and other composers of that era. Very programatic and very pianistically
written. This is a nice contrast to the other piece from your suite.
Since I'm feeling a bit feisty today, I'll bring up that your piano is slightly
out of tune. Perhaps the heat and humidity of summer? Nevertheless, I
like that you are playing this on a real piano, not MIDI, not electronic
keyboard set to 'piano', not even software instruments. There really is
nothing like the sound of a piano played well.

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Hmm... Stephen Heller? I'll have to look him up and have a listen!

And it's out of tune? Hmm... Another excuse to call in the tuner, I guess. Then he can fix my low G that keeps getting stuck when I use the damper pedal. It might be the way the recording is captured though. Is it uniformly out of tune or just in some registers? If it's uniform, it's probably the recording and I can compensate with Audacity and not need the tuner just yet.

There's certainly nothing like a real piano rather than some software imitation by Apple or an electric keyboard manufacturer and being able to hear the noise of the keys themselves as they strike. I really hate performing piano, though, as I get major performance anxiety and usually wind up with very erratic rhythm if I'm actually playing for someone and don't have the benefit of multiple takes. :) It's odd, because I don't really have that problem when I'm singing.

Anyway, thanks for listening and notifying me about the piano. And I'll definitely have to check out the works of Mr. Heller! :)

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i am now dancing around my studio with a rose between my teeth!

Great playing and composition.



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Thanks! Since you're a real guitar player, did the rolled downbeats of the left hand throughout manage to sound remotely reminiscent of acoustic guitar chord strumming? I was originally going to use the damper pedal, which would've helped with that effect. I decided against it though, since it would muddy up everything else, and for some reason, that's the biggest complaint people make is when anything sounds muddy. :-P

Thanks so much for listening. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

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Great virtuosity, Sam. You're one heck of a piano player. In envy that sooo much. Really enjoyed this piece of wonderful music.

Walter

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Great virtuosity, Sam. You're one heck of a piano player. In envy that sooo much. Really enjoyed this piece of wonderful music.

That's really very generous of you to say. I'd like to think I'm pretty good as piano, but I don't think of myself as anything remotely resembling a virtuoso. As I said to KristyJo, I can tend to get rather nervous performing live.

The real secret is just lots of practice. And it's certainly easier to pick up a piece and know it cold if you're the composer and you wrote it out first. I haven't taken lessons in quite some time, but I feel like I've gotten substantially better at playing after I learned to write music.

Anyway, thank you so much for your generous compliments and, of course, for taking the time to listen. :)

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This was very good. I'm not well versed on classical composers as I should be, but this definitely sounded original to me.

Awsome piano playing too, I wish I could do that....

B.

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There are two tricks to getting better after you can already play pretty well through lessons and the big cliche that works: practice. These are classical training in <i>another</i> instrument, and writing music (and learning to notate it out properly) for piano. After doing both of these, you'll find you'll improve somewhat.

Now, as for the difficulty of this piece, it's really just a simple roll on every downbeat in the left hand followed by some note or other, moving around to a few chords in that fashion. The right hand is fairly simple except for the occasional thirds or fourths it has to play.

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Had a great time listening to this! The "Fairies" against the "Spaniards". Your piano playing is quite remarkable, not a single "glitch" or mistake, altough it sounds like you did it in one take? In my humble opinion the piano sounds a little be dry - in other words the attack of the keys is not quite as "warm" as I could imagine it - to underline the playful quality of this composition. Minor detail though, overall I'd like to compliment you on a highly original posting. I love it when I can listen to "classical" music with a fresh feel to it! Really looking forward to your next adventure!

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Oh, so now it's dry? Everyone always claimed about how wet and muddy my recordings sound, so I literally dried this one out in audio editing. I personally agree with you and like a little more warmth, but I guess I can't please everyone at the same time. ;)

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Oh you never can!! haha. But as I said, that's really just a detail, the main thing is your obvious talent and technical skill, and the fact that you enjoy making music! That's more than enough for me to eagerly wait for your next posting!

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passionate, strong and not a sombero in sight!! lovely work - thank you for sharing xox

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That reminds me... We need to write a Fluffy Pink Flamingo Flamenco, don't we?

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Cute little dance snippet... it is very short and simple, and definitely has
the (almost eye-rolling) Spanish cliche sound, that breaks into sort of an
Irish jig (?) at the end as the others come in. As you wander from country
to country, I get the feeling you are heading toward doing a Nutcracker-
like thing, showcasing different countries' folk-music styles, which would
be fun. So what do the Spaniards call their "little people"? Are you
researching that to weave into this suite? Well-played, you have nimble
fingers!
ttfn,
Drakonis


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I wish I could play the keys this well, or at all, for that matter. It has such
a wonderful sound, and emotion. I'd like to know how you recorded the
piano... and song art would be nice, too!

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And then I break out into a spritely jig.
So the guards shoot me.
Good playing.

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An instant fave this! Where you been hiding boy? And how come no
collabs? I'd give my left arm to jam with you. This is a beautiful piece. My
only nit is it seems a tad short. Apart from that it's an utter delight.

Be well!

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Oh, I've been around, although I suppose hiding is right. Up until this week, I probably haven't had a week with participation at more than 20 points since April.

Anyway, as I said on my profile page, I'd be delighted to collaborate with most anyone, I just don't really seek out collaborations by asking around because I don't know what I'd suggest for a project. I suppose I've kind of been hoping that people would ask me, but that obviously hasn't been working. :)

Anyway, I'd be happy to collaborate with you or most anyone else if they have any ideas. :)

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Wonderful composition and playing Sam. You told the story very well
indeed.

God bless,

Rick



Latest Submission: The Second Coming

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