Ebony and Ivory Keys...

New!

2008-07-15T00:12:37Z

Your Name: Meredith
Age: Almost 22
Location: New England
Favorite type of Piano Music: Pretty, modern singer-songwriter
Been playing for: Nearly 16 years
Favorite Composer: Classical - Sibelius, Modern - Vienna Teng
What do you love about piano? The piano is...well, it's perfect. Now pitching problems; as long as it's properly tuned there is no adjustment needed. And it sounds gorgeous.
What do you hate about piano? I have problems learning new music, and even more problems memorizing it for public performances.
Picture?: None.

First post

2008-06-22T13:38:25Z

Your Name: Vlad

Age: 18

Location: England, Essex

Favorite type of Piano Music: Baroque, Romantic, 20th century

Been playing for: 3 years

Favorite Composer: Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Reich, Cage, Glass, Bach, Purcell, Vivaldi

What do you love about piano?: Its sound and the richness of timbre

What do you hate about piano?: The fact that it's tempered (yep I'm majoring in double bass)

Picture?: TT~TT I don't have a piano, because I'm poor, but I do have a keyboard!

Shojo's first piano post

2008-04-20T19:33:30Z

Your Name: Crystal or Shojo

Age: 14 (sadly)

Location: Florida

Favorite type of Piano Music: Classical, Romantic, and Fast piano music

Been playing for: Only a year and a quarter ^^;

Favorite Composer: (You can't expect me to pick just one, can you?) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Ludwig van Beethoven

What do you love about piano?: The lovely sound it produces with a simple press of a key

What do you hate about piano?: Well, especially when your still learning how to play, the easiest songs ever written take WEEKS to learn! DX (Or maybe I just need more practice???)

Picture?: TT~TT I don't have a piano, because I'm poor, but I do have a keyboard!

New!

2008-03-20T23:30:15Z

Your Name: Xavier St. Valentine
Age: 20
Location: Boston, MA
Favorite type of Piano Music: Romantic, Baroque, Very stiff classical ( except most Hadyn, which I do not like )
Been playing for: 12 or 13 years, I think!
Favorite Composer: Chopin, Satie, Debussy, BEETHOVEN, Wendy Carlos ( I could not pick one! )
What do you love about piano?: How even if you are a virtous pianist, there is always something else you could learn
What do you hate about piano?: That because of that exact reason I mentioned, I will never be good enough. Also: I am very uncoordinated with my left hand, I still cannot execute a clean run even after so many years of playing
Picture?: I haven't a proper piano right now, because I am constantly moving, so instead I have a keyboard, it is embarassing, so I won't post a picture of that, but instead of myself for you

It is from my myspace, so it might not work, if it is important to you how i look go here.

Abandoned Toys!!

2008-03-12T20:10:12Z

Abandoned Toys makes some of the most beautiful contemporary classical music that I have come across lately. If you like the genre, you should really look into their album, "The witch's garden".

Abandoned toys

What is everyone working on these days?

2008-02-12T18:56:12Z

I'm accompanying two school choirs, so that music keeps me plenty busy. The high school just had a concert last week featuring the music of Irving Berlin. The next concert features works by Handel, Bach and other classical composers. The middle school is working on a variety of short pieces of varying styles.

When I have time for my own practice, I've been working on a couple of pieces by Fanny Hensel (Felix Mendelssohn's sister) and a Joplin rag.

Teaching also keeps me plenty busy. ;)

Ragtime

2008-01-25T20:34:13Z

I am playing a Scott Joplin piece for a recital in a few weeks. This is the first time I've really played much ragtime. Do you play the eighth notes straight or do you normally "swing" them?

New!

2008-01-20T01:00:39Z

Your Name: Petra
Age: 20
Location: Croatia
Favorite type of Piano Music: classical period, Russian romanticism, musical theatre scores
Been playing for: 5 and a half years
Favorite Composer: Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov
What do you love about piano? The fact that you can be your own accompanist. I'm primarily a flutist and the lack of harmonies when I'm just practicing is quite sad.
What do you hate about piano? My lack of skill ;)
Picture?: None at hand, sadly :(

New!

2007-09-08T12:07:03Z

Name: cheryl
Age: 16
Location: singapore
Favorite type of Piano Music: interesting rhythms, impressive counterpoint and melodramatic grandstanding draw me.
Been playing for: 9 years
Favorite Composer: Debussy! perhaps ravel and bach too.
What do you love about piano? its flexibility: it can pull off a diverse range of moods and sounds
What do you hate about piano? it's not really a problem with the piano, but more specifically of my genes. my fingers are rather short: an octave plus one key is the most i can manage. consequently playing pieces with huge chords is out of the question for me. to compensate i do a glissando thingy but it's not the same ):
Picture?: no pics but my piano's a Bohemia, it's czech. pianos here are mostly Yamahas, which have pedals placed at a smaller distance from the ground than most pianos. i'm so used to the disgustingly high pedals on my piano that when i play on other pianos i stomp the pedals by habit and the sound is screwed. ):

New !

2007-09-04T15:36:23Z

Your Name: Leigh-Hannah
Age: 15
Location: London
Favorite type of Piano Music: Classical. Anything classical.
Been playing for: 5 years (yeah, thats NOTHING, i know =[)
Favorite Composer: Craig Armstrong or Debussy. Maybe Monteverdi too.
What do you love about piano? Pretty much everything
What do you hate about piano? Sight-reading.
Picture?: Nope, sorry.

Hello

2007-08-16T03:47:57Z

http://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/25382/Short%20Hellos%20Long%20Goodbyes.mp3

thats my most recent peice. it took me a couple months to write it so i'd be extreamly thankful for any criticism. It's called Short Hello's, Long Goodbye's.

I'm Rob btw :)

Hi!

2007-07-23T11:37:55Z

Well, seems most people here like the classics. That's good! I also like to compose and play jazz. Have a listen here:

http://www.ukjazz.com

Well, if anyone knows of some more piano blogs that are busy. Let me know. I am from Kent in UK

Andy

New!

2007-07-09T13:49:43Z

Your Name: Fiona
Age: 16 this September
Location: north borneo.
Favorite type of Piano Music: anything goes, really.
Been playing for: almost 13 years
Favorite Composer: Scarlatti, Bach, Tchaikovsky (the list goes on, but these are my top 3)
What do you love about piano? everything! but one.
What do you hate about piano? I can't have long nails. :(
Picture?: none at the moment :/

hello everyone!

New!

2007-07-06T09:47:51Z

Your Name: Kirsty Lee (sry don't want to post my last name)
Age: 19
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Favorite type of Piano Music: Anything pretty, sombre and subtle, and filled with beautiful nuance
Been playing for: I've played the piano since I was able to crawl up onto the chair. My Uncle use to have an artsy fartsy band, and I'd play notes that I liked and they'd compose music around it :) I started learning the piano properly when I was six until I was 13 and they stopped for a couple of years. I started learning again when I was about 15 to 17 but than I stopped because I had to move out of home and couldn't afford it :( Also, I couldn't take my piano with me because, well, they're not very practical if you're renting and might be moving about alot. I need practice! I'm hopefully going to invest in an electronic piano as they're a little more portable ^_^.
Favorite Composer: Scriabin (Skryabin? Skriabin? I've seen it spelled so many ways..)
What do you love about piano? Harmonies
What do you hate about piano? When it gets out of tune :(
Picture?: Sorry, I don't have a photo of either of my pianos because I don't live with them

Abandoned toys

2007-07-01T16:40:33Z

Abandoned Toys has a new beautiful album of contemporary classical music that is absolutely gorgeous. You should really consider picking it up, if you like modern classical music.

New!

2007-06-24T03:15:52Z

Your Name: Conor M. Devins
Age: 16
Location: Southgate, Michigan
Favorite type of Piano Music: Anything with big chords! I love chords that require two notes with one thumb.
Been playing for: About 11 years now.
Favorite Composer: Bach
What do you love about piano? It's so versatile and expressive! You can play anything on piano and it sounds amazing. It also helps to understand way more about how music theory works, because it's so easy to visualize a keyboard and think about chords and intervals and stuff like that.

What do you hate about piano? Digital pianos. :(

Picture:

I'm not actually a horn player, but I wish I was!

I think one of the best piano experiences I've had was at district band festival last year where I got to play the piano part to Country Gardens by Percy Grainger. They had a concert grand piano there and it was amazing.

My dream is to one day perform Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1 and be recognized by some big classical music guys as some child prodigy and get to tour the world playing it. I think that's been done though. Younger people than me have played that much better than I ever will.

That's about all I have to say about me. This is the little organ I have in my basement. It's not great, but at least it's something to practice organ music on. I just wish it had more pedals for things like Bach.

_pianissimo @ 2007-05-30T22:07:00

2007-05-31T05:08:16Z

Has anyone here played a piece that has made people just absolutely weep? If so, what piece were you playing?

Worship of Facebook beginning....now.

2007-05-25T07:53:27Z

So I had just been kicking myself for not getting the contact information of every friend I had made during auditions for various music conservatories this year. Lo and behold, I get a Facebook and BAM - I'm going to start working on a four-hand piano transcription of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with one of them!

Ahhh, isn't the internet a lovely invention?

intro app.

2007-05-15T17:21:47Z

Your Name: Rooney
Age: 18
Location: PA, USA
Favorite type of Piano Music: Rachmaninoff, russian music, pieces with low, murky chords
Been playing for: About 1 year
Favorite Composer: Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Fiona Apple, Matt Bellamy
What do you love about piano? the sound. it can be mysterious and delicate and annoying and cheerful at once
What do you hate about piano? the pedals. i can't even control my hands, and you want me to bring a foot in? stfu!
Picture?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7362888@N02/428746959/

NEW!!

2007-04-28T15:35:17Z

Your Name: Ryan
Age: 17
Location: Australia
Favorite type of Piano Music: Well, Piano i like Dramatic piano most, like Muse and Rachmaninoff, as mentioned, but i like slow as well. As for music in general, i like pretty much anything.
Been playing for: About 5 years (on and off)
Favorite Composer: Muse/Matt Bellamy, and Rachmaninoff
What do you love about piano? Its diversity, its beautiful sound, and its ability to convey feeling and emotion.
What do you hate about piano? The way you can't do big top-to-bottom slides on a piano, because it hurts :P (hooray for expensive piano-like keyboards)
Picture?: AGH sorry! i have no pictures of me and a piano... and I'm actually quite a hideous monster ( :P ) so I'm sure you don't want to see my ugly mug

New

2007-04-24T23:29:41Z

Your Name: Lindsay
Age: 22
Location: Houston, Texas
Favorite type of Piano Music: Jazz, blues, Gershwin
Been playing for: 3 weeks, 2 days
Favorite Composer: George Gershwin
What do you love about piano? Piano can be so expressive, so full of depth and feeling. I want to be able to sit down and play and pour my heart into it, play forth the emotions and feelings and thoughts.
What do you hate about piano? Nothing I've yet found
Picture?: I don't really have anything recent, and nothing with the piano

New!

2007-04-19T00:38:43Z

Your Name: Kelsey
Age: 18
Location: Florida
Favorite type of Piano Music: French, romantic
Been playing for: [replace with # days/months/years] 13 years
Favorite Composer: Too many!
What do you love about piano? Its ability to be so diverse
What do you hate about piano? Taking the proficiency exam >.<
Picture?:(behind a LJ-cut if you have one; piano pics are encouraged!) nope

_pianissimo @ 2007-04-16T21:35:00

2007-04-17T01:40:31Z

I have three questions:

1. Does anybody know if the flute music from the animated cartoon movie Anastasia (in a scene where she is sleepwalking and having the false dream of herself strolling through the field with her younger brother, about to jump into the water she sees, which is actually a jump overboard from her ship) is actually César Cui's Orientale?

2. Speaking of movie soundtracks: What instrument do you suppose it is that plays the theme song from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest? A theremin?

3. Where can I find some books to train myself in non-Western music (scales, modes, and non-Western classical music)- especially Turkish and Japanese? I have found nothing locally.

(x-posted to musictheory)

newb

2007-04-08T03:19:36Z

Your Name: Michelle P.
Age: 27 and three quarters ;)
Location: classified
Favorite type of Piano Music: rock and roll, R&B, Eastern ethnic, prog
Been playing for: 19 years
Favorite Composer: Zappa, John Paul Jones
What do you love about piano? versatility- applications in theory, experimentation, composition, good reference point for chord-finding and tuning other instruments
What do you hate about piano? the snobbery of many (NOT all...no flames, por favor) in classical/jazz performance
Picture?: will show a locked pic to anyone interested

New Music:)

2007-03-26T14:53:29Z

I emailed my former piano professor from my undergrad about some recommendations on new music, and I just heard back from her. I am preparing for an audition tape I will have to send in in the fall - I will be auditioning for a Master's in Music Therapy. I know that my audition won't have to be as good as if I were trying to get into a Performance program, but I know that I am capable of doing a good audition tape, so I would like it to be something that shows my ability, even if it's not necessary. The pieces my professor suggested are:

Beethoven - movement from Op. 31, No. 2 ("Tempest")

Debussy - one of his more difficult preludes (possibly Hills of Anacapri)

Brahms - Capriccio in D Minor (Op. 116)

Has anyone here played any of these pieces or have any advice for learning these pieces?