Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Recital 53 --- Call For Submissions

Recital #53 is now open for submissions!

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and piano love is in the air!! It’s time for the 53rd quarterly “Beginners and Beyond” recital hosted by the Piano World Adult Beginners Forum! The recital will be posted sometime on the 15th of February, which means that submissions must be in by 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, February 14th. 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).

Editing or digital alteration of your performance (other than minor edits such as trimming long silences at the end or beginning of the piece) is counter to the 'live recital' spirit of the AB Forum Recital and is thus strongly discouraged. In any event, any editing should be disclosed in the "additional information" section of the recital submission template.

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 the software does not cope well with international characters, so please convert any such characters to standard American characters. 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 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 STANDARD TIME on February 14th, 2019.

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.

An AB Forum Recital FAQ thread exists that contains this and other information. Should you have any questions at all on what to do or how to do it, do not hesitate 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!

Submitted, I've never been so early!

Oh, and to join the raffle that seems to be a bit of a tradition, I expect there to be 61 submissions.

Oh yes, the raffle! The prize this time is a Bosie Imperial, right? Given the big initial burst of entries, I'm going to guess a little higher than average. Let's say 65.

I'm in at 17 with my backup piece, but if my recording sessions go well this weekend I'll resubmit.

Oh wow, that's a lot of entries already. There's no going back for me, though! 61 already is quite a bit more than during the last recital.

It seems we're at 16 still, with one duplicate submission at 9/10.

Oh, and I do like the sound of that prize, here's to 61 entries!

My rule for this recital is one attempt to get a recording per day... No multiple takes! I may not make it...

Sam

Actually, there were two duplicates... I deleted both. Hmmm.... I'll still stand with my guess of 65.

There is no minimum length, is there? I may be able to pull together one of the short Bach preludes, the rest of my tiny repertoire is in complete disarray at the moment.

Oh, and can I have the Bosie in Burr Walnut? Thank you in advance.

I think I will win the trophy for the shortest piece.

I wouldn't be so sure

I just submitted mine, but it appears as two submissions. Some other submissions appear with the same problem. I hope that won't be an issue.

Not to worry... I'll check periodically and get rid of duplicates, and I do a final careful check before closing the recital.

I've uploaded mine and this time it is not Mendelssohn !

I'm looking forward to hear the submissions from Schubert - German Dance D783 no. 5 and Moments Musicaux no 4. Fantastic pieces there!

Moo, great piece to record! Looking forward to it. Very ambitious!

I finally put in that tricky Nocturne! For better or for worse, mistakes and all...

Well, I'm really gutted as I really wanted to submit a piece (my first), but now I have a weird ear congestion problem and I literally can't tell whether I'm playing the right notes, let alone doing any of the dynamics right…

But in case it gets better in the week, I have one question: does it matter if the sound of the actual piano recording is quite bad? I mean, the actual sound of the piano. I've noticed that when I record on the Yamaha DGX-640 I'm using, on the "Live grand piano" setting, and then I listen to it on a computer, it sounds almost more like a harpsichord than a piano… Is it okay to submit this anyway?

Thanks!

As long as you used a piano or keyboard of some kind or other at some place or other in your recording it's OK...there are no minimum standards for sound quality.

But, is the "harpsichord" sound perhaps the result of your "weird ear congestion", or the poor quality of your computer speakers, or both?

And exactly what does it mean to be "really gutted"? As in a house after a fire or tornado?

How are you recording it? Are you recording with an audio recorder, for example using a smartphone? Or as a video recording?

I plan to submit the June Barcarolle from Tchaikovsky Seasons but I always flub 2 measures in the middle section, I may re-record and then submit. Hopefully a cleaner take.
Cmb- looking forward to hearing the Nocturne!

To answer Handyman: I'm less gutted than a goose victim on foie gras day, but still pretty annoyed at not being able to hear anything properly… It's so unpleasant, but I should rest on the feeling with equanimity… It will pass in time.

It already sounded a bit rubbish and harpsichordy-like (or piano-toy like) before I had the ear congestion. Even my husband can hear it, and his ears are not so musical…

And to answer Tyrone Slothrop: I'm recording straight from/onto the Yamaha-DGX 640, and then converting the file to mp3 using VLC Media Player. I'm starting to think it's just what this piano sounds like? Maybe I should leave it for now, as I will be using a different DP (mine!) by the time the next recital comes around… Unless there is definitely something I should be doing differently.

Thanks!

Without giving any spoilers as to actual length, I will say that Animisha's got you beat, sinophilia.

I had a good day today. Not only was I able to get the new Zoom H5 my wonderful hubby got me for Christmas up and running, I also sat down and got a decent recording of my intended Einaudi piece on the second take. That's got to be a record for me and The Red Dot! There's one slight hesitation, but no major bloopers, and my recording came within a few seconds of Einaudi's official version, so all in all, I'm counting it as a W. Everybody who submitted behind me is now moving up a spot.

I'm in at 27 with Granada. Skipped going the Super Bowl party in order to get a quiet house to record in. I had to go with my backup piece this time. At least I have my recording for the Bach recital next month already.