Scattered Thoughts . . .

Over the past few years, I've been picking up only digital versions of sheet music for piano rather than paper versions or big piano books.  I'm doing this for various reasons but the primary reason is convenience.  It is nice having a good selection of sheet music on a single tablet.  It is also much easier to turn pages...  rather than trying to get my finger behind the page to be turned and then physically turning the page quickly without ripping the page (it has happened before more than once) all I need to do is a simple swipe across the screen.   Until the past few days, I've been using my 11 inch Kindle for this purpose.  Well...  I use this Kindle for many purposes but this was yet another purpose for my Kindle.   An 11" screen sounds like a typical full page size but, u nfortunately, screens are measured across diagonally from corner to corner so this "11 inch" screen was really only 5-3/4" x 9-3/4"...  so, it is just slig...

I 'm a few days late with this St Patrick's Day post due to some lousy health over the past few days.  Fortunately, I managed to record and upload a couple of piano recordings this morning so I was able to publish this post.   Ideally, I had hoped to have these two recordings posted here sometime  before St Patrick's Day but being only three days late isn't all that bad.  At least it's still the right month, the right week and the right time of year!   This first recording is "Danny Boy" which is an arrangement by Keith Jarrett.  I really like most of his arrangements and his arrangement of "Danny Boy" is definitely one of my favorites . Here is the recording... This next recording is of the Irish lullabye, "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral"... I really need to do more recording at the piano before I lose any more of my piano ability.  Unfortunately, I usually have a difficult time recording myself though.  Whenever I attempt this, my mind tends ...

M y piano has been broken for almost two months which has been a bit frustrating.   It started showing signs of a problem with my pedals one day.  As I was playing a piece, I instantly noticed that the piano was sounding very muddy like I had my foot mashed down on the sustain pedal but I hadn't been using the pedal.  I stopped playing and then played a single staccato note...   the note sustained rather than being a short duration.  I snapped the sustain pedal up and down a few times...  the pedal unit still wasn't working correctly. I turned the piano off and went around to the other side of the piano to unplug the pedal unit and re-plug it into its jack.  I did that and then started up the piano again.  It seemed okay for a day or two but then the same thing happened again. Over the course of the next few days, sometimes the pedal unit would sustain all the time, other times it would not respond at all, sometimes it worked as it shoul...

I  honestly didn't think it would happen this week considering the way it started out but, fortunately, I was feeling fairly well this morning so I spent some time at the piano recording a few video clips.  I included the video at the bottom of this blog entry. I don't do too well at the piano when I'm not feeling well so my time at the piano is often quite limited.  I felt pretty miserable the first half of this week so it was a pleasant surprise that I had this opportunity today to put together a few recordings.   My extensive spinal injuries don't help at all either especially when it comes to the piano.  Spinal pain significantly limits the amount of time I can spend at the piano.   Trying to do anything that is the least bit artistic is out of the question unless I am feeling well and this is especially so when it comes to the piano.  I'm not one of those people who can relax or "feel better" by performing.  I must be feeling well r...

L ukey hasn't had any formal lessons on piano, but he is improving by leaps and bounds each time I sit down at the piano with him.  For the past couple of weeks, we've been working on a Hoagy Carmichael piece that just about everybody knows...  "Heart and Soul".   We worked on this piece only a few minutes every other day but that was enough for Lukey to learn it.  Lukey practiced his bass part whenever he could fit in some time at the piano.  He did very, very well and he took direction exceptionally well!   This morning, we kicked the girls out of the living room/kitchen area and set up a camera so we could do a quick recording of this duet standard.  After about 12 takes, we finally had a good one which made both of us happy...  finally!   Edit:  Lukey didn't really realize what I was talking about whenever I mentioned that recording is more difficult than simply performing.  You become acutely aware of every littl...

L ukey and Kenzie spent a few days with us last week during their break from school.  We had a good time with them and stayed pretty busy.  Gee had to work but I spent time doing activities with them each day.   Every now and then, Lukey and I will sit at the piano for a bit to do some improvisation and we did that again last week.  There is an audio clip, below, of our spur-of-the-moment ballad duet if you prefer to skip down to that so you can listen while you read the rest of this blog entry.   Lukey is now 10 years old and, although he has never had any true structured and regular lessons, he has an interest in the piano and sits at the piano to play at our house whenever possible.  Whenever I sit at the piano to play, he is quick to come over to the armchair right next to the piano so he can watch and listen.  In this way, he kind of reminds me of my cousin William.  William always sat right next to the piano whenever I played and h...

I previously wrote about designing and building my own grand piano using a Yamaha keyboard as the base for the keyboard and sound. In that blog entry, I wrote about designing my own piano around a Yamaha digital piano but I didn't provide any samples to back up my claims. Below, are two short videos which I find to be excellent examples of today's Yamaha digital pianos.  The first is a video of classical pianist, Dominic Piers Smith, performing and providing some of his thoughts about Yamaha's current digital pianos. The second video features a beautiful and moving performance by pop singer Susan Albers. Both videos are impressive and certainly showcase today's Yamaha digital piano.

As if my current 'to-do' list isn't long enough, as I've been recovering from a foot injury over the past month, I've been sketching some designs and plans for a new digital grand piano to add to my 'to-do' list! I've been thinking about designing my own piano for many years. Long ago, I accepted the fact that I would never be able to afford to buy a new commercially manufactured grand piano so I've been creatively designing my own piano. The truth is, this plan has been simmering in the back of my mind for quite some time but, lately, I've been more persistent and detail-oriented in figuring out dimensions, sketching ideas, and working out design issues. Some of the many sketches of a bored maniac... For the most part, I've been laid up with my foot elevated for at least a month now. While I installed that new flooring and new ADA toilet in our master bathroom a bit more than a month ago, I somehow injured my achilles tendon and my ...

Yesterday, while all the ladies were out bridal dress shopping, Lukey and I had some nice quiet time at the house. Naturally, we ran some trains on Lukey's layout while it was so quiet in the house... four different trains to be exact. That was fun. We then headed to the kitchen for some lunch.  After lunch, we knew the ladies would be back home before long so we didn't want to jump into anything time consuming. I then had an idea... I asked Lukey, "do you want to learn how to play a song on the piano?"   He enthusiastically replied, "YES!" while jumping up in the air like a little jumping bean. First, I attempted to teach him something simple... where to sit in reference to the piano... how to identify that middle group of two black keys. I doubt he'll remember this but he seemed to understand and it was his first introduction to this concept.   Then I figured we'd start with trying to play something simple like "Jingle Bells"......

I don't have a whole lot of recordings of myself on piano but I still do have a few audio clips left to share. So, before I head to bed and call it a night, I thought I would share a couple more recordings. Tonight's theme is movies. I'm going to share themes to two movies... the theme to "The Notebook" and the theme to "Chances Are". For what it's worth, I think that both are good movies but "Chances Are" is a much more entertaining movie. Actually, I wouldn't mind watching it again right now! As I've mentioned when sharing audio clips previously, these are just clips and not the full pieces.  Theme from "The Notebook", written by Aaron Zigman Unsupported Browser! Theme from "Chances Are" called "After All", written by Dean Pitchford and Tom Snow Unsupported Browser!

I had planned to be immersed in a couple of photography projects today but Fedex and the weather have changed my plans.  Instead of photography, I actually sat at the piano for a couple of hours today and reaquainted myself with piano. That's the first time I've done that in three years!  My three biggest problems with playing the piano today that I wasn't expecting... it really  saps my energy (I'm in desperate need of a long nap)... it gets me overheated (which is bad for my health)... and, it hurts my spinal injuries immensely! Even considering these problems, I didn't have as many difficulties as I had expected. Yes, I am very rusty and could use some serious work on some technique as well as my sight-reading abilities but, considering I haven't touched a piano for three years, I'm a bit surprised by how well I did today. Since I'm not doing anything related to photography today, I decided to share a few more piano recordings from quite a few yea...

Whenever I think of autumn and traditions, I am reminded of fond memories of fallen leaves covering the ground, cool crisp air, playing touch football in the street and seasonal "Peanuts" episodes.  Naturally, "Peanuts" reminds me of Schroeder playing his favorite Beethoven pieces but there are two other songs from the "Peanuts" episodes which were written by Vince Guaraldi that always come to mind this time of year...  First is the show's theme which is called "Linus and Lucy". Most people refer to this piece as "The Charlie Brown Theme" but that is actually a different piece! The well-known "Peanuts"  theme is actually called "Linus and Lucy". Also, I am quickly reminded of another piece called "Getting Ready" so I'm sharing both of these recordings here in the same blog entry. So, in the spirit of autumn and halloween, here are two clips I recorded on piano back a number of years ago.......

Back in 2001, Billy Joel published an album called "Fantasies and Delusions" which is a complete album of classical compositions rather than the pop, pop/rock, and ballads for which Billy Joel has always been known. This was a complete departure from his three decades of previously published music and, in my opinion, this "Fantasies and Delusions" album is perhaps his best.  If you've never listened to this album... search for it online... and listen. The album really is a beautiful album in the style of classical music of the Romantic period of the late 19th century. Admittedly, I'm not much of a fan of classical music, generally speaking, but I do occasionally enjoy some music of this Romantic period... Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Schumann, etc... when the mood for something on the quiet side strikes me. Billy Joel's romantic style of classical music composition really is beautiful and I often find myself listening to this albu...

Those whom have known me my entire life will probably be surprised by this but I haven't touched a piano in three years. Those whom have only known me in recent years will probably be surprised by the fact that they had no idea I ever was an accomplished pianist. The truth is that until three years ago, I had accomplished quite a bit as a pianist throughout my life but it was a rather quiet side of my life.  I've performed with many outstanding musicians. I've performed for quite a few dignitaries. I've won many awards. I've performed and competed in the classical music world. I've performed in rock bands. I've performed with the US Air Force. I've performed in concert bands, orchestras and marching bands. I've performed with Top-40 bands. I've performed jazz. I've performed at events, weddings and countless parties. I've performed with some amazing R&B groups. I've even performed with a few choral groups. To be honest, however,...