Vincent Prinzivalli Song Comparison

Billy Joel- Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LraZEoRnkPc

The King's Singers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2V5D6BHOrA

Alexander Balla (MasteroftheMood)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5zJeoYymjs

Rob Mahlum (ahsgolf2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezz6GPRq7lQ

I chose to compare three different arrangements of Billy Joel’s “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” from his 1993 album, River of Dreams.

A lifelong Billy Joel fan, I have always loved this song and consider it to be one of my favorite of his ballads. The song features an emotional text, inspired by Billy Joel’s daughter, for whom he wrote the song, as he and his wife were experiencing divorce. It was recorded with Joel on piano, adding strings and possibly synthesizer in the background. Characteristic of Billy Joel’s writing, the accompaniment explores the entire range of the piano and uses borrowed chords. The piano part usually consists of chords in rhythm with the melody, filled in with interesting suspensions and passing tones that support the vocal line by adding color and flavor to the harmony. Beethoven’s well-known influence on Billy Joel’s music becomes evident in the instrumental bridge midway through the piece.

The King’s Singers do a fantastic arrangement of this song. Sung in their famous a cappella style, the arrangement really shows off the talent and skill of the ensemble. The six vocalists are able to effectively imitate some of the same expanded harmonies and suspensions heard in the piano of the original recording. The King’s Singers perform the song with remarkable phrasing and impeccable blending, especially in the homophonic section of the arrangement. They also use a neutral syllable to replicate the middle instrumental bridge. Countertenor David Hurley does an impressive job when he takes over the melody as a solo and the entire group fades out together beautifully at the song’s conclusion.

Next, I compared two solo guitar/voice covers of the song, starting with Rob Mahlum. I thought Rob did a pretty good job with his rendition. His singing was pretty good for a live recording and his guitar arrangement worked well with his singing style. However, I felt straight block chords all the way through was a little too plain, and would have liked to see some more movement in the accompaniment. Alexander Balla, in my opinion, had a better approach in his arrangement, as he used more finger picking, creating a more interesting accompaniment. By doing this, Alexander was able to incorporate more of the moving lines found in Billy Joel’s piano part, particularly with respect to the introduction. I also liked the way Alexander handled the section at 1:55 by singing “du’s” while bringing out his finger picking technique. Balla’s technique and more elaborate ideas made his guitar cover much more enjoyable to listen to.

Music Comparison

I listened to “Hymn to the Sea” by James Horner, from Titanic. The first arrangement was from the soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wz1xA5kxVI&feature=related

It begins with soft, deep piano chords, a singer and a trumpet on the melody. Then the tune is taken up by uilleann pipes, with strings on harmony. A flute doubles the pipes, and a higher violin counter-melody is heard. Lower wind instruments begin a scalar pattern in the bass. A choir of boys enters in harmony, and all the instruments drop out except the strings. Later the trumpet is again in harmony with the choir, barely audible. The pipes and strings carry the final statement of the melody, joined by a few notes of a harp. The strings and the trumpet play the finishing cadences.
This arrangement is wonderful; I particularly like the ending, which to me resembles the end of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, with the bass notes and the high violins. The singer is essential to the piece; she sets the mood and states the melody. Both she and the uilleann pipes add a quality of sadness and simplicity to the piece.
The second arrangement I listened to was by the solo singer on the soundtrack, Norwegian singer Sissel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tis7uLQD4Yc&feature=related

She begins with the melody from the movie, very similar to that on the soundtrack, accompanied by strings and a women’s choir. The last note transitions to a modern arrangement of the folk song "Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg," the song which inspired Horner to compose “Hymn to the Sea.” It uses drums, electric guitar, organ/synthesizer, and the women’s choir. Just as soon as this ends, however, Sissel repeats a verse of “Hymn to the Sea.” This creates unity between the pieces, and juxtaposes an ethereal wistful song with a much stronger one.
I admire this piece very much. Using a familiar piece like this one from “Titanic” with a rather obscure Norwegian folk song is, in my opinion, fantastic.

Georgia On My Mind-Comparison

For my three comparisons I tried to use tunes that I personally enjoyed, and from an original version that I loved. I didn't want to listen to any half-effort arrangements. So the tune I choose as my forefront is Ray Charles version of "Georgia On My Mind." Which is based off of Ray Charles piano accompaniment and voice of course. The tune I heard was live behind a backing big band. Ray sings with such soul, earthiness, and ease that it boggles the artistic mind. By hearing Ray's expression through his gospel nature, it brings anyone as close to church as they can be without actually going.

The next arrangement of this tune that I chose to compare was by The Spencer Davis Group. A rock band in the late 60's led by organist Steve Winwood. The organ was the featured instrument on this live performance in 1967. Steve Winwood has a powerful voice, and didn't miss a beat on singing this tune. He accompanied his singing with smooth blues licks on the organ. The band also switched the tune up by adding a swing section featuring Winwood's organ solo. I always knew Winwood to be a great backup organist, but didn't know much of his solo style, and in this recording he impressed me with standard jazz licks and great motivic devolopment with his phrases. I really enjoyed hearing this version.

The last arrangement that I chose to compare was by Gerald Albright. Albright does this rendition on the alto saxophone. There was no vocal part. Albright has an incredible tone, and fully improvises around the "Georgia On My Mind" melody. After this, he went over the chords backed by a full band and ripped an incredible solo, improvising with smooth blues lines and difficult jazz licks. Following his solo was a righteous guitar solo that was a constant blend of dimished scales followed by smooth melodic blues scales not straying away from the original minor blues feel of the song. Albright came back in with the melody and ended the song beautifully. I like this version despite the lack of vocal content.

Music Comparison - David B.

I choose to compare the 3 versions of the song When the Saints Go Marching.


The first is the classic Louis Armstrong version. Louis Armstrong was one of the first musicians to actually popularize the song as a pop tune, and his influence surely helped the song also become a Jazz standard.

Louis’ version is in the classic Dixie land style, with multiple soloist add their own melodies simultaneously, namely the clarinet and trombone, while Satchmo sticks to the melody mostly. He adds his own flourishes to the melody and after a run through the melody on trumpet; he goes on to sing the melody, with call and response style. The Bass Piano and drums serve as a rhythm section, stick to accompaniment throughout the piece, and while the clarinetist and trombone player go on to take actual solos before Louis takes his own trumpet solo. Overall the song has a relaxed and joyous feel, and is pretty enjoyable to listen to.

The next version is the worst version, featuring WMI Chorus 2006 led by Dorothy Nancekievill of the International Staff Songsters. It is a bad choral version, with corny piano accompaniment, and just looses the spirit of the song. It trades of the melody between the male and female voices, and adds multiple melodies at once later in the song, maybe to emmulate the multi-soloist style of Dixieland jazz. The melody is moved around quite a bit, with new sections being added here and there for no paticular reason. It is a piece of music, I would very much not like to listen to again, and the piano is played is such a corny style, it almost sounds like the performer is joking and mocking the song being played.

The final version is actually by Bruce Springsteen. This version is the most liberal in the interpretation. It begins with an intro of Bruce noodling on his guitar and singing a little bit before going into a somber version of the classic melody. Two other singers take a crack at the melody, with some light organ and piano accompaniment, all with their slightly different interpretation. There is a trumpet solo later in the piece, which some semi-bluesy jazzy rambling. Overall it is a somewhat interesting interpretation, but nothing to listen to more than once.

Musical comparison

I chose to review the piano solo called Django. I am going to write a paper on Django Reinhardt, the gypsy jazz guitarist for another class, and so am interested in learning as much as I can about his style of sound. I have developed a new appreciation for jazz as a result of my research. The two contrasting pieces are played with a lot of improvisation and differ in technique.

The first one simply titled Django, starts out with the basic melodic introduction of the minor key and about half way through he starts to improvise the chords using substitutions. You can feel the passion he has for the piece due to the pick up of the rhythm. It seems that he then becomes more contemplative as the tempo slows back down and he returns to the original melodic line. This version has a more full sound than the next one. He seemed to be a young man and was playing a grand piano on a stage in modern times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AWnyGsxTkI&feature=related

The second one was done in the 50’s or 60’s by the John Lewis trio and includes accompaniment on upright bass and drums. It starts out in a similar fashion as the first one and then morphs into a very improvisational and more obscure impression of the melody. It has a lot more syncopation and less classical style arpeggios and chord progressions than the first. I actually enjoyed this one much more because it took me out a lot farther from the original melody and into a contemplative and serene space of new melodic possibilities that I otherwise would not have imagined.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siU4m39B89o&feature=related

Kyra Wagstaff Song Comparison

For my song comparison, I chose Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."

The first recording, which is by far my favorite (it's Elton John, after all!), was the original piano part performed by the singer himself. I think there's something definitely more genuine about this recording BECAUSE it's Elton John, the man who wrote the music, performing it. Every line seems to follow the lyrics accordingly, telling a story in a way that you are not focusing so much on the music as you are on what it's making you feel which, I believe, is one of the most important things and separates him from the other people who have taken on this piece, on piano or in a different form. It has a certain easiness and natural movement that I find to reveal the vulnerabilty of the composer, which also reflects in the lyrics, in this case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqiQcJ-d8r8

Next I listened to a guitar cover of Tiny Dancer by a random guitarist on youtube. I felt that his vocals were really harsh at times and the guitar part was actually a lot weaker than I expected. Nothing really moved me, honestly. However, I suppose all songs are open to interpretation and, in this case, I'm not really a big fan. It sounded very choppy at times and the dynamics were lacking in all ways, pretty much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV79SOMdEcc&feature=related

Finally, I listened to a remix version of the song, which, as you can probably imagine, was interesting. Surprisingly, though, I really enjoyed it! Not quite the same, but then, it did have a feel to it that still did the song justice, just in a different sense. Honestly, it sounded like what they play over the loud speakers at Abercrombie and Fitch, meaning it was catchy and danceable. The vocalist had a very modern voice which I would consider a cool choice for it. It no longer told a story like the original, however, it still kept me listening without wanting to cringe at parts, as I experienced with the guitar cover. The version was much longer with all of the added remix beats, so it got a bit boring to listen to after the first few minutes, but all in all, I didn't mind it so much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aFrAH8Wdss&feature=related

Don Bradner- Arrangement Comparisons

I chose to search for arrangements of the most famous organ piece every written, JS Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Besides this piece having the great significance that it has, I look at it and reminisce of my days in theory class and how Bach wrote the rules on counterpoint and voicing. With that knowledge, it is hard for me to listen to this great work without a baffled look on my face. To see how other musicians interpret and perform Toccata and Fugue is impressively entertaining.

The first video I chose to write about was an acoustic guitar arrangement performed by Michael Fix. I looked forward to seeing how well the guitar could cover all of the voices, especially the full chords near the end. Fix had to use multiple picking techniques to accommodate the varying styles of the piece. The tempo related liberties taken were very characteristic of the organ at times which was nice to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmyxpEXtTw

The second video was perhaps the most interesting musical performance I have ever seen. The performer was Robert Tiso playing the “Glass Harp”, commonly known as a collection of pitched wine glasses. The virtuosity shown by Tiso was purely amazing as he moved his hands effortlessly across the glasses while playing an arrangement that stayed close to 100% true of the original composition. To me, the best part of a Glass Harp is the resonance that the glasses give off. The tone is very similar to that of an organ or chimes in a church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKRj-T4l-e8

The last video is certainly my favorite as it is an arrangement for trombone quartet. The group is known as the Trombone Quartet of Costa Rica. Before viewing, I had many questions as to how a trombone quartet could perform this intertwined fugue while breathing and passing the passages from one player to another. The synergy of the quartet has to be perfect to avoid rhythmic inaccuracies and inconsistent intonation. I have to say, the quartet did a great job sticking to the original composition as much as their instruments allowed for it. The darkly thick and powerful chords were wonderfully supported by the bass trombone player, thus helping the quartet to produce a sound characteristic to an organ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRSA48Njh7o

Comparison Assignment

I choose to do my comparison on several arrangements of Lou Reed’s song “Perfect Day.”

The version recorded by Lou Reed (which is the original) begins with a short piano introduction before he begins to sing. Soon thereafter, you will hear strings join in and some soft percussion. It makes use of a device often used in Rock/Popular music, the quiet verse and the loud refrain, so there are some great contrasts in dynamics throughout the song that keep you interested. Overall the song is somewhat simple, but there are enough finishing touches on the song to really make it great. The introduction of the strings is one of them. With just the piano accompaniment in this song it would’ve been really bare, but the strings really fill out the sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYEC4TZsy-Y
The next version I found of this song sounded really interesting to me at first. It was a “One Man Band” version, with one guy playing the piano, singing, and playing foot drums and therefore providing a beat. The problem with this version was just that I think the guy was doing too much. One way he accomplished doing all of these things was to make the piano part really staccato. In doing so he really changed the feel of the original and I didn’t like it nearly as much. He lost a lot of what made the original great and that was the detail and thought put into all of the parts. It was an impressive feat however to see this guy play all these parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3R3JgZF7Nk
The last version of the song was someone who had taken the music and arranged it all for one guitar. It contained both the vocal melody and the accompaniment. I thought this version was very well done. The guy did a pretty decent job of containing as much as he could of the song for guitar. Obviously again the fullness of the strings is lost but I actually enjoyed the somewhat mellow mood of this arrangement; and for it being one guitar, it was a pretty full sound he managed to pull out of the guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5B_opp0HhQ

Veni Veni Emmanuel

I chose a choral piece that we are performing in the University Choir, Veni Veni Emmanuel. It is a 9th century Plainsong arranged by Allen Koepke for piano and SATB. I found several other versions of this piece on youtube.

The first example was the original plainsong. It is chantlike and simply arranged without paino accompaniment. It is performed by a women's choir and is very beautiful, I like the way the harmonies sound in the church they are singing in, they resonate and blend very beautifully. This particular recording is quite good I enjoyed listening to it several times.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtEnALtK-Yg

The second example is of a brass ensemble performing the peice. It is performed by the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble and the Hendricks Chapel Choir. It has an intro different from the arrangement I have, I like this intro a little better but they are both appropriate. I the arrangement is also different due to the number of different voices the brass ensemble has over the SATB version. Also there is no piano, which is something different about the version I have. The second half of the piece however has a choir and makes this version very unique and interesting. The arrangement is by James Spencer.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkyXk_dcyU

The third example is an arrangement of the melody and is played on the 51 bells of the K. Eijsbouts carillon in St. Nikolai Tower Memorial, Hamburg Germany. It is a very cool arrangement and very interesting. I have never seen this instrument before and it is played in a very interesting way, with the fists. I'm really glad I stumbled on this version it is very pretty and something I have never seen before.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkCPQySK_X8

Allison Vandenbosch song renditions

For my piece I chose Gymnopeidie #1 by Eric Satie. I have always loved this piece. It has a slow lilting feeling to it, and is very peaceful to listen to.

The first video I listened to was the original piano score of the piece. When played by a piano, the piece sounds slow, and lilting. The song seems to have a lot of emotion behind it. When played on a piano, the piece sounds very simple, but very peaceful. It is one of those songs that you curl up with a good book ,and a hot cup of tea, and play this in the background J The video for this is also really cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al5U1WJ48rM

The second video was the piece done by an orchestra. In my opinion, the piece kind of loses it’s mysterious sound. It also sounds a lot faster, and has a bunch of diminuendos in the main theme. That being said, the piece does sound much fuller and richer. I especially love when the oboe is playing, it reminds me of the movie “the secret garden” from the 90s. This rendition sounds like it could be a movie score for a romantic movie or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Vw459QbAw&feature=related

The third video was the piece played on a guitar. I must say, it sounded very lovely, but not quite as peaceful as when played on the piano. This rendition of the song is also played a little fast, with not as much dynamic changes. There is also some strumming for extra embellishment for the main theme. When the lady is playing, the way that she does her rhythms feels a little off at points (almost like she made a mistake or something). I think it may just be her style though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXmCWXo9bpc&feature=related

Isora HEckel comparison of "Amazing Grace"

Comparison of “Amazing Grace”
The first arrangement of “Amazing Grace” is for 2 parts, and piano accompaniment. The piece is arranged by Benjamin Harlan. I heard this piece performed by a women’s ensemble. The alto section sings the first verse with just open fifth chords as an accompaniment. There is a modulation and the sopranos sing the second verse with an increase in piano accompaniment. There is another modulation with the altos singing the third verse. The accompaniment for this part is contrary motion moving lines. Another modulation leads into the fourth verse with both sections singing the verse and chords are in the accompaniment. About half way through the verse is yet another modulation and amen. The alternating sections and accompaniment add texture and dynamics to the piece.
The second arrangement of “Amazing Grace” is a combination of two spirituals, entitled “The Gospel of Grace” with “Amazing Grace” and “I’m New Born Again” arranged by Mark Hayes. This is sung by a male soloist and piano accompaniment from a CD. Mark Hayes is known for combining spirituals into toe tapping and handclapping arrangements. This piece has a very challenging accompaniment and only one modulation for the final section of the song. There is rhythm and tempo changes in this piece as well.
The last arrangement of “Amazing Grace” is performed by Gary Karr, on You Tube. This arrangement starts with violin for verse one. The second verse has cello and organ. The third verse is just organ. The bass is playing the last verse with a faint organ accompaniment.
When looking for an internet arrangement, a fact that I noticed was that “Amazing Grace is performed at many funerals. The last arrangement could easily be heard at a funeral. The second arrangement, because of the combination of spirituals has a much lighter mood. The first arrangement could be used at many different kinds of settings or concerts.

Sarah Shapiro- Theme Comparison

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams, from the Harry Potter film series

Videos Comparing (from Youtube.com)

–Harry Potter Hedwig’s Theme, Piano (fesitolare)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLN6AU2WL8Y&feature=related

–Harry Potter Theme (harrythepiano) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwpBSHEHEek

–Harry Potter-Hedwig’s Theme (klaus195)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBxIJtkqiNg&feature=related

Both of these videos on Youtube present the famous “Hedwig’s Theme” from the Harry Potter movies, but in very different styles. The first video features a pianist playing the theme in a very simple manner, exactly as it appears in the movie series. Later, however, he makes the theme more complex and adds his own . He improvises on the left hand part and creates an intricate accompaniment that compliments the simple right hand treble part.

Meanwhile, in the second video, the pianist uses his creativity and musicality to center “Hedwig’s Theme” in many famous melodies such as Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean,” themes from Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” and Beethoven’s “5^th Symphony” theme. He also plays the theme in a very classical style, a Gershwin style, Chopin style and a jazz style. The pianist’s ability to improvise while a cameraman yells composers and genres to him while playing the same underlying theme throughout the video is stunning.

In the third video, the pianist’s role is different because he is not the soloist but the accompanist. He states the melody in the simplest of ways and then continues to play the melody but in an accompanist style as he is playing with a violinist. He plays more simple foundation chords and incorporates less of his own creativity.

"Carol of the Bells" Review

The piece I decided to pick for arrangement comparisons was "Carol of the Bells" by Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych, a Ukranian composer who got the theme for the song from a traditional Ukranian New Year's chant.

The first arrangement I found was an arrangement for piano by George Winston. He has the same theme and adds ornamentation on descending notes in one part. This version is played rather slowly compared to other versions that are played quite fast. It's a very pretty arrangement of this famous Christmas song.

The Carol Of The Bells-George Winston

The second arrangement I found was an arrangement by guitarist Steven King for acoustic guitar. He has an unusual introduction, but is still beautiful. He has a jazzy approach in about the seventh measure and has an overall faster tempo than that of the first arrangement. I liked the guitar version because it had a more mellow sound than the piano (even though both were played very well.)

Steven King plays Carol of the Bells on solo acoustic guitar

The third arrangement I found was a vocal rendition done by the group Celtic Woman. They had an orchestra and a solo violinist who ran around playing the violin very fast. They had a choir sing with the four singers and had an introduction that was more traditional than the guitarist's. The violin player added her own harmonies and ornamentations as the song went on and had solo parts that acted almost as a fifth voice. What I liked most about this arrangement was that it lent itself for more harmonies since there were more instruments involved and voices.

Celtic Woman-Carol Of The Bells

"He's a Pirate" Review

The ‘main theme’ in Pirates of the Caribbean is “He’s a Pirate.” It is well known and a very recognizable tune. The orchestra score, as heard in the movie and on the movie soundtrack, is an epic theme that signifies an accomplishment by Jack Sparrow. This theme is present in all three movies and is heard throughout the course of each movie. It is more prevalent around the end of each movie when the conflicts have been resolved and Jack is off to his next adventure. The orchestra part is a little under two minutes long. However, this theme is so powerful it easily outshines some of the lengthier pieces on the soundtrack. Those pieces might have more time to develop, but “He’s a pirate” does not need this, as it captures the listener from the beginning.

The piano reduction, while essentially the same piece (in terms of notes, theme, rhythm, etc.), does not have quite as full of a sound as the orchestra. The solo voice, as opposed to the multiple voices in an orchestra, does not convey the same “epic” feel that the orchestra does. While the piano reduction is still enjoyable, it is not as intense as the orchestra.

I listened to the guitar version after listening to the piano reduction. After being a bit disappointed by the piano reduction, I had little hope for the guitar as it was also a single voice. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how full the guitar sounded. I then read the caption and realized there were two to three guitars playing at once as the performer previously recorded himself playing the other parts. This made it so much cooler, as it became more of a guitar trio and really made a very full and interesting sound. The way the chords were played in conjunction with the melody was really interesting and a new spin on the orchestration of the piece. I might go so far to say guitar part was better than the orchestra part, as I really enjoyed it. I was impressed even more by this particular performer because he notes on his youtube page that he learned the piece by ear so it might not be one hundred percent accurate. However, I thought it was pretty accurate and overall really well done.

Finally, the techno version of the piece. The techno version utilizes the same melody as well, but offers a modern twist on an orchestral piece. The beat intertwines itself with the theme and takes an originally orchestral piece to a whole new level. What makes it so cool is it is “He’s a Pirate” but at the same time it could totally be played at a dance party or club. This version really exemplifies the versatility of music.

Clearly, there are many ways to play the same piece. When I first started researching, I was already very familiar with the orchestra version of “He’s a Pirate.” After listening to these different versions on different instruments, I have been both surprised and disappointed with the differences. However, it was still very worthwhile to explore different versions and see how they compared with my pervious notions and standards. Overall, they all conveyed the same message that the original orchestra version is meant to convey: He is in fact a Pirate.


Youtube links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMyqHXfosT4&feature=PlayList&p=31B49B3F03E3DB66&index=0&playnext=1

- Piano reduction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z_lAjt-gMw

- Guitar reduction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUnrWo6z9WY

- Orchestra (from soundtrack)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-zNPJyXQXg

- Techno Pirates

CD Review

I chose to do my CD review on Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer”

Elton John’s song “Tiny Dancer” begins with a pretty piano intro that lasts for 13 seconds. The whole song consists of multiple instruments. The song features a piano-based melody accompanied by pedal steel guitar and light percussion. There is also a choir, guitar and a string section that accompanies Elton John’s playing and singing. Overall, the chord progression and piano playing is relatively easy; the rhythm is a little tricky. What makes this relatively easy is that he plays the same melody over and over during the duration of the song; except within the bridge and chorus. “Tiny Dancer” has beautiful dynamics. Most of these dynamics consist within the other instruments. The choir and string section seems to add great effect to the constant crescendos within the piece. The song seems to contain a stunning build up which releases at the end of the piece. After a full accompaniment of instruments, “Tiny Dancer” ends just as it began with Elton John’s beautiful piano melody.

Ben Folds version of “Tiny Dancer”

Ben Folds is a piano player very similar to Elton John. I do know that Elton John was a huge influence on Ben Folds. The two have a very similar piano playing style which translates well when Folds does Elton John covers. Also, I should note, the two also look like one another, which is interesting. In Ben Folds’ version of “Tiny Dancer,” he is accompanied by no instruments at all. It is just his voice and his piano. It appears that he is playing note for note with slight variations of note colorings. He too creates great dynamics within the song. In fact, I believe he creates even better dynamics than Elton John. The reason I say this is because Folds is not accompanied by anybody which obviously makes the piano the main focus of the music. Meaning, there are no distractions that would lead one’s ear away from the piano; hence, the reason why, when I listen to Elton John’s version, I hear less dynamics within the piano.

John Bayless version of “Tiny Dancer”

John Bayless’s version of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” is original and brilliant. Bayless isn’t accompanied by any instruments and in this cover, there aren’t any vocals. I would define his version as a classical variation that is far more complicated than John had intended for. Bayless plays the original melody, but plays it with different voicings. The song is also played at a faster tempo. Along with the original melodies, he adds the vocal part within his piano playing. The movement that he displays on the piano is quite impressive. So impressive that it’s hard to really see what he is doing. However, it is safe to say that his piano skills are far more superior to both Elton John and Ben Folds. All octaves are used within this arrangement and multiple piano techniques including the crossing of hands and piano slides. I am very impressed with this version and am glad that I found an arrangement of this song that is far more different than most.

Self-Evaluation - Justin P.

Self Evaluation


By Justin Piteleski



I knew this semester was going to be a challenge for me in regard to my keyboard playing. Due to scheduling conflicts over the past two semesters, I wasn’t able to take keyboard skills III in succession after my I and II courses, so I had to wait a year to take this keyboarding class. This made me a little rusty in my keyboarding abilities. However, I believed that the knowledge would come back in little time.



The only thing that I didn’t put in mind in approaching this first semester was the weight of my workload. I’m taking 17 credits, along with working two jobs, and gigging every weekend. Needless to say it has been a tough road already. However, I always learn how to control my schedule a little better in the second half of the semester, because I have come accustomed to how I need to delegate my time. Unfortunately, my time delegation in the first semester wasn’t primarily going towards keyboard studies. As you know along with all other musicians, the keyboard is not my primary instrument, guitar is. I have had to come to grips with trying to work on both of these practices along with my busy schedule.



As far as the assignments and midterm, I feel as if my preparation wasn’t too bad. I just had a little problems understanding what exactly was going to be on the midterm. This is due to absences. Absences are another thing that has affected my work, and therefore I plan not to miss any classes in the second half of the semester. I will continue to work hard, and plan to have a much better second half of the semester.

Self Evaluation

My style of practicing has evolved over time. When I first began playing piano in keyboard skills one, I used to just sit and play the entire piece through over and over until I could do it at least three times through without making a mistake. I took about an hour every morning to accomplish this and found the process relatively easy. In keyboard skills two, I realized that by using this method, I was practicing my mistakes and in turn causing myself to have to practice for much longer than was necessary to accomplish results. By the end of the semester I realized that I should really slow down the tempo while learning a piece and take only two or three measures at a time to master before going on. This is how I approached my midterm piece, Promenade.

The first two measures are repeated three times throughout the piece, so by learning them in this way, I was able to learn more of the piece faster. Time is always an issue with me this semester because of starting a new business and seeing clients after school and on weekends. I find that some days I only have half and hour to sit at the piano. I like to warm up with scales and have gotten pretty good at them. By learning a piece in small segments the sight reading on for treble clef has become more confident. I feel that I could always do better, learn more and grow into a decent accompanist with time.

So with this piece I was flowing well until measure 9 where there is a shift in hand position. I always try to smooth this part out, but sometimes the anticipation of shifting puts a bit of a stutter in my flow. This happens more when I allow myself to get nervous and so in anticipation of being nervous for the midterm, I tried to let this transition become as effortless as possible. In the end, my nerves got the better of me, but I will none the less continue to try to become a better player this semester. I think there is so much value in being able to noodle around on the piano and accompany oneself and others.

Keyboard Skills Self Evaluation

I enjoying playing Piano quite a bit, I love to simply let my mind and fingers wander, and if I like the sound of something I play it repetitively until it becomes second nature. This is how I have always approached keyboard skills classes. The techniques that I have acquired have mostly been learned through hammering and noodling about during all times of class, when I should be learning scales.

So for the exam, I did not vary my practice style too much of not practicing and just playing, but enough to get some actual work done. I choose Ring Dance, because I liked the tune, and it is fun to re-harmonize. It is an easy enough tune and only took like 10 minutes to learn, although I never did get it up to tempo. I was going to practice it more with a metronome, but I found that all the different chords you could harmonize the first section with, was much too interesting to pass up playing. So it stayed at a nice comfortable 110, but I did figure out some cool ideas for my own enjoyment.

I am pretty bad at scales. I learned the wrong fingerings for everything when I first was supposed to learn them, and never corrected them. Luckily the flat key scales are among the easiest, so I just went over each one once, to make sure I knew the right notes, and left the fingerings to fate, sometimes I luck out, other times not so much. Jah Bless in the exam, fate was on my side.

Danny Boy was fun, and if I had put more effort into I am sure I could have probably could have pulled a lot of enjoyment out of it. However I was kind of torn on how to practice it. I switched back and forth between paying the melody and chords strictly in time with the proper rhythms and chords, and just put the metronome on like a drummer and just trying to play the tune. My exam performance came out as a mix of the tune, but wasn't particularly inspiring sounding. Maybe next time.

Sight-reading was easy I remember.

That is all.

Self-Evaluation

Self Evaluation Allison Vandenbosch




The first thing that I did in learning the piece was to not even play the music. I looked at the piece (first bass clef, then treble clef) and ran through how I believed it would sound in my head. Next, I scanned through the music to find the lowest and highest notes. This helped me to determine where to place my fingers. Next I looked for any tricky parts (fingerings, pedaling, tempo and key changes). Then finally I attempted a run through of the piece (circling and difficult parts I ran into). I played the left hand by itself, and then the right. After I got the hang of the hands by themselves, I put both hands together. Thankfully it wasn’t the train wreck that I thought it would be! After playing with both hands for a little while, and getting the hang of the notes and tricky fingerings; I then went back and looked at dynamics. I played the written dynamics (mp-mf-mp-p) , but it still did not sound like “water lilies” In fact, it sounded like frogs jumping on the water lilies. I added a few more of my own dynamics to the piece to help it sound more peaceful. When I felt content with that, I then added the pedal. I loved this piece from the first time I heard it played in class, and I enjoyed playing it. It has a very peaceful feel, and when I played it for my exam; I felt like I was really “performing” a piece, and not just “playing” it. The first time I looked at the music I saw quarter notes, dotted half, half, and whole notes. I thought “hmm, this looks really easy!” I was wrong, sort of. The piece requires the musician to move quickly and smoothly, and I found that the hardest part to work on. I just played the piece over and over and over again, until I had the notes. Then I just added my emotions to it, and voila! It felt like a song, and not an exercise.

Self Evaluation Troy T.

haha i finally figure this out yes!

I have come to the realization that I’m not the most productive person in the practice room on the piano. I practice as often as possible but I usually practice a lot at once rather than a little bit every day, which I realize isn’t the way to go about learning a new instrument, buts its hard for me to balance my time. Anywho so when I do practice I approach it similar to the way I practice guitar. I run scales for the first 15 to thirty minutes and practice chord progressions in both hands. I then spend a good deal of time improvising and experimenting with different voicings and extensions, mostly trying to figure out new progressions to explore and improvise on. After I improvise I move on to the studies and pieces and sometimes run scales again when I can’t focus and just need to do something with my hands. I always finish practice sessions with improvising too, sometimes I find new stuff to do while I am practicing that I can use for composing that I want to remember for later.

For the midterm I mostly used this approach except I didn’t focus on scales as much as I usually do. I was more worried about the prepared piece, Amazing Grace and Danny Boy. I practiced Danny Boy the most I thought that it sounded it better and I liked the mood better than the particular arrangement for Amazing Grace. I tried the Entertainer but found it a little confusing for both hands so I scratched that. When I practice guitar I isolate sections that are difficult for me and then build on them. I start with a measure that is giving me trouble, once I can play it three times through with few or no mistakes I add the measure before. I do the same thing, play it three times through until I’m pretty good at it, then add the measure after. This would be more beneficial to me if I practiced more regularly. Also I need to write in fingerings to help with learning the pieces, I tend to memorize music for guitar quickly but for piano when I try to memorize I always end up doing things completely wrong.

Blog for Piano Class

I noodle around on the piano for at least an hour every day. This does not mean I sound even remotely tolerable--my siblings are always horribly annoyed--but it’s fun. My mother gave me a compliment last week: “You’re almost as good as your brother was 10 years ago.” This made me feel very flattered, of course.
“Ring Dance” was sight readable and quite easy, until I saw the tempo marking. Quarter note=144. Gah. So, I started at about 80, and played it through a few times. Then I turned the Metro Gnome up a notch. I repeated this process until I was confident at 144, and to my (not) surprise, I also had the piece memorized.
I never think about scales. They are Evil.
Harmonization is generally fine, although I gravitate toward medieval-ish folk songs, which I like with perfect fifths and octaves. I have a great love for loud sustained bass notes. They sound ominous.
More performance assignments like “Ring Dance” would be good, as that piece forced me to improve my playing.

I decided on Amazing Grace because it looked enjoyable to play. And easy. And fun! Before playing the song, I looked at the written music. If I found a difficult section, I’d circle it. That usually helps. I also write the fingerings in, so when I start playing things go smoothly. After looking over the written music, I put my fingers to the piano to see what I could do. I suck at piano. Things didn’t go smoothly at all. Even after all that time spent looking at the music, it took me quite some time to get everything together. I played the right hand part first, drilled what I circled, and played the right part over again. I did the same sort of thing with the left part. Then I tried playing both right and left at the same time. I’m used to playing in one direction at a time, not two at once. Playing in two directions at the same time drives me crazy. Any way, me playing two hands at once was like two worlds colliding. It was a disaster of epic proportions. Regardless, I drilled the music until I got it down. After getting a good idea of the song, I applied dynamics until it sounded nice and pretty. I never want to hear this song again. Or do I? The end.

…Or is it? Here’s my late concert review! I went to the faculty showcase about a month ago. I’ll talk about my PMI’s performance. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a concert program so I have no way of knowing the name of the piece he played. Three weeks ago I asked the lady at the front desk for a copy of the program, but she just laughed. Anyway, Dr. Jones was amazing. Let me explain how his performance was relevant to the assignment. He had piano accompaniment! I’ll talk about Dr. Monson’s piano playing. Whenever I see her play, I can’t help but feel I’m seeing ancient sorcery at work. She puts her heart and soul into the piano. Her fingers glide, convulse, and dance over the keyboard. Her playing sounds heavenly as well. Far beyond my comprehension and skill level. She knows the damn piano, and she knows it well. I don’t. So I really can’t say much else. Their performance was fantastic. I’m glad that I managed to see and hear it.

Keyboarding 3 Midterm-Kyra Wagstaff

For my keyboarding 3 midterm, I decided I would tackle "Ring Dance" since it was the one song from the selection of pieces we could do that had an instant pull for me, what with it being upbeat and, in my opinion, a bit more exciting than the others. Who doesn't like bouncy, after all?

The way I conducted my practice of this piece was by first familiarizing myself with the right hand and then the left, taking it much slower than the tempo, and just hearing and feeling it in my fingers. After this, I combined hands, still taking the piece out of tempo, but, again, got a feel for what the piece sounded like when I played it and tried to pay close attention to the parts I found to be more challenging, whether it was fingerings or just playing the correct notes, then would repeat over and over the transitions as well as I could, speeding it up each time in an attempt to record it in my muscle memory.

Once I was able to play both hands together, I began taking it a faster tempo and just repeated this over and over again, continually going back and repeating the parts I stumbled over.

I feel the results of my playing this piece for the midterm went farely well, though I still believe I had better "run throughs," during my practice time and perhaps it was nerves that blocked a more fluent performance. However, I did enjoy learning the piece and definitely feel as though I have learned a somewhat more effiecient way to practice, though there can always be improvements, which of course, I'm willing and hoping to be able to pursue as the year goes by.
Not so shabby for the beginning, though.

Mid-term Self Evaluation-Heather Crow

For my Keyboarding Skills III mid-term, I was torn between doing “Waterlilies” and “Promenade”. Both had traits that attracted me to them, like the legato-like tempo in “Waterlilies” and the bouncy, playful rhythm in “Promenade”. I settled on “Promenade” and took it apart by doing the right hand first and practicing slowly so that my staccati and slurs would be properly placed. Then I practiced the left hand, also taking into consideration the slurs and the line I had to form in the bass. Once I successfully practiced each hand individually, I played with them together: first at a slow tempo and increasing to a comfortable tempo. I did encounter problems at the beginning when playing both hands simultaneously how I would go to C instead of D in the third measure. It was quite frustrating, so I isolated the first four bars with my right hand and then added the left in later.

I enjoyed learning this piece and preparing for the mid-term because it allowed me to use my learning process in learning a song. I pick up melodies quickly, so knowing what the piece was supposed to sound like helped me with error detection in the event I press an incorrect key. It also allowed me to bring everything I know in piano and present it well.

Self Evaluation, Isora

Self evaluation written assignment.
In preparing the pieces for the midterm, I took apart the piece by playing the hands separately, then together at a slower tempo to achieve correct rhythm. As my prepared piece was in a 7/4 tempo compound tempo, I had to feel the piece in different divisions. The quarter note is the same value in the measure, yet the musical feel is different between the hands. The marcato markings assisted in knowing where the strong beat is in the measures especially in the right hand. The piece is an ABA pattern so I knew if I played the A section correctly it was repeated at the end of the piece. The right hand also had repeated patterns so once I mastered a pattern it was repeated latter in the A section as well, which leads to some level of confidence building. The suggestion of watery indicates a legato line as possible.
Scales are so much fun to practice. One night when I couldn’t fall asleep, I thought about the fingering patterns, the left hand has for these scales just two patterns, and just G flat is the one left hand pattern and all the rest are the same other pattern. And doing the left hand pattern over and over so that there was muscle memory the scales became easier.
I know I have a long way to go in becoming proficient in keyboard skills, yet it is started with baby steps that develop with repetition.

Self Evaluation

I performed “Promenade” for my Keyboard Skills III midterm. With this piece, I began by observing its basic characteristics. I noticed that the piece is in 4/4 time and remains in G major throughout. I also noticed that the second section of the piece is repeated. Next, I observed stylistic characteristics such as articulation, dynamics, and phrasing. The first section of the piece begins marked forte and ends piano. The second section is marked f-p, indicating that this section is to be played forte the first time through, and then piano on the repeat. I noticed the staccato quarter notes in the left hand and began to figure out the best way to execute them. I also discovered that the piece employs phrases that are each four measures in length, and are arranged in a simple binary form that can best be expressed as AABB. Knowing all of these things before even touching the piano is very helpful in understanding the overall framework and design of the music. I find that taking the time to analyze a piece in this way is much more beneficial than trying to read a piece down “cold.” In other words, instead of playing something the wrong way, over and over again and trying to add details later on, this process allows you to get more things right the first time you play it.

The next step in my process, of course, is to actually play the piece. I typically start with both hands together to get an initial feel for the degree of coordination required and to get the tune in my ear. Sometimes I sing along to one hand at a time using solfege syllables. This helps me memorize the piece and to more easily identify note errors when I make them. After a run through with both hands, I like to isolate each hand individually. I like to loop difficult passages, like the eighth note sequencing motive that occurs in “Promenade” multiple times. when doing this, I will typically take it at a very slow tempo and gradually speed it up to performance tempo. Another difficult part of the piece for me was the left hand passage of the second section, which plays broken intervals from G that increase in size. The largest interval is a minor sixth from B to G, which is immediately followed by an E in the same hand. I found it a bit of an obstacle to stretch my hand to play the B with my 5th finger and then get my 3rd finger back in place to play the E without hesitation. Repetition proved to be an effective tool with this as well. After a while, I became familiar enough with the distance between these notes to play this passage without looking.

I thoroughly enjoyed preparing this piece for my midterm. I found that the way in which I approach preparing a piano piece is very similar to the way I approach a solo, etude, or excerpt in my trumpet playing. I took the process very slowly and patiently and, in the end, was able to perform “Promenade” successfully.

Concert Review - Troy T.

This past Saturday, September 26th, I got to take part in an annual event held here at George Mason University. I attended the Arts by George! concert and was, overall, very impressed by the musicianship and professionalism of the program. Though pops and broadway music are not my favorite genres, I figured this show would be perfect to go to since it would force me into witnessing a piano player master the pops and broadway craft, and hopefully, create a deep appreciation for the difficulties in those kinds of music. Brian Stokes Mitchell was the featured singer of the program but I really found that his band members were the key to making him shine. I made of point of trying to meet the piano player to pick his brain about the experience of performing with the Tony Award winning singer and was very pleased when I did speak with him. His name was Ted Firth, a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music in Jazz Piano, and he told me how fulfilling it was to accompany a singer while still being a part of a large ensemble production. I thought his playing was delicate but surprisingly well heard (considering he was playing with an orchestra!) and that he made me think differently about pops and broadway all together from the second the concert opened with "Some Enchanted Evening." It was an interesting experience all together.


Posted by ttyrer at 11:44 PM 0 comments

Self Evaluation

For the past two weeks or so, I have been working on “Amazing Grace.” The piece was challenging for me because it had movement in both hands, not just the right. Getting my left hand to move with my right hand proved more difficult than I originally thought.
When I first started practicing the piece, I only did separate hands. I did this until I could do each hand perfectly alone; I had the correct time, notes, and dynamics. Then I began the dutiful task of playing both hands. At first, I tried to play the whole piece at once. This was not a good choice, as I stumbled through the piece and made too many mistakes. However, I continued to do it this way, and yielded little results. After the extra help session on Wednesday October 7, Professor Yi had given me some tips and better fingerings to help me with my struggles.
I then decided to go line by line, and be very strict with myself when I practiced. If a line was not perfect, or I did not feel comfortable enough to move on, I continued on the same line. When I felt like the line was good enough, I moved to the next line and did the same thing. Then I tried the first two lines until I could do them together perfectly. I did this for the whole piece.
As I practiced this way, I began to notice some trouble spots. They mostly occurred when two hands were moving contrary to each other, or when the pattern of chords changed. While I knew where the chord changes were and what they were, I was unable to do them quick enough to keep in time. I slowed down the speed, which helped a lot, and then gradually brought the speed back up to where I thought it should be.
In terms of the musicality of the piece, I knew I had a lot of leeway. “Amazing Grace” is a traditional piece, but this arrangement was a jazzy style of it. I knew I could play around with it and sort of feel it out. It’s very interesting how musicians can just tell how a piece should go based on how it feels when they play it, and this is how I figured out where I wanted the piece to go. I decided on starting out calm, and building up to about five measures from the end, and then bringing it back down for the last two measures. This happened very naturally, but yielded a very nice sound.
When I first saw the piece, I thought it was going to be easy, and I pushed it aside for a while. However, when I first practiced it, I knew it was not going to be as easy as I thought. Through careful practice and time, I was able to perform it to the best of my abilities and think it was very successful.

Self Evaluation

First, when attempting to play the “Amazing Grace” piece, I began with reading the notes within the piece, taking notice of the key, time signature and other necessary musical observations. After I was theoretically comfortable, I started with separating parts within the right and left hand. In this piece, I began with the right hand then with the left at the start of measure 10 because it contained the chords/accompaniment line. I usually begin with the chords/accompany line. The reason I chose to tackle the accompany line first was because the coordination to switch chords was a more difficult task than playing single note melodies, at least in my experience. I have always found it best to start with the things that are most difficult; this will infer to you the amount of effort needed to play the piece. After I gained fluidity in playing the chords, I moved to the melody lines without accompaniment. Learning pieces by studying individual parts helps me to learn the piece faster than trying to play it all at once. I am sure this holds true to some degree for everyone who is learning a piece.
Once I had an understanding of both parts, I began a long process of connecting both parts together. In a piece such as “Amazing Grace,” I had some difficulty at first rhythmically due to the rest within the accompaniment line and the eighth notes within the melody line. This caused such difficulty on my part because I had a hard time keeping my hand off the note or chord that I just played. Instead of a rest, I was playing a note or chord which made the note or chord a half note, which served as a substitute for a quarter note. The eighth notes gave me some problems because I wasn’t playing them fast enough, especially in measure 4 where there is a chord switch that was somewhat complicated for me. However, my problems with the eighth notes and rests didn’t last too long because I eventually fixed it with constant practicing.
Overall, I would still say that the chords/accompaniment lines gave me the most issues. The biggest problem I had was with measures 7 and 8. The 3rd chord within the accompaniment line plays a C#, E and A then switches to an F# and A. This switch caused some complications for awhile because I needed to quickly move right and get my second finger that was on the E to the F# while playing the notes and other notes in rhythm. There were some other weird problems that I occasionally and inexplicably experienced, but these were just temporary, silly mistakes. Simply, my predominant tactic to overcome these challenges and become successful in playing this piece was replaying the piece over and over until the mistakes became minimal or absent. I am not sure that this was the most successful way to minimize mistakes; however, I do believe this is the less complicated way which made my experience less tedious. Also this was really the only tactic I knew due to my inexperience within learning piano pieces. Still, I found it to be a very effective way of completing a piece. What helped the most within this piece was that I have heard various forms of it before which, obviously makes note/rhythm reading a lot easier. Also this song is one of my all time favorite songs so the pain of learning it was insignificant.

Midterm Self Evaluation

I chose to perform the piece “Amazing Grace” for my Keyboard III Midterm, because I was so familiar with it. For me, this piece presented a challenge that I’ve always had trouble with, which is switching the chords and melody from one hand to the other. This challenge for me was both technical and musical, because it challenges both your coordination and your interpretation, as you have to switch from making the melody loud in the right hand to then making the melody come out in the left. This has always thrown me off, and I had to do some work to ensure I was comfortable doing it in this piece. In order to learn this piece well and avoid this mistake, I went through the piece several times with each hand separately and then put them together measure by measure. After I was playing through the piece with both hands, I isolated the places I was still having trouble coordinating both hands together. Both of these things proved to be really effective for me in my overall understanding and performance of the piece for the midterm.
My conception of the piece after learning it was very similar to my conception of it before. I was very familiar with the song “Amazing Grace” and so I already had an idea of how this piece would be like to perform in my head. This idea did much for shaping things I incorporated into the actual performance like dynamics, phrasing and the general tempo throughout, and it also gave me a good indication as to what to do with things like emphasizing the chromatic parts of the piece. This really helped in my conception of the piece.

Sarah Shapiro- Midterm Self-Evaluation

I chose to perform the piece “Waterlilies” by Christopher Norton for my Keyboarding Skills III Midterm. At a first glance, one of the main challenges of this piece appeared to be that it is in 7/4 time. This being a technical challenge, one of the musical challenges was that the piece had to be performed as smoothly as flowing water, I would have to know the piece well enough that I could let the notes flow along and not be concentrating so much on each individual note. To understand the 7/4 time, I divided each measure into 4+3. The subdivision made it easier to understand the piece. I also practiced the treble and bass lines separately before putting the two parts together. All of my strategies were effective, and it made it easy and enjoyable to learn the piece.

My conception of this piece after learning it was similar to my conception of it prior to learning because I had a concept of what I wanted the piece to sound like. After hearing it in class, I knew that the piece had to be performed very smoothly and legato and I tried to keep this image in my head throughout learning the piece, regardless of how I had to break the piece down. I also tried to incorporate the dynamics throughout the piece enough to emit a sense of rolling water. All these factors formed my conception of the piece and dictated how I would perform it.

Concert Review

Cameron Steuart



Concert review

I have chosen to review is that of a jazz combo I caught in northeast. The band leader was a sax man called Tony Parker, under him was June-bug Jackson on drums, a surly old bassist I’d never seen, and Robert Parker (Tony’s brother) on the piano. He was using an acoustic piano with a microphone put to it that was connected to a pa system. The pianist did not use a single lead sheet, I have always considered that the mark of a real jazz musician. He was an extremely unorthodox pianist, at points in Tony’s solo he would remove his left hand from the piano, comping only with his right hand, and he would watch Tony (who is known for dancing while soloing). At one point the band had all stopped leaving the bass to an unaccompanied solo, the bassist took twelve bars, and then to every ones surprise he continued on. Robert then began to strike one note softly, while he did so he shot a joking glare toward the bassist and slowly increased his volume. What interested me about this was the total lack of formality that he displayed, it caught me and my group of classical musicians very much of guard. His style was the perfect opposite of Ahmad Jamal, in that everything was smooth, nothing felt crystalline or detached from the rest of the body. Which I felt was a terrific approach toward the hard bop style the band was after. For his Solo’s Robert would begin with more pronounced and sparse pronunciations of the changes. He would slowly move into arpeggiatic melodic motion and then to very quick free usually scalar melodies. I felt like this approach was great because some people who are new to jazz might not even notice that a pianist is taking a solo, and for those of us who knew what was going on we just got warmed up better. His posture would be scolded by any piano teacher, but it allowed him the total use of his body for interpretive faculty. He was all over that bench and he did everything short of standing up and pulling a Jerry Lewis. I thought that he band did a fantastic job, I felt that the years of experience the two brothers must have had together really came out in the music.

concert review

Departmental

Today, I went to the 12:30 departmental recital. Sadly, I was not able to receive a program because the usher gave them all away by the time I got there. Even arriving early there was not enough. I hoped that the program would be posted online but it is not. Despite this, I took some notes and apologize for the lack of fine detail. The performers included a female vocalist, female string bassist, two female violin player, and a bassoon duet. Just before the recital started I was able to jot down the first performer Joey Neale who was to perform on Clarinet Three Pieces by Stravinsky. Unfortunately, for some reason he did not perform, resulting in the recital starting with a vocalist. The female vocalist performed one piece with piano accompaniment. She was followed by two separate violin performance by female students. The first played unaccompanied and the second played with accompaniment. The final two performance were a female string bassist and a bassoon duet. I knew Ashley, the feminine half of the coed bassoon players. I know Ashely from playing in the Wind Symphony. With the conclusion of the performance, I went to pick up a program because the usher informed me to visit him after the performance to get one but he did receive anymore like he said he would during the recital. In all, I enjoyed listening to my fellow classmates despite not having a program. They all did a fine job.

Concert Review

On Saturday night, September 12, 2009, I went to go see Mike Gordon at the State Theater in Falls Church, Virginia. Mike Gordon is a bassist and vocalist who is most noted for his work with the renowned rock band Phish. Gordon is also an accomplished banjo player, pianist, guitarist, percussionist and blues harpist. He has also had award winning success in documentary filmmaking. Though Mike Gordon is an efficient and talented pianist, he strictly played bass, guitar and lead vocals. The rest of his band consisted of guitarist, Scott Murawski, percussionist, Craig Myers, keyboardist, Tom Cleary and drummer, Todd Isler.
For the most part, Mike Gordon’s music is a psychedelic rock pop with shades of bluegrass and folk. The keyboardist, Tom Cleary, played mostly accompaniment for the whole show by playing behind the melodies of the guitar and bass. There were a couple of songs where the keyboards were prominent. For instance, they did a cover of “Aint Wastin Time No More” by the Allman Brothers which Cleary had a dominant role in. However, Cleary’s main role in the band was to play psychedelic tones to give the music the full acid rock effect. His psychedelic tones also gave full effect to the light show which was a pleasant addition to the music being played. During one of the songs in the middle of the set, Cleary had a keyboard solo which went on for about 2 or 3 minutes. At some point in the middle of the solo, Cleary stood up out of his chair and started to play more aggressively while building up the tempo. The music was at its height and so was the lighting effects and then finally, after a heavy dosage of keyboards, the band breaks back into the chorus and the crowd, as one would imagine, applauded enthusiastically.
The show went on for about 2 and half hours including 2 encore songs. Overall, I enjoyed myself while listening to Mike Gordon and his band mates, including Tom Cleary. What made this experience different was that I was strictly listening and watching the keyboardist which would be the first time I have ever done so at a rock concert. Usually, I just watch and listen to the guitarist so that I can pick up some things to play for myself. Focusing my attention more on the keyboardist has probably made me a better keyboardist or at least more knowledgeable about the instrument itself.