from. I’m actually thinking about starting a thread about my fall pieces, since I have a similar concern to what you’ve written here. With regard to DKW, I haven’t looked at the score for the version you chose, so I won’t comment on that, but I think one of the keys to being successful as an adult learner is knowing when to say “nope, not this one, not at this point, I’ll put my energy into something else and come back to it some time in the future.”

WieWaldi

ShiroKuro Very wise...
Yes, this version is beyond beginner level and I understand if Sophia doesn't want to spend too much time on it. I have no doubt she could handle it, but at what a cost?

I will follow Ron's advice and cut out the solo part. Without, it is difficult enough but I have the feeling I can handle it. Don't know why, but somehow the keys just fall nicely into my hands. Or it is because I played similar harmonies before? Or because I am used to some elements from "my personal arranger", like the pop bass? Really - I don't know why.

Sophia

WieWaldi Or because I am used to some elements from "my personal arranger", like the pop bass?

Interesting. What attracted me to this version is indeed that very smooth and groovy bass line. That was actually the most fun part in learning the intro: getting that into my fingers. But the RH, at this point, is too hard. I can't make the transition between multiple fingers unless I spent hours practicing the same movement over and over. After doing it with the first four bars, I was "done", for now. I just couldn't face starting all over with the next section!

Of course Syncopated Clock had a similar pattern of multiple fingers having to do "something" simultaneously, but as rsl already mentioned, that was a piece I was really vested in and that made it worth it. Plus once learned, there were enough repeats to make it feel less daunting 🙂

Shiro, I'm looking forward to your fall pieces topic 😍 Funny how we all face similar challenges no matter our skill level 😅

rsl12

TulipAcid Strumming??? 🤯

Not much strumming. It makes our classically exposed guitarists sad. And the jazz adjacent ones. Really, everyone.

I'm a little surprised, but I guess it makes sense if your orchestra is the size of an orchestra!

TulipAcid I have Mark Levine’s book somewhere.

That book is hard to use as a self-learner. I tried to teach myself jazz using it, and I think it delayed me quite a bit. (It's a good book as a reference for intermediate-and-up players, but not very good for beginners)

It sounds like you play a little bit of all music! I'm surprised you don't consider "Don't Know Why" within your wheelhouse.

ShiroKuro

Can I just say that trying to learn something from a video is incredibly annoying? I know many people don't agree with me, but if he (Jonny May) had just written his fingering into the score I bought, it would be so much faster. Instead I'm going back and forth between the score and the video, stopping and starting and replaying the video trying to figure out what he's doing.

Wow is that inefficient.
And annoying.

/rant

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