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.