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Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments. I'm not sure what's wrong with my shoulder/arm, but I rub some Tiger Balm and/or Bengay on it every day and that helps a bit.

STill catching up here...

Ladypayne; You are so creative; love the way your piece is both dramatic and sweet at times!

KenJazz; Very cool "October's Lament"! Great vibes. Yes, I always make up my own arrangements, just look at a lead sheet and then add my own runs & fills and reharm, etc. Lots of fun.


Inlanding: Terrific "Early October" and "Angel Eyes - nice chops! I think you play very smoothly, too.. I was playing "Blue Moon" in key of Eb - one of my two favorite keys (C and Eb). I'm in my happy/comfort zone in that key and don't have to think about anything. BTW, do you play "September Song" by any chance?

Slpianoproject: Beautiful Mendelssohn piece and playing - one of my favorite composers. Great job! I try to play Rondo Capriccioso, but it needs a lot of work. Regarding recording, used to hook a cable up from computer to my portable DP but don't have a cable long enough now for my larger DP (Roland KR-7) in the other room.

Weiyan: Enjoyed your Bach Minuet - very nicely articulated.

Yet another masterful interpretation, cgyan. Great job.

cgyan: I really enjoy your playing of Yann Tierson.

Elssa - I loved your terrific arrangement and performance of Blue Moon. As a yout I performed this song at the Jr. High talent show accompanying my self on my trust Harmony guitar. I never learned to play the bridge correctly and resorted to repeating the first verse over and over. Thanks for the (painful) memory.

Cgyan - this is an extremely well crafted video. I liked everything about it - the song selection, your masterful performance, and the high quality presentation. I suspect you are a bit of a perfectionist as your work is always flawless.

Weiyan - like Inlanding I also cannot play your recording (must require flash?). I'll try later on another computer.

Elsa,
Another great orchestral performance from you! It sounded great!! Thanks for sharing.

slpianoproject
Welcome to the forum and the piano bar! No, don't feel alone here playing classical piano music. Most of us enjoy classical music too! Your performance was stunning. I might add that piece on my to-play-list as I simply loved it. The sound was so warm and you play it so relaxed. A beautiful piano too!!! Please post more on here soon!!

Weiyan
That was a great piece! You play it very well.

Cgyan
That was a new piece to me…. NOT. Well, in a way it is because my version (linky) is terrible in comparison…. Well done and thanks for sharing!!

It require flash. Next time may post to other webside.

Thanks so much, Amaruk! I loved your "Amelie" pieces - so smooth and dreamy!

Bill, I can really relate to your story.. Will never forget when I was young trying to perform the "Maple Leaf Rag" for a small recital and getting stuck in the middle, so just going back and repeating the first part again. Lesson learned: Never perform ragtime - especially on a huge clunky grand piano when you've only been playing on a little light-action upright. Your "Thunder Road" rendition was wonderful.. I think your voice/singing is so much better than Springsteen's. You really bring out the lyrics and your accompaniment is great!

Geez, takes about 2 minutes for what I type to print out - very long delay on this site. Anyone else with this problem here?

Slpianoproject – nice work. (Don't feel so alone). However, I rarely comment on classical pieces because I don't "understand" them in the way I do contemporary music.
Cygan – classy - what is it that is so familiar in that repeating phrase that first appears at 12-14 secs?

Hi. This story will probably be longer than the sound file.

Often when it gets late and I am tired I just noodle on the piano. It's a familiar term for guitar players, who often sit and watch TV with a guitar in their lap and noodle - let the mind and fingers just float freely. It's when you find yourself playing new/interesting things or stumbling across familiar melodies ... in short, discovering in a less than conscious way (almost meditative). In this way I've been developing an ability to play a little bit of melody in my RH while maintaining my fundamental chord style. It helped me to play the intro to Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate and I realise now that when I thought I hadn't learnt anything new in the last couple of months I actually have.

Am I right in starting to develop a view that a lot of melody can be played within the physical geography or close to the triad in the RH?

Over the weekend I was trying to record something else and gave up. So I started noodling and fell upon the attached. I've recorded just a sample because it's a bit repetitive and I haven't quite got the Zoom technique down (how to avoid the noise of the keys going up and down - bass cut seems to improve it I worked out after I recorded this).

Anyway I was pretty pleased with myself to do this by ear, from memory and with RH melody!

Short sample of RH work

Hi Newman,

The short piece use mostly harmonic notes in melody, is this the meaning of "played within the physical geography or close to the triad in the RH"?

The short piece is like church music has stable harmony. There seems not thing exciting for lacking of dissonant notes.

Weiyan

The tune is "I don't know how to love him" by Andrew Lloyd-Webber (Lyrics Tim Rice) and is from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

My comment about melodies was that it seems to me that perhaps many melodies can be played within the keys encompassed by or close to the notes of a triad (or four fingered seventh etc).

Does if the chord is C Maj., then the melody notes are within C, E and G? For classic composing method, first design the chord progression. Then fill in harmonic notes as melody. Then fill in some non-harmonic notes to make the melody smooth.

Finally got my piano tuned yesterday for the first time in over a year. Much better now. So to celebrate, here are a few songs I recorded this morning.

Angel Eyes

Darn That Dream

Days of Wine and Roses

A mistake for me to be away from the bar for too long, as so much catching up to do. But, have taken some time to listen today and glad I have:

Amaruk - Cool video and very effective with this piece. Nice playing. It kind of sticks in your head, this one. Then when I heard again from Cgyan ... it was embedded permanently. Both very nice renditions.

Seaside - Did not recognize the label, but sure recognized the tune. There are some really nice changes in this. It is a very pretty piece and nicely played. Thanks for sharing it.

Ken - Love the autumn leaves. I think this is the nicest I have heard from you. Very effective when the strings come in. It is really a full and accomplished sound. Great job again, Ken.

Elssa - Thanks for the Blue Moon. All you folks are giving me so much more material I want to add to repertoire and this is another. Nicely played, Elssa.

slpianoproject - Wow, outstanding performance with Mendelssohn. Very nice and look forward to hearing more from you. Don't feel out of place here. There is classical from time to time, and soon to be more Thanks for sharing this.

Weijan - Your Bach is coming along nicely. I have a particular liking for Bach and believe you have chosen the correct path. Nice work, and look forward to more.

Cgyan - Really great playing ... nicely performed.

Newman - Nice noodling, keep building on it and sure you will be composing soon as well?

Dennis - Wow, great to hear your stuff again Dennis. Very nice pieces. Your piano sounds great. Is Angel Eyes also known as Sentimental Journey? Or, am I getting these mixed up. Anyway, liked them all but particularly Angel Eyes. Thanks, and nice playing as usual Dennis.

OK, you knew it was coming so here it is. I am celebrating my induction into the 500 Post Club today and this is what I wanted to play. So hope you like this pretty little arrangement of:

Windmills | How Insensitive - Medley

Newman~ you are sounding very relaxed and confident. I like what you accomplished and I hope to hear more of it!

Dennis~ Great Angel Eyes! Loved those close harmonies in your arrangement of it. Great sound. You and I played the same tune, I didn't play the melody as it was written. Darn That Dream is equally as sensitively played. Days of Wine and Roses has that same sensitive feel, with those dense chords. Dennis, that is some very fine music!

Greener~ Michel LeGrand is one of my favorites. The Windmills was very nicely done. A great balance left and right - excellent rhythm. With Jobim's tune, you put Claudine Longet at the microphone! Great work, Jeff. Congratulations on breaking the 500 barrier!

Glen

Denis – that’s a very relaxed style – nice choice of tunes – great melodies

Greener – the Windmills melody works much better without the lyrics don’t you think? You can hear the writer take the main idea and move it around the keyboard. It’s a fairly common writing technique – but hard to pull off as the challenge is to have a great ‘theme’ idea in the first place. (The other part of the medley I’m not familiar with)

... and thanks for the feedback, folks.

There are a lot of nice music this month.

Tx-dennis: Very good playing. Do you arrange it yourself? I like the jazzy feeling.

Greener: I feel your heart is beating. I like the simple and beauty of Bach. So I will keep playing Bach as a life long hobby.