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Mark, this sounds like a fun little project.

Ok, now you have the right notes.

Next, get the timing absolutely perfect.

I would suggest that you put a metronome on and make timing your most important goal.

And, btw ... TIMING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE OF THIS TYPE OF MUSIC.

Never sluff over the timing of it. Get it absolutely perfect.

Good Luck

Very nice, Mark.

I'm working on a new, original blues tune entitled "You know you got the blues".

Maybe I can record it sometimes this week...

I see the ABF piano bar has been quite popular these days!

Rick

Nice! I did an easy version of this song for the last ABF recital! It's a fun song

Only thing is... how could you use a metronome with this kind of long-short-long-short rhythm? I just tried to "feel it".

Looking forward to it Rick.

The book starts out telling you:

When playing jazz, the element of interpretation is key. What is often written on the page is not what is performed. One of the basic rules is to add "swing" to melodies: this means that a series of eight notes are not played straight and even. Rather, they're paired into groups of two, with a delay on the attack of the second note. It's simplest to think of two eight notes as a dotted eight plus a sixteenth.

A metronome would work fine with this piece.

There are 4 beats to each measure.

It does not matter what you are playing or how you are playing notes within the measure ... they should take 4 beats.

The first note of each measure should be right on beat ONE.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR ONE TWO THREE FOUR ... ETC ...

Rock solid.

Remember ... whenever you play music and others are listening, they are participating with you by "feeling" the beat ... 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4 ... etc .... If deviate from that pattern, the listener will stop participating and move on to something else.

Most important element of music.

A great gem I found today. I like playing pieces that are not demanding technically because they allow me to quickly get into the music without having to workout the notes for 2 months. This took a bit over an hour before I felt secure about playing with little to no mistakes.

It's just a page long. If anyone is interested I can scan the sheet music for you. Excuse the weird look on my face, it's because I was focused on the sheet music and the sound at the same time. I always get this expression when I concentrate hard on something



And this is a little project of mine. Trying to learn just a bit of all the 60 etudes by Cramer. They are too difficult currently if I want to learn the entire etudes but parts are accessible and teach technique that will accumulate over time.

nice piece but I could not possibly take on another piece. I have about two years worth of pieces in front of me at the moment, lol

I had to slow this down to 92 BPM (which is exactly half the tempo that's indicated on the sheet) before I could get a somewhat clean recording of it (emphasis on somewhat). Obviously, I still have a ways to go with this piece. But I'm posting it here anyway. Because if I don't, I might be tempted to keep working on it, and then submit this instead of the Beethoven to the ABF recital.

(There's another person who has submitted the same piece I did, and I'm kind of scared now that I won't measure up to him!)

Enjoy, if you will . And if you don't, well, that wasn't really the point anyway .

https://soundcloud.com/saranoya/burgmuller-adieu

Saranoya - I don't know the piece so it sounds perfectly fine at this tempo.
Mark - It seems your piece disappeared?
Teodor - Bag cam?

This is my first attempt at playing at piece with a ‘solo’/instrumental interlude in it. It took me a while to work it out and play it so figured I’d get something out of my ‘investment’ by sharing it here.

Your mother should know

Couple of dodgy vocal notes here and there. Probably what set the neighbour's dog barking!

I've said it before but I'll say it again.....Newman you have a great voice.

Mark...: I am sorry you deleted your piece, I enjoyed it.
Teodor: As you mention, a great little gem, very nice.
Saranoya: Nicely done. I think the tempo worked great.
Newman: That was fantastic!

Woohoo, I have something to post here! It's a super easy arrangement but it was not easy for me to manage those octaves - don't know if you can hear it, but I also tried to highlight the top note. I'll have to learn it with a nicer, more difficult arpeggio in the left hand now.

Downton Abbey Theme

Saranoya -- you did very well on the Burgmuller. I thought it sounded nice even with half the tempo. I think the dynamics and the phrasing were good and even. You'll get to that tempo soon no worries.

Newman -- nice vocals and piano work as usual. Felt like I was at a local bar listening to live performance

Teodor -- sadly, I don't think I can ever play anything with little to no mistakes in an hour unless it's in the caliber of "Mary had a little lamb." You however are very good with that piano. You have an incredible focus.

Thank you. Don't worry about that right now. I am nothing special, I take ages to learn things, but you will come to a point when certain pieces can be learned pretty fast because your general level of mastery on the piano will increase over time. You've only been playing a few months, so who knows what you can do in a couple of years from now if you stick with it.

Sinophilia, your Downton Abbey piece was just beautiful, didn't miss a beat and the melody was nice and crisp.....lovely
Nice sounding piano too

sinophilia, "Downton Abbey Theme" was lovely! And yes, I agree the sound of your piano is fantastic. I enjoyed all your pieces on soundcloud ("Frankie and Johnnie", "Raisins and Almonds", and "Raymond").