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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Rich, You have so much feeling in your play, this is an outstanding rendition - thank you so much for sharing! (I wish I could 'subscribe' to your playing on YouTube - if you have your recordings posted there).
The Gounod/Bach Ave Maria. You'll probably recognize the keyboard part, the Bach prelude in C from the WTC book 1. I think it's in the back of Alfred Book 3. Gounod decided that it needed a melody, so he set "Ave Maria" to it. He added a measure in the middle, repeated the first four as an intro, and changed the key. I transposed it back to C to suit the recorder.
Notice my feet tucked up under the bench? No sustain pedal on the harpsichord, or any of the instruments available to Bach. The notes stop sounding when I release the key, so I don't play it as written. Instead I hold the notes until they are plucked again or the end of the measure. Sometimes I have to release a bass note early to move my hand for the next chord. Tuck your foot up under the bench and try this on the piano.
And there are no dynamics on this particular harpsichord, so I can't play any louder or softer...
Anyway, we had fun with it - hope you like it.
Sam
Sam and Laurie,
I liked it so much! Every month I am looking forward to your new piece - I imagine how great it is to play together like this...
BenPiano, Frozenicicles, Rickster, JF, Augustina, Glen, Morodiene, ladypayne - thank you so much for your kind comments!
Frozenicicles - nope, I am not taking any exams, just studying on my own, without a teacher or any ambitious goals. I just love piano music so much, and still surprised I can continue learning it at my age :-)
Ed, .... I had my sound system hooked up for recording so could listen to your recording through headphones.....
Gee, maybe I ought to try that myself. It is a constant source of amusement to my family that, although I am obsessed with music and am, in theory, a very high tech guy, I listen to all my music with the smallest and cheapest speakers that Walmart carries! Anyway, thanks for the comments.
Wow, that's a very nice song, I really like it. Great melody, and put together very well. Great melody and I like how you worked with it. I'm anxious to hear more of your stuff.
I wrote this last year and just made some changes. It's called "faded Scarlet Bow".
Nice work Peyton. I admire anyone who can sing and play at the same time! That line at the beginning of the song about feeding the chickens reminds me of a funny story. When my great grandfather Sven died, his bachelor son Ephraim was suddenly now in charge of the family farm in Michigan. At the funeral the preacher was droning on and on in Swedish, and Ephraim, who obviously had his mind somewhere else, stood up and loudly exclaimed "I knew it, I knew it, I forgot to feed the chickens!!", and abruptly left the church to tend to his chores...
Taking the inspiration from the Christmas songs thread, I wrote this song. In this one, I envisioned people gathering on the holidays, catching up on each others' news, the kids running around having fun. So I called it:
TB, I think what you envisioned fits perfectly with the song. Have you thought about writing words to it? Your family holiday gatherings must be more peaceful than the ones in my family. Last year at my cousin's house, while carrying plates of food to the table she tripped and fell, sending food flying in all direction. Her daughter yelled "Mom, I told you not to try to carry all that at once!!" prompting her brother to scream "Don't talk to Mom that way!!" Then they got into a big fight and the brother left the house. Now that would make for an interesting song.
TB, I think what you envisioned fits perfectly with the song. Have you thought about writing words to it? Your family holiday gatherings must be more peaceful than the ones in my family.
Larry, I know I am bad at writing lyrics so I would not try. LOL about your family reunion. Talking about that, my parents have 7 children and 6 of them are girls (I was the only boy), so that sounds like the same as mine. I got used to it when I grew up, it would be strange that we had a reunion without incident.
Tatiana, I love your Fluttering Leaves. Now, I need to find out more info about Stephen Heller when I got time.
Nice work Peyton. I admire anyone who can sing and play at the same time! That line at the beginning of the song about feeding the chickens reminds me of a funny story. When my great grandfather Sven died, his bachelor son Ephraim was suddenly now in charge of the family farm in Michigan. At the funeral the preacher was droning on and on in Swedish, and Ephraim, who obviously had his mind somewhere else, stood up and loudly exclaimed "I knew it, I knew it, I forgot to feed the chickens!!", and abruptly left the church to tend to his chores...
Funny story but I can relate. I really do have chickens and horses. In fact, my original idea for the youtube presentation was to take footage of my chickens and horses and various Christmas stuff and have a music video. It's probably just as well I didn't as it would have been corny as heck.
For a moment I thought I wouldn't have time to record anything in December. But luckily I've just had an hour to record and upload March in D major (BWV Anh. 122) by C.P.E. Bach.
Thanks Glen, and I must say I enjoyed both of your compositions very much. The blues number made me feel like I was sitting at a piano bar and sipping on a brew. So I did.
Studio Joe - A very nice composition played with feeling and emotion. I am in awe of your ability to write such melodic tunes (you too Peyton, Glen, Larry and Rickster).