Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Peanuts theme song

great playing mr.
it is a great twist on the theme. very nice though.

The volume came out well on my end.

Naw, that's when you scream "It's SNOOPY!". That's what I would have said when I was a kid.

I'm not one for jazz, but I really do like this tune - I have two versions of it, neither one of which I can play worth a darn!

Four little letters, super-hunky, four little letters: Z-O-O-M.

Yea super-hunky...like Monica said...just shave one of those llamas

i could play the chorus and the bridge part pretty good now, it is just those jazzy in betweens that i just don't get.

either i have to play it with a bass accompaniment or i just dont understand jazz. the jazz is really hard and i am starting to appreciate it as a seperate genre of music apart from classic. classic is all arranged for you but the improvisation of jazz and how it doesnt really follow a beat gets me confused in both hands. wow, i appreciate jazz now. my hands have been classicallly trained thus far.

briian13 - you need to listen to jazz a lot - jazz is not something to be "understood" - its more of a feel - something unique and personal. You have to hear/feel it and it takes time but as you listen to it you will be more comfortable with it. Listen to more Vince Guaraldi and other jazz players you like - maybe some Ahmad Jamal? Just listen and let it sink in for a while.

Welcome aboard to the wonderful world of Jazz and Blues! Your classical chops in the end will be of help to you in playing jazz; many great Jazz players out there who also could do classical music well.

BTW did you know Ellington wrote Sacred Music as well as the Jazz stuff?

You don't really get away from the beat (in most tunes the beat and grove is there... like a heartbeat) , rather you learn who to swing the melody and mix up the tempos and such.

Like having one part do steady quarters while the other part does dotted quarters and and an eight against it. Lots of fun synchropation going on.

I really go for well played walking bass lines.
They grab my ears and I am hooked into hearing the rest of the tune.

Jazz is fun stuff to tackle and there is so much freedom of expression involved when improvising solos, breaks, fills and different voicings.
I love both Classical and Jazz; but play more Jazz because I like to be creative and find new ways for playing the same tune.Plus Jazz and Blues are truly American Art Forms (born from down south in the Missisipi Delta; and migrating and evolvong with the great northern migration when blacks came up north for more opportunities.

If you have never seen the Ken Burns PBS series on Jazz (or read the book that goes with it). Check it out from the local library or watch it when it shows up on PBS).

pianojazz is right on.... listen, listen, listen to lots of Jazz, and blues. Find free internet radio stations, digital cable music channels and satellite stations that play only jazz and blues and listen to them as much as possible.

Here are some of my favorites (I like swingy, and bluesy stuff), and the old vocal standards:

Ella Fitzgerald
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Ellis Marsalis
Glenn Miller\Hoagy Carmichael
Gershwin
Carl Porter
Nat King Cole
Diana Krall
Jane Monheit
Dizzy Gillespi
Count Basie,
Theolonius Monk
& so many others

Check out the long thread on the non-classical boards; we have so many youtube links to peruse on it. I'll dig up the link and post it.

Check this thread out.... it continues to be growing as we keep adding more songs we all like... from mostly the 30-40's popular era.

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/37/660.html

Also check the whole non-classical board out...
all levels are welcome there.

wow, thanks for all the tips. i will definitely check out more jazz.

Hi Briian13,
In addition to the excellent above suggestions, be sure to check out Bud Powell, Art Tatum, and Oscar Peterson.
My 3 personal favorites.

Don't forget Bill Evans!!! "Peace Piece" is my all-time favorite jazz piano piece.

Oh Yes, (and) definitely Bill Evans too....can't forget him....thanks Monica

Hello all. Newbie here.

So...what is the latest on Linus and Lucy? I did a search for this song as we just bought our first piano (Kawai Digital CA5) a few weeks ago and my wife and I are learning. I have ALWAYS wanted to learn this song and in the original A Flat. The first song I learned was part of Piano Man by Billy Joel and was happy to find out both hands can do different things! My wife found that out also. The sheet music didn't have the solo, so I said...ON TO Vince!! I bought it online like suggested here. Probably a stupid move for the 2nd song ever played on a piano, but I played organ from 6-11 yrs old or so, and even in competition, so I have a little background. I am 38 now so very rusty.

I about have the beginning down. Still weak in the fingers, which throws the timing off easily, but I am happy with my progress and it is fun to try and play. I am just wondering if anyone was successful with this and has kept up with it after the holidays? I am sure I have several weeks before I tackle those jazzy parts on and who knows how long before it sounds OK.

Don

Oh, we're much too nice to say it's "stupid," but the words "brave" and "ambitious" certainly come to mind.

I'm a firm believer in pursuing one's dream piece, even if strictly speaking it is too advanced for you. (I started working on Winston's "Longing/Love" long before I should've myself.) Just make sure you're working on other stuff that you can make faster progress on; otherwise you'll start to get too discouraged.

I am embarrassed to admit that I put "Linus and Lucy" away for a while. Okay, a very long while. I realized I had no shot of getting the jazzy part down in the near future, and the "easy" part was still sounding too clunky to my ears. But it is definitely a piece I want to learn well sometime in the next year. Or two.

btw, welcome to the forum, Don!

Welcome Don!!

I have been playing for a little over 7 months now. It's funny, about once a month, my (non-musician) friends ask, "So, can you play 'The Peanuts song' yet!?".
It cracks me up every time!!

Currently I am still struggling with a watered down version of Christmas Time is Here.

Thank you.

Well, I will keep at it, as I am making progress. Progress for me, that is. I remember a friend of mine playing it and having a lot of those fancy hard parts down but the timing was a little stiff. I really want to focus on keeping everything smooth, even if I get out of time a little.

Christmas Time is Here is a GREAT song! I have that on my list to learn for next Christmas. I don't listen to jazz much, and a lot of it is beyond me, but I love all the Peanuts music by V.G. and would love to be able to play them.

Every year I listen to that Christmas CD and say, I really should try to learn the piano. Finally, this year I am!

Don

KBBit:

I've completed Linus and Lucy a long time ago. However, while I can play along with the original recording, I am not at the level of Vince.

What I did on the 'jazzy' verse is I play the bass guitar part (the little notes on the bass clef, if you have the same sheet music #HL00352295) instead of the left-hand chords.

I'd say you're stupid to learn Linus and Lucy at this early stage. But I know that won't stop you!

Welcome and good luck!

Here's a really good version of the song from the dreaded YouTube...(I say dreaded because it always raises the mods attantion )

YouTube