Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Recital 35 --- Call For Submissions

Recital #35 is now open for submissions!

Believe it or not, it’s time for the 35th quarterly “Beginners and Beyond” recital hosted by the Piano World Adult Beginners Forum! The recital will be posted some time on the 15th of August, which means that the submissions must be in by 9:00 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time, August 14. Please note this deadline is very firm; I cannot start working on the recital until it is closed, and once it is closed, no new entries can be added.

While any and all styles of music are welcome, we do ask that it be piano related. Only one recording may be submitted per forum member (although that recording may consist of a medley of two or more very short related pieces).

If you are fairly new to the piano, please do not be intimidated by some of the talent here in the ABF. We all consider ourselves to be beginners even though we may have been playing for some time. And, we LOVE to hear recordings from folks new to the keyboard. So even if you’re on your first Alfred’s method book, we would *really* enjoy hearing from you.

Recital submissions must be in MP3 format. The maximum size of the file is 20 MB. We recommend encoding the recording at 192 kbs with a constant bitrate, as that works best with the online streaming player. At that bitrate, a 20 MB file works out to be about 7-9 minutes in length. Your recording will be normalized when placed in the consolidated zip files, but your original link will still be available for those who want it.

If you are new to recording your music, there are several threads in the forum archives that address the ways and means. See the "Important Topics in the AB Forum" thread stickied at the top of the AB forum page. Audacity is an excellent free recording application that can be used.

If you’re new to the forum and the recitals, I encourage you to browse through a few of the past recitals to see what they’re like. An easy way to find past recitals is to use Sam S.’s extremely helpful recital index, located here:

http://recitals.pianoworld.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page


Submitting Your Recording:

We will be using again the absolutely marvelous automatic web-based recital program that mahlzeit wrote for us. You will upload your mp3 file to the recital server as part of the recital submission process.

When you have your mp3 file ready, go to:

https://recitals.pianoworld.com/

and follow the instructions there. Please note that this URL reflects our new permanent home for all the recital files. Once you have uploaded your info to the automated recital software, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You will have the opportunity to revise your submission any time up until the deadline. If you have any problems at all using the new website, or if you do not receive a confirmation e-mail within a few hours, just PM me. If you have not participated in past recitals using this software, I strongly encourage you to submit your recital piece at least a day in advance in case you run into any problems with it.

The recital website uses the following submission template to be filled out along with your attached music file. You may want to have your responses to these fields prepared in advance so all you have to do is cut and paste:

Performer's Name: {forum ID and real name if you’d like}
Where you are located: {optional}
Avatar image link: {optional}
Experience: {Yrs/Mos of piano playing experience}
Link to YouTube or other video: {optional}
Home page link: {optional}
Title of piece/composer:
Source of music: {sheet music, improvised score, play-by-ear, etc}
Instrument used: {Piano make, keyboard model, etc.}
Recording method: {audacity, Zoom, digital to PC, etc.}
Constructive technical feedback wanted: {Yes/No}
Additional Info: {Your thoughts on the piece, what you had for lunch, etc.}


The due date for all submissions is 9:00 pm US EASTERN TIME on August 14, 2014.

Did I mention that the 9:00 pm deadline was firm?

Think "consistency of concrete."

By submitting a piece to the recital, you are certifying that it is a recording of your own performance.

Again, the recital order will be presented in the order the pieces were received, so the sooner you send in your piece, the higher you will be on the list! You can revise your entries on the template (e.g., thoughts about your piece, adding YouTube links, and the like) any time and not lose your place in the recital queue, but if you resubmit your recording at any time, for any reason, you will be bumped to the end of the list.

Should anyone have any questions at all on what to do or how to do it, this is the place to ask. Remember, there are NO stupid questions, as we have a steady flow of new members in AB Forum for whom this is their first recital, so your questions will probably help to eliminate other members’ problems. Please ask away!

Let's all go out and brave that Red Dot and share a lot of beautiful music!

I've come down with a very bad dose of "overpreparedness" and got myself in at No 2.

So I was just standing around minding my own business and the no. 3 spot opened up with no takers so I grabbed it.

I'm not going to play the game of trying to get a better and better take only to realize that I should have just kept the original one to begin with.

Of course, as always, my best performance is the one just after the one I submitted. It never fails!

I'm in!

It's really been delightful seeing the variety, and I have found several pieces that have made their way into my Must Learn queue! It's a nice way of getting exposure to a wider scope of piano music than I would otherwise bump into.

In at number 6

earlofmar, can't wait to hear your Chopin, I want to learn that too!

I would say it is an excellent introduction to Chopin. I always look forward to hearing what you present as well as you are a bit in front of me time wise so I get a little glimpse of the future. Plus we both have exquisite taste in music lol.

I recorded a few weeks ago, highest spot for me so far at no 7. Looking forward to the recital.

So true

I may be in front of you time wise but not in terms of playing ability. And I rarely tackle challenging pieces, although I'm making more forays into the intermediate realm now. How about Schumann's Kinderszene no. 1?

YES PLEASE!! My favourite piece of the Kinderszenen. I am so much looking forward to the moment I will be able to play it..

Ok, I'm in! #8

I'm trying to submit Saturday or Sunday. I was recording yesterday but it's not yet at the level I'm aiming for, however realistic that is..

A beautiful piece but I am trapped within a Debussy phase and don't quite know when he is going to let me go. Though I may get the boot soon enough as it's all very hard.

Well done all you organised people with your submissions in already!
Planning to record this weekend and submit the best I get...

Oh, then it's really easy: submit a crap version, start the recorder and record your final submission

In at 9! I'm on summer holidays so my connection is not so sharp

Highly recommended. How about adding no. 7 to it for a bit of challenge ;-)

I'm trying for a one shot record, so I'll be recording Saturday night and submitting whatever I end up recording

Just to let y'all know: I'm leaving in a couple of hours for Chicago to help my hubby out at the biggest coin show of the year. Most of the time I will be in the convention center with no internet access. If you have trouble uploading your recording and email it to me instead, I may not be able to upload it from my end until we return on the 9th. If you have other questions/problems, you may get quicker resolution just posting your question here in the thread.

No Wouter, that's not it at all. And who said said anything about submitting a 'crap' version and just kicking back?

In reality, it goes like this...

Start practicing your next recital piece 2-3 months ahead of time. Practice it everyday, numerous times per day. After a few months, you will not only have worked out the bugs but you will be so familiar with the piece that you will start getting a little tired of it. This is a bit of a problem actually because it is right about this time that you need to make a good recording of all the practicing you have been doing but at the same time you may become a little jaded with the piece and this lackluster attitude could possibly end up in your recording. It has in mine!

Anyway, after making a decent recording, I always 'think' I can do better [because I have...but not with the recorder on] I get into this self imposed stressful cycle of trying to get just a little bit better of a recording [in which nobody else will tell the difference!].

So this time, I'm not going to do that. If I can't make it sound any better after working a piece every day for several months, then I'm not going to be able to make any dramatic results in the eleventh hour. So in the next two weeks while many others will be squirming stressing out over a 'better' recording, I'm going to start working on my next recital submission.

Of course, in two months I'll be sick of that piece and we can have this discussion all over again but after many years now I've observed that this is how it actually works.

I'm in at 16. I agonized over whether to record 'In Church' by Tchaikovsky since it's my latest assignment from my teacher and she said it will be my last level 5 etude. Yay! Well, I decided not to record that since sinophilia already played it for the last recital, so I ended up submitting my exam piece by Beethoven. I might do 'In Church' for the piano bar next month. Didn't spent any time to prepare for the recording because I'm too busy with RCM 5 exam in 7 days! Ah, I'm going crazy. Wish me luck! You'll hear a spot where my mind just went blank for a moment. I didn't re-record. It is what it is.