Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum December Piano Bar

It is exciting to see so many great entries this month!

candlelightpiano - That was a great performance of Ave Maria! I like how you manage to play so smooth and with so much emotion. Great job! About two years ago, when I just got started with playing the piano again, I recorded this piece with a friend who plays the trumpet. Here is our interpretation of this lovely piece of music:

http://youtu.be/I413ngRXhjg

[video:youtube]I413ngRXhjg[/video]

Ladypayne - Great arrangement and lovely playing!

Pianonewbie - Another great performance from you! I don't know this piece but it sounds really nice. Thanks for sharing!

Augustina - That was a a performance full of engery! Great playing!

Theodor - What a lovely rendition of an old classic. It is a hard piece to play solo like this but you pulled it off. Great job!

Elssa - It is always great to see you make music at your magical piano. I really liked it! Is that your arrangement?

Thank you Amaruk. Even though Can't Help... has some tricky chord changes, it't quite regularly structured and treble and bass are not completely out of proportion with each other, unlike some of the Beatles tunes I've been studying. They often have such an irregular right hand, that I always mix up. At least when the melody is included.

Wonderful rendition of Ave Maria, from you and your partner. I love your videos, it always makes the listening more enjoyable to put in a good video with the song. That's why they invented music videos I guess!

Musically excellent to me , the trumpet gives it a different feel, (than an solo organ or piano) I have heard it played duet like this at a wedding,-and it wasn’t military. (first son getting married kind of thing)
The music video is artistically provocative. Super cool video, and juxtaposition of themes.
Somehow it gave me a breath of fresh thinking (air)
Thank you.

Shared my video on Facebook and a good friend of mine, who is an experienced keyboard/piano player, was inspired to put up this tutorial video of how to use the pedal (which I must shamefully admit I skipped altogether in my performance!) Thought I'd share, if it helps anyone.

Thank you so much, Amaruk, Pianonewbie and TheodorN. Your kind comments mean a lot to me.

TheodorN: Nice rendition of Can't Help Falling in Love, one of my favorite songs.

Elssa: Lovely arrangement of Waltz of the Flowers. I could feel the ballerinas flitting across the stage.

Amaruk: I loved the piccolo trumpet and piano duet and the NASA photos. A very moving piece of music, so lovingly and beautifully performed. And soaring to space!

candlelightpiano

Steady as she goes, solid as a rock. Very pleasant rendition, young lady . . .

Augustin[b][/b]a
I`m sat in the drawing room of this country house; it`s Sunday and I`ve had a fine meal and am pleasantly inebriated on port wine (damn this gout lol) whilst the beautiful daughter of the host is playing piano. That`s you, of course. Truly delightful! Bravo! More! (host moves over and whispers "Shut up Peter; the Bishop`s here . . .)
Lovely performance! Bravo! More . . .

Thank you for your kind words, candlelightpiano.

Elssa, that was very lovely, Waltz Of Two Flowers.

Just have to let this link follow, it came up as a related video on YouTube. A duo of the same piece, it's amazing how they play it in perfect unison. Obviously not beginners, but what makes it special to me, is that this is a performance in Dunkers Kulturshus (house of culture.) It's played at the Helsingborg Piano Festival. This house of culture is close to where I live and I've been there a few times, though not at a piano concert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWNQ_CH-8RY

Last Friday, 12/6, my piano professor had scheduled a recital of his secondary students (of which I am one).
However, it was canceled due to the ice storm that was due to hit us that day.

It was rescheduled for last evening, but due to an email mixup I didn't get word until it was too late and had to miss.

Here's the email I sent to my professor and the other participants in the recital.

-----------------------------------------

Hello all!

I was supposed to be in the recital last night, but due to email mixups I wasn’t able to be there. Too bad for me since I was really looking forward to hearing each of you as well as playing for you.

This crazy thing called music… we work hard and it’s important to share what we do, warts and all.

After I got home, I decided to record my part of the program with the provision that no matter what happened (the warts part), I would post it on youtube and send each of you a link. My son Gavin and his friend Zach Michaud showed up unexpectedly, so along with my partner Greg I had an ‘audience’ and made them suffer through it!

(btw, sorry for the iPad recording… one of these days I’ll get a better setup… you hear clipping on the peaks in this)


Here ya go.

Beethoven Op. 78, Adagio Cantabile, Allegro ma non troppo

above link takes you here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDs-z1c0_o8

best, (and keep playing – it’s way better than TV!)

Forrest Halford

Thanks, Amaruk. Yes, I always make up my own arrangements.. Sometimes I play by ear and other times might take a basic lead sheet and reharmonize the chords, add in runs & fills, etc.
I really enjoyed your "Ave Maria" - cool arrangement and video, as always!

I loved your "Ave Maria", too, Candlelightpiano.. beautiful flow - mesmerizing to listen to.

TheodorN: That was a terrific version of my favorite Elvis song.

That piano duo performing Waltz of the Flowers was awesome! So enjoyable to watch and listen to. Thanks for the link.

Woodog: What a terrific performance, warts and all. It wouldn't be as human without the warts, frankly, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching and listening to you, especially at 6:06 at the crashing chords! Made the whole piece seem more human, which is what Beethoven was to me, the most human of all composers, the greatest composer of all time. You did justice to the great man!

Candlelight, thanks for the kind words.

I had to put it up as it was because I have a tendency to shy away from playing in public, even though I've been in bands and a church musician for EVER. Go figure...

It's a strange mixture of wanting to share the music, but getting freaked out the minute I think anyone might be listening. Don't know if that makes sense or not... but it's certainly NOT a healthy way to go about this music thing.

That's another reason I was looking forward to the recital, because I had braced myself, psyched myself up and was feeling good about being able to play for my fellow students, knowing that there would be mistakes, knowing that I would get nervous, rush, whatever, and feeling okay about that too. It was a good feeling and I was so bummed out that I didn't get to go through with it.

So when my son showed up with his friend unexpectedly - and both of them are anything BUT classical music buffs, LOL... I figured that was the next best thing, to record it and send it to the folks who were in the recital as well as my teacher.

again, thanks for the compliment! made me grin inwardly today!

Forrest

TheodorN

Very systematically and carefully laid out. Your theory and practice are coming together; I get the impression there`s gonna be no short cuts! Well done! Piano is great sounding.

Amaruk


Good sound on that piano of yours; how hard it is for a trumpet not to let rip! Perhaps he should've been outside the building . . .! Enjoyed it, man!

Thank you, Elssa and peterws. Woodog, nicely done, this piece sounds demanding and you handled the challenge very well.

Just to let you all know, again. I always listen to the Piano Bar. Enjoy the songs.
I just don't really have anything to say to anyone in particular. Just to everyone, I enjoy it.

Candlelight – a very nice rendition of Canon in D and that Ave Maria…wow! just lovely.

Augustina – Such a lively performance. Good dynamics and rhythm. Well done!

Woodog – I’m sorry you missed your recital. But I bet your son and his friend were impressed just like the rest of us. That was an awesome performance.

Thank you so much, ElleC. Your comments mean a lot to me, especially on the Ave Maria as it holds a special place in my heart.