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Fun at a public piano:

Thanks for your comments...

There were public pianos "Play Me, I'm Yours" in my city in 2012 during the summer. After September they were taken away and never seen again. The only place in the city with a public piano was the 2nd floor of a bookstore downtown. It's an old Heintzman grand that used to be made in Canada before going bankrupt.

A few months ago I found a Kawai upright at "The One" Mall in Hong Kong. The C below middle-C would get stuck some of the time. Public pianos have all been used for a few years and the quality vary. They're usually out of tune unless people bother to tune them. When playing Baroque music, half a pitch flat would be just perfect. Otherwise have to live with the background noise, condition of the piano and the acoustics of the space sounding more like a sports stadium than a concert hall that is warm & inviting.

I registered for a music camp last week to play violin with a strings ensemble. The location was at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterlloo an hour outside Toronto, Canada. The Yamaha upright is at an obscure corner of the music department. Many people would walk by without noticing there is a piano there. The beginning of the week a friend who is a viola player told me that she heard someone playing outside before I saw the public piano. I found the plastic chair a bit low and uncomfortable to sit on. Look closely and you see the piece of wood for the music stand is missing. Not a good thing for somebody who needs to read off sheet music, a phone or tablet. The instrument does collect a lot of dust. And the temperature fluctuations during the day do affect the tuning somewhat. The inside is kept at a constant temperature by AC.

During the summer the university students are gone. The people who joined the music camp for 1 week have access to classrooms & practice rooms in the music department. During the week there would be young students who come with their parents & instruments for private lessons. There are pianos & keyboards inside on every floor that are well-maintained. The public piano outside is mainly for locals who have nothing to do with the university but have some free time.

Very cool. There was one in the shopping centre (mall) in town recently, the acoustic in there was fantastic!

The best acoustic in the music department building is the auditorium on the first floor designed for performances. The classrooms & practice rooms upstairs are not bad. Outside you have to put up with some traffic noise all day. Otherwise Waterloo Ontario is a quiet town with 2 universities.

A tricky guitar piece in The Guitarist's Way book 3, played on piano.

A nice calming sound. Thanks for sharing…

I also had a little fun practicing playing boogie woogie patterns

Masquerade and Dance, a 16th century lute piece

I particularly like the Lute piece Larry.

Cheers

@ LarryShone - I believe I liked "Boogie Woogie Practice" the best, Larry! All three tunes were good though! Good job!

I finally got around to recording my latest original blues tune. As with all my original tunes, it ain't all that good, although some are better than others!

Had a hard time coming up with a title for the song, so I just called it "I Miss Louisiana". It has somewhat of a Louisiana/New Orleans/Cajun/Creole style flair to it, maybe?

"I Miss Louisiana", original song, piano, vocal

Rick

Hi Rick

Another gem, that I really enjoyed!

Cheers

Rick, You ARE the boogie woogie man!! Great song. And great playing.

Rick, if I had your talent on the piano and banjo I would do a recording using both. And maybe even add a second harmony. That would be very cool.

This is something I came up with using minor chords. More of a sketch really, like an idea for a painting.

Thanks,
Thanks a lot, Simon! I liked it too, and had some fun with it. That LH bass was a little odd/awkward in regards to rhythm/timing, but certainly a good "left-brain/right-brain" exercise!

Cheers to you, my friend!

Rick

Thanks for the kind words, Peyton! I may try a recording with the piano and the banjo one of these days. Kind of an odd combo, but it would be interesting!

All the best, my friend!

Rick

Interesting composition, Larry! It reminded me a little of the theme music to the move "The God Father". It sounded nice, and intriguing.

All the best!

Rick

Cheers Rick. Interesting that you got the Godfather theme from this!

Rick, I put banjo into this song and I think it really works. Of course I "played the banjo" on the keyboard and it's nowhere as good as what you do on a real banjo.

That sounded really good, Peyton! It reminded me of driving down the road while listening to good music on the radio! Wish I had your technical recording skills!

Great job!

Rick