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This happens to be the least popular forum in the most popular forums section. I have a feeling it's because most pianists like classical music.

So let's give a shout about non-classical music!

What kinds of non-classical music does everyone on this forum like?

My list:
*Rock
*Jazz
*Latin

Uh, I can't think of any more. Anyone?

Ragtime

Piano bar style music

It's the least popular because it's the most difficult. When you start learning piano you start with classical because it's easier to handle. And I would guess many people stick with classical. The hard classical stuff is hard but all the jazz, r&b, etc..is hard because it immediately requires a working knowledge of music, and good technique, and a strong sense of rhythm. Most people associate jazz and r&b with black folk so what you find is it becomes a racial discussion and so well we do live in america. I don't have to elaborate any further. What a shame because in all types of music there is so much richness.

I personally like jazz, But don't find it as difficult as classical, because I enjoy it more.

I can see where it might be thought of as more difficult because you really need to find yourself, find your own voice. You also need to listen more and be able to play and listen at the same time...

But I do love Chopin and beautiful classical romantic piano pieces as well.

The reason it is the least popular forum is that it is new.

I play rock mainly. I started playing rock and then I started playing classical on the side because it's easy to play and, why not? my favorite rock artist is ben folds. I have learned many of his songs and I play them constantly. I find it amazing that I can even play these songs since I only started playing piano about 4 months ago.

Other types of non-classical:
- Show tunes
- Disney (Is this a type?)
- Country

I may get to these someday, but classical still seems to offer the challenge I'm looking for at the moment.

I personally find classical easiest to start out with. I'm not expecting something from it, I just play it and then I hear it come out of my piano.

I find rock difficult because I dissapoint myself when it doesn't sound the way I've heard it before. Also, I can't sing well, and with classical, it's easier to reconcile my lack of singing voice.

Yeah, Disney could be a type,...one I hadn't thought of.

My tastes are pretty eclectic...

standard ballads
showtunes (Broadway and movies)
popular (mostly the older stuff but once in awhile a great song still comes along)
rock n roll; rock from 50's, 60's to present
jazz
RnB
Irish
old timey
blues
country & honkey tonk (older stuff as well as newer)
cowboy (on my guitar; like Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Roy & Dale Rodgers,Sons of the Pioneers)
bluegrass (basically on guitar)
folk (new and old)
gospel
classical
patriotic
spanish/latino
ragtime
Big Band

*I really enjoy listening to someone playing nice stride, ragtime and boogie rhythm pieces btw.

now what I hate as a list would have been easier to list..

I'd start my hate list with Rap Music. I am not into some of the world music styles as the modes used are so foreign to my ears (Middle Eastern music drives me up the wall, and Indian ( meaning the stuff from India not the native americans)

Mostly I really love the songs I can belt out with my voice, and are nice to play accompiaments to as I am singing on the piano. Love Gerswin, Porter, Carmichel, Arlen, and other great composers who master lyrics and melodies.

I will confess.... my Disney Fake Book gets a lot of use. Some excellent songwriters and performers have contributed to Disney's ever expanding Catalog.

Peggy Lee singing and co-writer on "He's A Tramp" is a tune that floats my boat. Some great tunes to play with and sing in that Disney Fake book.

I don't think that would be the reason this board is used less. Many working piano players out there play the popular styles vs. classical music at their gigs.

I find classical more demanding for myself; but jazz also has it's challenges depending on the piece I choose. Depends on the song chosen, as in both styles one can find easier pieces and harder pieces to work on.

I do hate taking gobs of time to learn one piece when I can make my own arrangements in minutes using lead sheets/fake books and my ears. I just don't have the time it takes to perfect one classical piece these days; but I admire those players that do devote themselves to classical music and striving a great deal to achieve mastery of complicated classical pieces.

But for me; I just love sitting down for hours on a nice piano and singing great songs; and it's cool to get paid to do it also.

My house just got buzzed by a B-24 "The Liberator" WWII area aircraft.We have two WWII plane in towns this weekend; now I am wondering if my great uncle had something to do with it as he is a former WWII pilot and a col. who flew B-17, B-24 and B-29s. Tooooo cool.

I just grabbed a stack of CDs that I have listened to in the past several months. In no particular order:
Coldplay
Joss Stone
Debussy
Alicia Keyes
Rachmaninov
Liszt
Joplin
Jethro Tull
Tori Amos
Van Morrison
Warren Zevon
Johnny Clegg
Beethoven
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Gershwin
Deep Purple

Coldplay and Jamie Cullum are my favorite 'non-classical' artists right now.

I particularly love Coldplay for their songwriting with the piano...here's some of my favorite piano tracks of theirs and the albums they're from...

Coldplay - Parachutes:

-Everything's Not Lost

Coldplay - Rush of Blood to the Head

-The Scientist
-Amsterdam

Coldplay - X&Y (new album, out in early June)

-What If
-Fix You (my favorite coldplay song)


I also love Coldplay because I'm a vocalist (tenor) and like to sing and play these together!

Demosthenes,
I got a book of sheet music for Rush of Blood to the Head. Very nice. To you list, I would add "Politik."

Perhaps the reason there is not a flood of jazz-related postings here is that there is another site with forums and downloads that are pretty awesome:

www.learnjazzpiano.com

Ed

I just added this link to my favorites; thanks for sharing it.

Artists I am listening to lately:
Ella Fitzgerald
Eva Cassidy
Natalie Cole
Norah Jones
Billie Holiday
Mary Chapin Carpenter
(De-Lovely CD)mixed artists
Diane Krall
Ray Charles

All those gals and Ray.... Ray'd be happy to be in such company.

Scott Raney's forums are great for practical tips on the craft of jazz playing. Some knowledgeable cats show up there from time to time and leave pearls.

I gotta say, though, the Miva software he uses there can lay down some confusing navigational paths. I have been lost in space over there on more than one occasion.

I prefer the hierarchical structure of the forum here.

Wow! That was quite a list. I got to admit, rap is at the top of my don't-like list. All the other stuff you mentioned is cool though.

I think there's something to be said for classical being easier for beginners. It seems that with classical, there's just a huge body of beginning and intermediate music. And it's not very demanding, all you have to do is look at the page and play the notes, just as they're written. What could be easier than that!

With jazz (or anyting that's chord-based), you need a lot more knowledge at an earlier stage, and that can be intimidating. And with rock, simple pieces (easy arrangements) can be pretty disappointing. And if you want to talk ragtime, you better have pretty fast fingers, not easy for a beginner. And even "new age," or whatever you want to call it, tends to place pretty high demands on chord knowledge and so on. I would say that most popular styles require a more advanced level in order to make it sound musical.

Or maybe it's that we have a higher tolerance for easy pieces when they're classical, whereas we think that popular sounds childish if it's been simplified?

I love to listen to ragtime (and if my fingers ever speed up, I hope to play something beyond just "Entertainer")

I also love George Winston, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joe Hisaishi and Michael Nyman. But I hate to say "new age" since there's some new age that drives me crazy... I prefer to say "solo piano" or "modern piano" (but no one else uses these terms, so they're not really catching on!

ShiroKuro, I agree with you, I hate the term "new age". I am a fan of George Winston, I was listening to him the other day. I have a CD of him covering, solo piano of course, the music of the rock group The Doors. It sounds like a strange mix, but he pulls it off. I enjoy George's reinterpretations of other peoples material better than his original stuff. His CD covering the music of Vince Guaraldi (the man who did all The Peanuts music) is outstanding, especially the Masked Marvel. And, of course, Winston's take on Pachebel's Canon in D from his December album is breathtaking.