Monica? Isn't it that time again? I think the recital will open for submissions Feb 1st and go live Feb 15th. Don't panic!

Sam

Yikes. I know what I'm going to play ... but the longer I'm with the piece, the better I want it to be. Help!

A recital on this forum? Sounds exciting, how does it work?

Past ABF Recitals

Record your playing. Save or convert to an mp3 file (Some people also do videos, but that's an extra). Sometime around the 1st of the month the recital will open to submissions - Monica will post a link in this forum. Then on the 15th of the month it goes live and into history...

Sam

I'm feeling fairly comfortable with my piece and even managed to get through it well at a nearby piano store despite my 5 year old banging on the high notes then banging on a piano behind me. I just need to find time to record it now.

It should be easy enough to tell which specific piece this is because I will include the title.

Yay! I'm excited for this one. My piece has been "performance-ready" for a few weeks now, although I haven't played it under the influence of the red dot yet. But the problem is, I feel like Andy when he says, "the longer I'm with the piece, the better I want it to be." There always seems to be more to work on.

Just wait until you hear the recording! That always sends me back to the woodshed big-time.

It *is* that time, and I *am* panicking!!! Especially because of that other thread about your recital index suggesting that the migration to Frank's servers hasn't been finalized.

I've been swamped with all sorts of life stuff lately, so I'm not on top of things as much as I prefer. But I need to touch base with LaValse and see where we are with respect to the software. I'm having nightmares of it being February 1 but mahlzeit's program not working.

I am almost ready.....:) with yet another new (for me) genre!

Looking forward to facing down the red dot again.
I've been doing some little recordings here and there - it really does help take the sting out of a recital recording session!

Wow, this one snuck up huh? Only two weeks till early bird gates open. I could have sworn we just finished up the last one.

I have no idea what I'm going to play but that's okay as if I play something too much I just get sick of it anyway and end up moving on to something else.

I figure this time I'll work backwards from the submissions date. I'll practice a week or two prior to the submission date which will get me into my sweet spot of both enjoyment and playing abilities. After that, my attention starts to waver and when nobody's looking I'll start noodling around with new melodies so two weeks notice is perfect timing to get going.

Not sure what I'm doing at this point. I'm learning something new but I don't know if it can be performance ready by then . I'd like it to be but I haven't quite finished memorizing yet. Everything else I've got down good enough right now has been in the piano bar at some point in the past year.

........by the way Mr. Super-Hunky, sweetie.....have you forgotten something (again? ...still?)...sigh

I have my tune just about ready to record. I need to smooth out a couple places. We're going out of town for a week this weekend, so I will miss some time with the red dot. (Or blue, in my case). I'm determined to be in this time!

LBE, I thought the piano bar was for performances that weren't quite ready for a recital. So if you've worked on any of your pieces since then, couldn't you re-record it for the recital? I have to admit that I don't follow the piano bar, so I would have missed hearing your performances.

There are occasional submissions to the recitals of the exact recording already up in the piano bar so I'm not sure it's a big deal either.

Piano bar = anything goes. Just like in reality. If you're willing to get up and play....then do it.

The piano bar is a no stress way to *experiment and test* things out if you will. Recital quality performances are certainly welcomed as well as current works in progress that are less than perfect. It's all good. Almost anything goes. Relaxed and casual.

The quarterly recitals on the other hand are different. It's an entire process that covers the full gamut of human emotions all the way from a sense of accomplishment and fullfillment to an almost unbearable amount of stress and persecution due to a single flashing red LED light. Some people begin to realize that this flashing light is nothing more than pure evil and was designed by the devil himself.

I have personally found this to be true because even if I cover up the flashing light with a rag or something, just KNOWING it's on can produce the same ill effects on me and cause me to screw up.

I also have come to the conclusion that the only reason I haven't chucked my Zoom across the room yet is because it cost me a couple hundred bucks. If they were cheaper, I'd probably stock up and buy in bulk.

That would score a "L" in the patience category but a huge "W" in the instant feel-good dept!

If all goes according to plan I should have a completely empty house for a day next week so new or old something will get recorded or rerecorded before the recital. Not sure which song to aim for but I do know this time around will be something non-classical.

Uh oh. I haven't a clue what I can do for the recital. Ballade no 1 is nowhere near performance ready, and I don't have enough time to prepare something really nice. If I can find the time, maybe I'll do prelude in E minor, or maybe an excerpt from Ballade no 1, if that's allowed.

This one REALLY sneaked (or snuck, if you prefer) up on me!

All set here! I made my recording for coming recital already right after the previuos recital, because since the last recital I've been working on a piece that I expect will take me more than 3 months.

I've been looking forward to it. I have April by Thaikovski almost ready. I know at this stage I can't improve it much after so many months at it but I think you will like it, it has some great moments

Not necessarily so - The Piano Bars are really for posting recorded pieces that one would like others to listen to and hopefully enjoy - and usually one would appreciate getting some feedback on. This is the basic purpose of the Recitals too. The Bars are often used for additional pieces one has recorded - mostly it has nothing to do generally with them not being ready for the Recitals (although this could be the case in a few cases, but is mostly not the case, just in case you still think so - case closed ).

And if one doesn't follow the Piano Bars on a regular basis I would like to know 10 or 12 good reasons why one doesn't - good luck with that!




One just has to love the layed back, understated, mellowed out take on the traditionally ever-so-slightly over-hyped seriousness of the Recitals here I always thought that a flashing red light meant that one should first stop, look both ways, and then proceed at one's own risk...


Trap

Edit to insert additional pithy commentary...

Jees Loise..... all ready????!!!!

I think I’m going to participate in this edition, but I’ll take a piece already learned. It’s my first time!


Happy Birthday Sam!

I selected a piece at the beginning of the month! I'm just practicing a few little things on it and it will be good to go! I did a quick pre recording to see how it sounds and considering my level, I think I'm fairly ready. I even picked something slightly above my level so it's my first piece in level 1. It's actually been quite fun to learn!

I also find the red dot to be evil. Soon as it turns on it sucks all the breath from me! It's a piano recording sucubus!

Well, in that case, thanks for the explanation!

Not enough time in the day, too much to do, housework, paying work, piano practice, piano playing, family time, sewing, walking the dog, teaching my grandson to play the piano, tennis, painting my nails (wait... I don't do that!)
Anyway, you're right, no really good excuses!

Oh, ten days to prepare for this? Sure.

I've been meaning to make a new video of Besaid Island on my Youtube account, with no cheeky edit cuts. I figure this gives me an excuse to actually do it!

Yes, happy birthday Sam! The new norm, ahem, is to celebrate for 6 days to a week!

As usual, I have no clue. You'll probably get something really simple, since I've had a couple of requests from seniors at my gigs lately and that's what I've been working on. But I'll be there, last minute as usual.

Cathy

I don't celebrate birthdays anymore...

I actually recorded something over the Christmas holidays and was very proud of myself for being so far ahead of schedule. Until I went back and listened to it - sounds like crap! What was I thinking? I'll have to try again, except now I have forgotten that piece...

Sam

That doesn't mean we can't celebrate it! Happy Birthday, Sam!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM!

We'll all celebrate for you!

That's it sweet lips. That's it. I've had enough of the constant nagging, never ending bickering, always demanding more.

I'm gonna put an end to this nonsense once and for all.

You want a tearjerker?, you want sappy? You want over the top emotions? Well you're gonna get it. No turning back now. I've got to start practicing dramatic pauses, delicate fingering and all kinds of gooshy stuff because I'm not holding anything back.

Goosebumps so pronounced you could strip paint from furniture just rubbing your leg against it.

Emotions so overwhelming you'll get all choked up and won't be able to speak (like you swallowed a billiard ball).

You've been warned as.......

Enyas coming!!

I have that very same reaction to Angelina Jolie

Actually, the red dot is grossly misunderstood, wrongly maligned and unfairly castigated - while seemingly highly improbable now (and perhaps subject to much derision here), someday it will receive the warm affection and heartfelt gratitude it so richly deserves for it's vital, although indirect, role in the development of advanced pianistic skills and in the enrichment of personal character traits such as confidence and self-assurance.

Think of it as a rough and gruff drill instructor exercising "tough love" for your own ultimate good. Is that thinkable?

Trap


Currently working on: 3,000 posts

Nagging? Bickering? Demanding? I'm crushed. Deflated. Deeply saddened. A fella promises, so a gal waits. Days, which turn into weeks, then months.... goodness, maybe even a year? I've lost track - never whining, just little gentle reminders, softly spoken questions and then to have this abuse thrown at me....(Director's cue: Raises the back of her hand to her brow, eyes downcast, head turned slightly to the right)

I'm so sorry you've reacted this way my dear Mr. Super-Hunky.....I think, (sniff) that maybe this is ....(sniff, sniff, searches for a dainty monogramed hankie, delicately dabs eyes)..this is the e--...no. I can't bring myself to say it.

Ah, you've achieved the tear jerking without tinkling the ivories!

(more sniffles, exits stage left)

Oh man... "sweetie"? "Sweetlips"? I think you may have to take this to another room....

I hope I can participate, I am trying to finish the final parts of a Mozart piece right now but Im worried It wont be perfect enough for the recital. Especially the Presto parts which can be a swing or a miss :|

I can see myself in the music building recording myself over and over trying to find that "decent enough" performance.

We need a recital *bloopers* thread. UN-edited, preferably on video.

This would be cheap entertainment at its best.

We could call it "The flying Zoom chronicles" or better yet, "ABF performers gone wild"...a.k.a "When recital participants attack".

Just a thought. It would be histerical to watch.

Yes it would be fun (at least based on my experinces and me talking to the Camera!)

And now it's CMohr's turn - happy birthday! What a thread, serial birthdays!

Cathy

YES!! I've found myself smacking the piano or making strange noises of frustration. A highlight reel of our collective frustrations would be just EPIC!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CMohr!

What's with all these January birthdays?

Sam

My birthday is on the 30th of January. I'm gonna be 23!! (SO OLD!!!)
Happy almost birthday to me

What a lot of celebrations!

Wishing you a very happy day CMohr!

Happy birthday CMohr!

Have a nice day!

I think you are on to someting.

I have clothes older than you - that I still wear...

Sam

hmmm.....me too. Of course that could just mean that we bought top quality at the beginning of highschool and it still all fits...right. Nobody is going to buy into that, are they?
Ah well, better older than...the alternative!

Wow, thanks everybody! I'm going to spend part of my day working on my tune for the recital. Then, party all week!




Same here!

Yes, party hearty, CMohr, and keep playing those beautiful tunes you enjoy that we get to enjoy!

A very Happy Birthday to you!

Glen

I don't think I'll have anything ready until this coming Fall, but I'll be listening!

All of us January babies were just being "fashionably late" for the New Years Eve parties. I just had my day 2 weeks ago.

HAPPY BELATED LBE! The January b-days are kind of highjacking this thread. We all hope to "see" you in the recital! You've already got some really good tunes ready!

Happy birthday Little Blue Engine I'll have to admit I've quoted your sig line more than once I love your whole 'tude.

Cathy

Nothing like a little pressure to make one finish something. Or kind of finish. I've been working on a NONUMENTAL (rather than monumental) original that I call "Coffee For Breakfast". I started it last recital when I realized after watching my video of the last recital that I've started grinding my teeth as I play. I've also noticed that I'm doing about three cups of coffee (at least) and not eating breakfast. Thus.... the title. I've also noticed that when I've got an original I'm trying to write/play that all other music seems to go down the drain. So I think this will be the last for a while.

And... happy birthday everyone!!! Except for all of you not having a birthday.


Off for more coffee!!

Happy Birthday all you January Babes!

Happy birthday, January babies!

Thank you CMohr & jotur & everybody else. I have a day off work with the house completely to myself (aside fron the dogs) coming up next week so I expect to do some recording and get an idea of what I'll likely be submitting. I think its cool that my sig line has been quoted! Sometimes when I read it I kind of chuckle to myself and think of screwdrivers, starter fluid and cotton candy. The screrwdriver & starter fluid go together, the cotton candy was a completely separate incident. Nobody was harmed, I swear.

May I recommend tea instead? Specifically, English Breakfast Tea - less caffeine and more anti-oxidants - and goes better with a tasty blueberry muffin - there is also the claim (made so far mostly by me) that it stimulates the creative centers of the brain and makes the motor-reflex responses of the fingers more nimble (although this theory is still awaiting scientific verification ).

Trap

But "Tea For Breakfast" sounds so... well, lame. Like some old vasaline on the lens tear jerker hollywood flick. My new nonumental piece starts slow but builds to a frenetic, caffeine induced, throw the metronome away, finger tiring, teeth gnashing dash to the coffee pot. My theory is that there are tunes and melodies lying trapped out there just waiting to be released and exposed to the world. Would tea have released this piece?? I think not! With tea and muffins (even blueberry muffins) I would probably have started off with some pipe smoking, legs crossed, eyes dreamily on the ceiling melody that would have slowly digressed into a warm tub bath 40bpm nocturne with my head ending up lying on the keys in a dead snore. Where's the drama in that? No... coffee is the Franz Liszt of piano drinks. It gives you the power, the drive, the stamina to pull,to pry that yelling and screaming, that cringing, hiding secret melody out into the light of ever exposing day. No my friend... no tea for me. For I verily say...it is better to fail at doing something you love than to succeed at something you hate! And I'll be damned if I'm going to fail with a belly full of tea!! No, if I go down it will be with strongest expresso roast I can get my hands on.

Long live the expresso coffee pot!!! Three cheers for the triple shot cappuccino!! Hooorraay! Hooorrraayy! Hooorrrraaayyy!

But, you must know that tea was the favored drink of the genius Mozart (at least in the morning), a habit he picked up from his early years touring as a child prodigy in England (with his pushy, fortune hunting father) - and look at what it did for him! Please note that it is beyond question that nobody ever created music more spontaneously or rapidly or magnificently than Wolfgang - and we may safely assume to a large degree due to his consumption of this magical elixir.

Handel and Haydn spent much time also in England and imbibed large quantities of the same composition-inspring, ultra healthful, manly beverage. Need I say more?

I believe we may well profit from their brilliant and undeniable examples!

Trap

Spot of tea anyone?

Ahh, but it's a well known fact that Beethoven had his own personal turkish manservant that made the music master an hourly cup of strong brew in order to fuel his constant musical stream. And Franz Listz had a special piano made with a steam powered expresso nozzle that only worked when the master of chaos hit a very low b/c combination trill. Prokoviev had a special russian black coffee brew named after him, Schubert practically died from a exceptionally wild coffee binge and even Chopin, the master of piano masters, on his death bed lamented his stomachs inability to handle coffee declaring that "Had I only the ability to imbibe that manly brew I would have tripled my musical output and probably lived to be one hundred.!"

How about that for brilliant examples!!!

An injection of turkish coffee anyone?

I'm looking forward to it. I managed to miss the last one, which was just as well, since my piece was already covered. For this one, I've got a live recital recording of Bach's C major prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier from December which I will follow up with my newly finished Invention No. 6.

Bump. Now we are less than a week away from when submissions open.

Sam

I'm actually ready this time!^_^.... I think:0

[cue ominous music] Er.... is there a computer expert in the house?

As y'all know, we moved the recital files to the PW servers because we had outgrown LaValse's old servers. There has been lots of work behind the scenes to get mahlzeit's program up and running on the new server, but Frank told me there are still some kinks that need to be worked out. One of our loyal PW members, sailwave, has been helping on a volunteer basis to try to get it all sorted out, but Frank thought that he might appreciate some help from somebody else given the time crunch.

So if we have a savvy programming person on board who has time in the next couple of days to help sailwave out, let me know and I'll PM you with details about hooking up with him and/or the guy who runs Frank's servers.

We have a volunteer already, Sam S., who has worked with mahlzeit's program in the past and is familiar with it. (Yay, Sam!) I'll keep y'all posted on how things are going. It is possible we may have to delay the opening of the recital for submissions a few days until things get straightened out, but I think--barring any unforeseen crisis--we should be good to go for the usual Feb. 15th unveiling.

Phew! I am sure y'all will be as relieved as I am to hear that, thanks to hours of unceasing programming toil on the part of LaValse and Sam, we're all set to open the recital as scheduled on February 1.

So, no excuses, everybody: Press that Red Dot and get those recordings ready to submit.

Nice going y'all.

Hooray for everyones efforts. Monica, Sam, and LaValse.

The Karma from your good deeds and efforts will observed shortly in the form of an excellent recital performance along with an unusual lack of recording problems, stress, or flubs.

Unfortunately, the rest of us will probably suffer but that's because our nerves are not shot....yet!

After the hours of work you guys put in, you all get a recording stress immunity pass. (one per good deed only). You deserve it.

Good work guys - Thanks

Well, I didn't do anything except send increasingly nervous PMs to the extent of "Is it fixed yet????" LaValse and Sam did all the work, with the help of Frank and the guy who runs the PW servers. There's still a couple of things we need to work out, but the submission part is functional and will be up and going on the 1st.

Darn it! I was hoping for some "unscheduled maintenance" to delay to opening!

(nice work ABF team!)

Arg....ready to record and no batteries for running the red dot!!!!
sigh.

We can submit from 1st February til what date? It'd help me for sure have a few days to make the best possible recording

Sometime on the 15th. The recital submission page has a countdown timer that you can watch as it ticks down.

Sam

Actually, the deadline is 9:00 pm on the 14th. And it's FIRM.

haha, I have this vision of Monica standing with paddle in hand next to a clock that reads 9:01 ready to take on all comers!

she means business.

And Bens still trying to work the snow day excuse. Too funny.

Just a paddle? I always thought of the "Protector of the ABF Recital Entry Timeline" to be a little more aggressive, like an American Gladiator ready to swat any untimely entrants with an over sized q-tip:





Unfortunately the voluntary ABF IT staff is just too darn good!

What an uncanny resemblance! Except, of course, I am a lot bustier.

Recital opens sometime late tonight/bright and early tomorrow morning!

You can do some serious pedaling with those legs...

Im excited to try out my Cellphone's recording capabilities. Hopefully we all done end up doing some of the same pieces! Im so exited to share what Im doing!

I would think that that might have been somewhat of a problem back when you were playing the accordion

Trap

*ahem* *ahem*

The PW member who thought he/she would be tricky (and you know who you are) and submit his/her recording before the official opening of the recital is out of luck. That recital you uploaded to was a test recital I was running to make sure the software was working properly. You will need to re-upload your piece once the real recital officially opens. [Monica K. looks stern and waves her gleaming silver oversized Q-tip around.]

Y'all will know when the recital is ready for submissions because I'll start a new thread telling you so.

Wow... my curiosity is piqued!! How would anyone even know how to find the test recital? Man, with legs like hers and that giant q-tip I would NOT want to upset Monica!!!

Me thinks I am ready...

I am so not ready.. just realized that the recital is in... a couple of weeks. Gee. The only piece I may be able to play through right now is Rachmaninoff piece that I really need 6 fingers in each of my hands to play. It will be really amusing to record the video to show my hands but I cannot make that angle.

Monica you know you drive me nuts when you talk like that.

More please.

Don't mess around with The Monica

Seriously.