Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum The traditional "one month to recital" thread...

Thanks, Dennis. It's a challenge but a great experience, and I think it pushes me to learn. That can only be a good thing. Though I'd be willing to step aside if a much more experienced pianist came along I'm grateful for the opportunity and the trust the church has placed in me.
"Because He Lives" I worked out by ear, so it won't sound like it came from a hymnal(hopefully). I hope you enjoy it.

Yikes!!!
I am not even close to having something ready. I have been working on my Schumann e-cital piece and I have that ready to record, but I was hoping to do a Camille Saint-Saens piece for the ABF recital... I don't think that will happen for this recital. I will probably have to dust off something previously learned... apologies in advanced.

Good choice MSH! I am looking forward to listening to this one.

Yikes, Mike. I can't imagine trying to play for a church after 15 years of lessons, much less after one. You are a really brave fellow! I bet you're right about how much it makes you improve. I would become a lot better at sightreading if I had to get different hymns ready each week.

Nancy

Thanks for the compliment, Nancy. My church is small(70 or so people), and I play Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. It's usually 2 congregational hymns and an invitational. Not very demanding. I have about 16 hymns I can choose from, so I just rotate these. As I get another hymn down I just add it to the mix. I'm always working on a new one. Right now I'm working on "Nothing But The Blood". It's almost there. Another week.
It helps that I also lead the singing as well. If I had to try to accomodate a Songleader and play in keys he might prefer or other such things, it would probably be a lot harder to do. I also have about 5 songs I can play on the piano as solo performances or specials, and am constantly looking for new ones there. But our church is blessed with many musicians and singers, so I am not the only one singing or playing specials.
As for playing in front of the congregation, I spent 20 years performing live as a guitarist/singer in local bands, so it's kind of normal for me. Although the first few times I tried it on piano I was really nervous, it's easier for me now. Since the guitar was my main instrument for so long, I've got about 30 songs I can pull out on guitar for solo work as well, so while I'm trying to build my solo set list up on the piano I have those to fall back on for variety.

Just posted a not-ready-for-prime-time version of my recital piece on the Aw2pp blog. It's rough, but you'd be surprised how far ahead I am of where I usually am. It sounds right now like it usually does a day or three before the submission deadline, so I'm way ahead of the game.

Of course, I'd better be, I've been working on this thing for 4 months now.

Exams up next month so not sure what I can come up with I haven't planned anything. I got a few super easy songs I've learned that I can record in probably an hour but that would feel like a very "lazy" attempt at just getting something submitted.

I don't know really no idea, not really close to learning anything new as well so not sure if there will be anything.

I have a funny little story about me trying to get a better recording of my recital piece today...

Everyone's out of the house, the washing machine has stopped, everything's quiet. I start playing and recording my piece and about a third of the way through I hear a thumping. I try it ignore it (hoping the recorder doesn't pick it up) but it continues in time to what I'm playing. I finally have to stop - look around and our dog, asleep, is beating his tail against the floor in perfect rhythm!

I'm hoping he subliminally liked the piece, he was a very good metronome.

Very very cool!

LOL, wow, already?! Darnit. I am 95% completed with my piece, but it's that last 5% - polishing, dynamics, pedaling, and getting rid of flubs that's taking long...plus, I've started 3 new pieces and have slacked off on this piece a bit.

I'm starting to get tired of practicing my piece, lovely though it is.

Even without looking at the calendar, this tells me that Recital time is approaching.

My piece is Sergei Bortkiewicz's Prelude in D flat, Op.33 No.8.

Right now, the notes are pretty much in my fingers. Once it's polished, I can record.

I hope that happens quickly, because I really want to start something new for the Recital after this one.

Maybe something by Mélanie Hélène Bonis, or a Nocturne by Chopin's pupil Adolf Gutmann, or a Prelude by César Cui. Or something more exotic by Josef Suk or Francis Poulenc, maybe.


Mel

Don't be in too much of a rush to get a good recording right now. Especially if you just reached the point of making it through without a stumble. Ever notice how much BETTER you can perform your recital piece once you have already submitted it?

Happens to me every time.

Gah! I've been playing my piece all the way through, as if it was recording time, and I just *cannot* get through without a mistake, always in different places. I know it'll be even worse when the red dot is on (i.e. making mistakes where I *never* make mistakes).

Arg!! It's not even official recital time and I'm stressing out!

I agree with Mr. Super-Hunky about getting a good take once the pressure is off, but even if I get a decent--not perfect--take that I haven't submitted yet, I start doing a lot better on later recordings. I haven't tried recording after I've submitted, so maybe that will get me the best version of all!

Nancy

I might start trying to record something on Tuesday. Seems like a good day. Down to four or five selections now, I think. I'll just have to see which one is inspiring me the most when I record.

Just bought a new recording device yesterday (Tascam DR-08), and had a chance to try it out last night. It's so much easier to use than my old one and the recording quality is much better, too. But the piece I'm going to submit gained at least 10% more mistakes as soon as I turned it on. I looked through the manual to see how to turn on the auto-error-correct function, but couldn't find it anywhere! Anybody know how to enable that feature? Or do I have to upgrade?

LOL!

Yeah, I'm afraid you're going to have to upgrade to MaryBee 2.3 to get that error-correct function.

I actually have to record mine by the end of April if I want to submit one I'll be studying abroad beginning of May and no piano for 5 weeks! =(( Wish I could bring one along X.x

Nancy you've been agreeing with me a lot lately. Don't think I haven't noticed. I'm just sayin'! Stop flirting.