Friday, August 17, 2012

Simply Beautiful (update 9-1-2012)

The inspiration came from a Piano World thread (link1) with a simple composition exercise from a book. The idea is to write a simple melody, using a simple rhythm. I contributed to that thread, but wasn't pleased with that one.

However it did inspire to write Simply Beautiful (link2) in the key of C major, with a black key glissando. It is an easy piece to play and I enjoy playing it.

I uploaded a second version (link3), it uses the pedal to add to the echo and glissando.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Ashokan Farewell & Sunset

Ashokan Farewell (link1) was written in 1982 by Jay Unger at a music festival. It became popular as the theme for the PBS TV series on the Civil War. In my rendition, the ending isn't as it is written.

I spent 14 weeks, and did 25 recording takes, on the piece before getting a recording that I wanted to upload. The upload is one produced by directly connecting the Yamaha NP11 to the Sony voice recorder PX312, with no monitor, no audio feedback. The ending isn't as written.

The story behind Sunset is that I was reading some of the posts on the 50/90 site (link2). One of the lyric writers Deandratb had a link to her website, Inside the Song. The original lyrics to Sunset are copyright Toni Cerna and at link3.

My instrumental piano upload for Sunset is at link4. The song is about a depressed woman with low self-esteem that falls in love, then her lover tires of her moodiness and they break up. My abbreviated version of the lyrics follow:

Sunset in B minor (c# f#, though I use the C chord)
Original lyrics are copyright Toni Cerna

I always said \ that you were better off \ without me
and you always told me \ I was wrong
I always said \ that I feel broken
and you always told me \ we would find a way

the way you smile \ the way we dance
I fell in love \ I took a chance
Then one day, you said \
you're tired of my moods and darkness
so tired \ of the aches and pains
so tired \ of the lies and games

[pre-chorus]
This is the end \ no more tears to cry

[- chorus -]
This is our sunset \ time to say goodbye
Not a movie ending \ no brilliant colored sky
Only faded grey \ as you walk away
[end chorus]

The sun is gone, the moon is empty
the sky is dark \ in shattered pieces

repeat
[pre-chorus ..]

[chorus ..]

-end-

Monday, August 13, 2012

Chapter One: Rainbow and Genie

Welcome to the new Sand Tiger piano blog. Sand Tiger is my screen name on the Piano World forum and the Muse's Muse forum. I wanted a place to link all my piano related uploads and write about my journey.

I started on piano keyboard in March 2012. I got interested because of an Android tablet app where you can tap a simulated keyboard on the tablet screen. I bought a Yahama NP11 keyboard, which is a lightweight digital with 61 keys. My music background is pennywhistle (over 10 years) and Irish flute (over 5 years). I am self taught, and am teaching myself piano keyboard. Mostly I compose and play my original music.

The first chapter of my journey involved writing several original pieces, and learning Somewhere Over the Rainbow by watching YouTube videos. Here is a link to YouTube of me playing Rainbow (link1). Rainbow was made famous by Judy Garland in the movie, The Wizard of Oz.

One of my early original piano pieces is called Bargain with a Genie (link2). It is in the key of B minor. There are three segments to the piece, wandering through the desert, talking to the genie, releasing the genie. That's it for this first post. More to come.