 |
Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums
Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments.
Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
|
|
|
|
35 members (David B, AlkansBookcase, Bruce Sato, dh371, APianistHasNoName, BillS728, bcalvanese, 10 invisible),
1,199
guests, and
297
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 20 | | | Performer's name: | h8dk97 | | Experience: | Taking lessons from September 2015 | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | For Elise | | Composer: | Beethoven L.V. | | Duration: | 04:12 | | Instrument used: | Yamaha p255 | | Recording method: | recorded directly from digital piano onto usb stick | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I've tried to record it many times and each time I would make a few mistakes, this is what I consider the most successful attempt so far. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 21 | | | Performer's name: | Daren | | Experience: | 14 Years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Somewhere In Time | | Composer: | John Barry | | Duration: | 02:39 | | Source of music: | Sheetmusic | | Instrument used: | Kawai VPC1
Ravenscroft VST | | Recording method: | Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I first heard this music when watching a Film with Christopher Reeve who became fascinated by a photo of an actress taken years before his time and dicvovered he could go back in time and meet up with her.
I couldnt play piano then but one day when I decided to learn the piano I couldnt resist learning this beautiful piece. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 22 | | | Performer's name: | Greener/Jeff | | From: | Toronto | | Experience: | Years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://youtu.be/Htztwz6LsYI | | Title of piece: | Milonga del Angel | | Composer: | Piazzolla | | Duration: | 03:02 | | Source of music: | Sheet music | | Instrument used: | Yamaha - UX-1 | | Recording method: | 3 mics, Cubase | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Astor Piazzolla
(1921 -1992)
Milonga: a traditional song genre and principal source of the Argentine tango.
Thank you for listening |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 23 | | | Performer's name: | Sam S | | From: | Georgia, USA | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | 7 years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Venetianisches Gondellied opus 30-6 | | Composer: | Felix Mendelssohn | | Duration: | 03:49 | | Source of music: | Henle urtext | | Instrument used: | Baldwin grand at Summerkeys | | Recording method: | Zoom H4n | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I recorded this at Summerkeys on the Baldwin grand in the kitchen of the School Street house. The kitchen has had sound absorbing panels put on the walls! Works pretty good. So this is an unfamiliar piano and recording setup, but OK I think.
This is a "boat song", so imagine water lapping at the sides of the boat and gondoliers playing mandolins. No storms, though, all is placid and calm in the canal!
The Summerkeys teacher (Greg Biss) suggests I need to be more expansive and not so rigid with the tempo. Listening to it now, I think he's right! As usual, it's a work in progress... |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 24 | | | Performer's name: | ShiroKuro | | From: | Not in Japan anymore, now in the American Southeast | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | 17 | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XzqomR2phY | | Title of piece: | Nefeli | | Composer: | Ludovico Einaudi | | Duration: | 04:29 | | Source of music: | Sheet music | | Instrument used: | Petrof upright model 115 | | Recording method: | Zoom H4 to Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | No | | Additional info: | This is my first recital submission in 2 years! Since my last submission, I completed a PhD (not music-related), moved halfway across the country and started a new job, so I hope that',s a good excuse for my absences from the recitals!  In March I got a new-to-me (but pretty old and squeaky) acoustic upright piano. So this is the first recital for me on this piano, and my return to the world of acoustics after 7 years of only having a digital. My "new" acoustic needs a little bit of work to get rid of some harshness and buzzing, and the pedal and the bench both squeak, but it didn't sound as bad in the recording as I expected. (If you think the piano sounds completely horrible, please don't tell me! 
If anyone listens to both the audio and the YouTube video, please let me know which one sounds better in your opinion (the recordings were made simultaneously, but the audio was recorded with a 9 yr old Zoom while the video was recorded with a new iPad Pro.)
The piece is Nefeli and it's been interesting playing and noticing that ultimately, the "hard parts" are not at all the parts that gave me trouble in the beginning. I feel like, having gotten it to this level of playability, I am only now ready to actually start learning how to perform this piece. Anyway, thanks for listening and I'm looking forward to hearing everyone else's recordings as well!
The only editing was removing the silences at the beginning and end of the recording. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 25 | | | Performer's name: | jotur - Cathy Turner | | From: | Santa Fe, NM | | Experience: | 2 years lessons in my early teens, off for 30+ years, playing for dancing since 1995, playing assisted living since 2009. I think. How am I supposed to remember all this stuff?!? It's been 70 years! | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Somewhere My Love | | Composer: | Maurice Jarre, music; Paul Francis Webster, lyrics | | Duration: | 03:28 | | Source of music: | Sheet Music Magazine March/April 1991 | | Instrument used: | Casio PX-100 | | Recording method: | Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This is part of an effort to branch out to something besides just dance music, and some things after 1946. So I just picked a Sheet Music Magazine I'd done a couple of pieces from and started thru it tune by tune (tho if I didn't know the piece or didn't like it I skipped it). I have 7 pieces from this issue this far, and 2 more I want to learn. Then I have a stack of magazines to go. Even in 20 years I may not get to them all 
I'm not nearly as comfortable with ballads and non-dance stuff and I think it shows here (that and I've only been working on this a week, tho it's a pretty simple piece). It took me awhile to quit thinking of it as a waltz, since I so often hear it that way. But it's really 4/4 with 2-beat triplets. As much as I gig I was surprised my fingers were shaky when I recorded this! But after a first couple of iffies it worked ok. I don't go to movies to speak of, but I saw Dr. Zhivago at a drive in long after its first run, and I still find the music/lyrics uh, sappy, uh, poignant.
Lunch - Trader Joe's raspberry/lemon/strawberry fruit bars (great big huge popsicles to which I am addicted). |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 26 | | | Performer's name: | sinophilia | | From: | Italy | | Experience: | 4.5 years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBThyiIXlOE | | Title of piece: | Over the Rainbow | | Composer: | Hamburg & Arlen | | Duration: | 02:10 | | Source of music: | Pianist magazine | | Instrument used: | Yamaha W110BW (U1) | | Recording method: | iPhone | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This is supposedly the original piano arrangement by the song's composer, published on Pianist magazine issue 90. Surprisingly I learned it pretty quickly. I tried to think how I would sing it, and here it is, pretty slow and dreamy - not that I could play it much faster even if I wanted to. Try not to fall asleep!
Have a look at the video if you can, I'm rather proud of my page turns |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 27 | | | Performer's name: | chrisbeech | | From: | London | | Experience: | 3 yr 4 months | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Sonatina in C op 36 No 1 2nd Movement | | Composer: | Clementi | | Duration: | 01:32 | | Source of music: | Sheet Music | | Instrument used: | Casio PX 150 | | Recording method: | Pianoteq/Audacity | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I learnt this piece for Grade 3 LCM exam |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 28 | | | Performer's name: | SandTIger | | From: | Southern California | | Experience: | 4+ years | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Home page link: | http://sandtigerpiano.blogspot.com/ | | Title of piece: | Gemini | | Composer: | SandTiger | | Duration: | 01:52 | | Source of music: | Original composition in C. | | Instrument used: | Casio PX150 digital | | Recording method: | On board recording, transferred to a voice recorder, then to the computer. Boosted the gain with Audacity. | | Technical feedback wanted: | No | | Additional info: | Gemini is the astrological sign with twins. This piece has a call and response structure that makes me think of twins. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 29 | | | Performer's name: | MaryBee | | From: | Cleveland, OH | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | too many years on my own; past 7 years with a teacher | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Pavane pour un Infante defunte | | Composer: | Ravel | | Duration: | 06:47 | | Source of music: | http://imslp.org/ | | Instrument used: | Charles Walter 1520 upright | | Recording method: | Tascam DR-08. Converted to MP3 using Audacity. | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | From the title, "Pavane for a Dead Princess", you might think this would be mournful music, but it is actually meant as a dance (the pavane) for a princes who lived long ago. This is my first Ravel piece, and I had fun playing with the impressionistic passages. My challenges were trying to bring out the melody above all the other activity and fitting the rolled chords in with the tempo. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 30 | | | Performer's name: | Michiyo-Fir/Jade | | Experience: | played as a child, 8 year gap, restarted March 2015 | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://youtu.be/_qoVHQJVywk | | Title of piece: | The Lark | | Composer: | Mikhail Glinka, Mily Balakirev (transcription by) | | Duration: | 06:34 | | Source of music: | Schirmer edition score | | Instrument used: | Yamaha C3 | | Recording method: | Tascam DR-44, Iphone for video | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | I tried to record this piece on my DSLR and sync it to the audio from my recorder as usual, but my DSLR ran out of battery half way. I ended up doing an iPhone video, but I wasn't used to setting up the iPhone so the angle ended up being really terrible. Sorry about the bad video!
About the piece, I read somewhere, from a not particularly credible source (maybe someone's youtube description?) that the piece is about a lark that has lost his mate, therefore the piece starts off with with a solemn and sorrowful melody. As the piece progresses, the lark further expresses his sadness and anger, but finally towards the end of the piece resolves his feelings for his lost mate, and comes to terms with the loss. Thus the piece transitions to the major key at the end with a more positive outlook.
Apologies for the few wrong notes, especially at what I think is the most beautiful transition to the major key, still kicking myself over the wrong note there! I will fix the ending of the piece for the Russian recital for sure, I haven't practiced that section enough so it was a bit harsh and messy sounding. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 31 | | | Performer's name: | Alexander Borro | | From: | Netherlands based in the UK | | Experience: | 2 years + couple o months now. ( self taught ) | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wje5--2qYHA | | Home page link: | https://soundcloud.com/alexander-borro | | Title of piece: | ABC Elements | | Composer: | Ludovico Einaudi | | Duration: | 03:10 | | Source of music: | Sheet | | Instrument used: | Casio Celviano AP 450 | | Recording method: | Pianoteq digital to PC. | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | My second attempt at an original Einaudi piece. Pfeww ... these pieces are hard work, though I was quitely happy with the overall end result. Not following the sheet very accurate I might add Sure not perfect in places but after a few recordings it wasn't getting better.
At some point I must sort out a video of me playing too for the recitals, but I did make a video for this one using photos of my last holiday, good distraction from the imperfection of the music, but it goes well together I think and makes the music all the more enjoyable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wje5--2qYHA |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 32 | | | Performer's name: | CarlosCC | | From: | Lisbon, Portugal | | Avatar: |  | | Experience: | 6 years / 10 months (Self-taught since Dec2009) | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Home page link: | https://soundcloud.com/carloscc-2 | | Title of piece: | No Holly for Miss Quinn | | Composer: | Enya | | Duration: | 03:05 | | Source of music: | Played by ear/memory | | Instrument used: | Yamaha P85 (Grand Piano 1) | | Recording method: | Digital to PC | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This is one of the oldest pieces of my repertoire and I start playing it in 2010. As I don't know where is the sheet music anymore, I tried to play this easy but lovely piece by ear/memory.
Thanks for listening. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 33 | | | Performer's name: | Cathryn999 | | From: | Darwin, Australia | | Experience: | Back on the bench 7 months at the time this piece was recorded - 10 years prior experience with a 38 year hiatus in between | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Bach Invention No. 14 | | Composer: | J S Bach | | Duration: | 01:43 | | Instrument used: | Kawai upright | | Recording method: | Samsung mobile phone, recorded 2 May 2016 three weeks prior to exam. No editing except to convert to MP3 - sounds a bit clicky but I swear I didn't touch anything! | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This is a pretty little piece that was technically challenging but a great choice as my first serious piece after returning to the piano after such a long absence. I think I spent as long working out what dynamics I wanted to put into as I did figuring out what notes to press. Special thanks to Heather, earlofmar, and others on this forum for your feedback and support in my earlier days of attempting to learn this piece, I got an A for it in my exam. Thank you! (Lunch was pizza). |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 34 | | | Performer's name: | Zoot64 | | From: | Isle of Wight | | Experience: | 2-3 years on and off | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Invention in C major BWV 772 | | Composer: | Johann Sebastian Bach | | Duration: | 01:29 | | Instrument used: | Casio PX150 | | Recording method: | Headphone out into cubase via Behringer mixer | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This was the first piece by Bach I've tried to learn. It is a stretch piece for me, but really wanted to start to learn a Bach piece and thought why not!!
I know the majority of the trills during the piece and weak, but gather this is something that will develop over time.
Also am aware that I need to work on being able to produce more consistent dynamics and touch in my playing generally which I feel is shown in this performace. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 35 | | | Performer's name: | bSharp(C)yclist (Dan) | | From: | California | | Experience: | Almost 8 months now (since December 2015) of taking formal lessons. | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTdwHrfOyeI | | Title of piece: | I Giorni | | Composer: | Ludovico Einaudi | | Duration: | 06:55 | | Source of music: | Sheet music from Essential Einaudi - Islands | | Instrument used: | Yamaha Arius YDP-181 | | Recording method: | Audio out from digital piano into microphone of Sony FDR-AX33 HandyCam. MP3 was then extracted from MP4 file. | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | There are several hiccups, but overall I'm quite happy with it considering I'm really just a newbie. I like this piece from Einaudi - it inspired me to learn piano
I started learning this piece way back in February, practiced for a couple months and then didn't look at it for several months after that. I came back to it in the middle of July and have been practicing it a little bit everyday since then.
The places I do fumble on in the recording are places that I don't normally stumble on when practicing. I have to blame the red dot for that ;0
The next piece I'd like to try is Nuvole Bianche. |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 36 | | | Performer's name: | Piano Primo 1 | | From: | South Pittsburgh | | Experience: | 7 | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://youtu.be/9mMHaUdOqxQ | | Home page link: | http://wp.me/p5jsTm-1e | | Title of piece: | Solfeggetto, Dream Echoes | | Composer: | CPE Bach, E. Lancaster | | Duration: | 02:41 | | Source of music: | Sheet Alfred's Book Group Piano 1 pg 116 | | Instrument used: | Casio PX 100 | | Recording method: | direct to laptop | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Challenge for me |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 37 | | | Performer's name: | Kris Shendo | | From: | Hampshire, UK | | Experience: | 7 years as a child, recently returned as an adult and trying to recapture lost skills... | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Papillons | | Composer: | Herbert Dennison | | Duration: | 01:54 | | Source of music: | sheet music | | Instrument used: | VPC1 plus Ivory American D | | Recording method: | Digitally into laptop. | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | The sheet music for Herbert Dennison's Papillons emerged in 1924. Not much is written about this British composer. According to http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/175.htm, Dennison was active in the twenties and thirties and was the composer of the piano solos Chanson Joyeuse, Feu Follet, Grasshoppers Dance (less well known than Ernest Bucalossi's similarly titled orchestral example), and the three interludes Harbour Lights, a Petite Valse de Concert and A Sea Idyll. As for Papillons, I grew up with this piece, hearing my mother (who was a fine pianist) playing it often over the years.
In the past I've used the sustain pedal more in the first and last sections of the piece, but thought for this recital I should be true to the original score, which shows these sections played mostly staccato. However, I now think they are a little too staccato - it would have sounded better if the sustain had been used at least for the first LH chord in each bar! |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 38 | | | Performer's name: | JoBert | | From: | Germany | | Experience: | A number of years... | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Video link: | https://youtu.be/FjHnbB9TA-c | | Home page link: | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJcDLkLZ0uqWMVNKxPGOvpA | | Title of piece: | Star Wars - Imperial March | | Composer: | John Williams, Jan Kolacek | | Duration: | 02:06 | | Source of music: | Sheet music by Jan Kolacek. | | Instrument used: | Kawai CA 97 (EX Concert Grand voice) | | Recording method: | Built-in recording to WAV, converted to MP3 with Audacity. | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | Darth Vader's theme - a well known modern pop-culture classic. I like Kolacek's arrangement, which dominates bombastically, with heavy bass - especially if one isn't afraid to annoy the neighbors and really digs into the keys.
With ~62 BPM, my interpretation is a good bit slower than the orchestral original (which has ~100 BPM). Quite honestly, that's because I simply don't manage it at the full speed yet, but I wanted to put it behind me and proceed to other projects (although I will keep playing it as part of my repertoire, so I expect that I will be able to improve the speed over time too). So I decided to make lemonade out of the lemons and used the slower speed to give it a bit of a different interpretation than the in-your-face, marchy original - more sedate, more mysterious, more moody. I'm pleased with the result and happy to move it into repertoire status from here on... |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582
3000 Post Club Member
|
|
OP
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,582 |
| 39 | | | Performer's name: | outo | | From: | Finland | | Experience: | about 5 years + some childhood lessons | | Direct music link: | click to download | | Title of piece: | Nocturne nr 4 | | Composer: | Poulenc, Francis | | Duration: | 03:16 | | Source of music: | Sheet music (Heugel) | | Instrument used: | Bluthner baby grand from 1950 and Yamaha U1 silent upright in acoustic mode | | Recording method: | Olympus LS-5 recorder | | Technical feedback wanted: | Yes | | Additional info: | This Nocturne by the French composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) is the 4th in a set of 8 Nocturnes from 1929. This particular piece is my favorite of the set (and also the easiest). I found it difficult to memorize and still couldn't get a clean with the pressure of recording. But it is definitely among my favorite pieces to learn so far. The piece is in c minor with no written key signature, but rather with a happy mixture of accidentals, both sharps and flats.
I had some trouble deciding whether to record with my new (used) baby grand or my upright. I first recorded with my upright because I was not able to arrange the grand to be fixed in time before the recital. It hasn't been tuned yet after delivery and a few dampers don't work properly. Those do affect the piece, but then I made a recording anyway and I think it's not too bad. Finally I ended up including both recordings for comparison. The first one with the grand and the second one with the upright. The recorder settings are the same, but the rooms are quite different. I would be happy to hear people's opinions on the sound as well as the playing. The pianos have a very different touch as well as sound which made the recording process quite interesting |
|
|
|
|
Forums43
Topics223,384
Posts3,349,159
Members111,630
| |
Most Online15,252
Mar 21st, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
