PIYW #3 — Meta Feedback

rsl12 · 2025-08-24T03:41:10+00:00

October 15, 2025 EDIT: "Play "Autumn Leaves" Your Way" is now live! You can continue to discuss your preparation of the piece here. The next PIYW will be ann...

rsl12

Sophia That's pretty much what I do when I remember to do it. I need to change the name of the app to "WAIT A FEW 2NDS B4 SINGING PLZ" and then maybe I would remember.

Sophia

Lol! That reminds me of my husband who had a habit of leaving the pantry door open. Even a sign doesn’t always remind him to shut the door….

Ok, that was seriously off topic 😃

rsl12

Sophia LOLOLOL

HeartKeys

rsl12 you don't play jazz

i should say i don't generally play jazz, or i.e., i have no background in jazz, and am not a jazz pianist. i did spend a big chunk this year though, listening to some cool Coltrane kind of music, and learning their progressions by ear. it's been a fun journey!

rsl12

Yet another practice recording. (Am I boring you yet?) A few thoughts:

between singing and sheet music and hamilton and blues, it's been at least a year since I seriously tackled a jazz tune! I feel the rust coming off.
one annoying mistake I made was picking, without thinking, the Real Book key for autumn leaves (C minor). But the Wynton Kelly solo that I'm studying is in G minor. It's not a huge deal (and maybe it's even a little good for me to get the extra transposing practice) but normally I would have the forethought to pick the same key as what I'm studying.
as usual, Wynton makes it sound easy (and that's a big part of his charm).
For me, one of the hardest things is that he seems to be always thinking one chord change ahead. My bebop half-year study (see pianoworld recitals.. 72-73 I think?) taught me that thinking of ii-V-I as V-V-I can give a great result. Because of that practice I'm better at being able to get the right mindset.
right now I'm focused on Wynton's target notes. As usual, it's on the Vs that the most variety is possible, and I'm practicing targeting the 4th and the b9 in particular.
This is the first time that I've been aware of laid back timing in Wynton's playing. I really like it, and I've practiced it before when studying a Errol Garner solo, but find it very difficult to do unless I make a very conscious effort to apply the effect. So you might hear a little in this recording.

*I think I'm not going to get to study Dave McKenna this time around. There is too much to study in Wynton's recording that seems within my reach.

WieWaldi

rsl12 Gosh - every time you come up with another version. It is not, that you are working on a specific one and improving it. No, you are presenting a totally different style of playing. Every time a jazz style, and every time the piece is called Autumn Leaves, but here stops the commonality of your practice recording. It feels as if you submitted already 3 different pieces.

Sophia

rsl12 (Am I boring you yet?

Never! It's really nice to hear your "attempts" come together. Very nice harmonies and punctuations etc. Now I humbly go back to my "plink... pause... plonk... think... kaplank GAH that should have been kaplenk!" Just so you know how we BBs (I say BBs because TBs sounds a bit... sickening) are struggling 😃

I can't post in public what I what I like to tell WieWie for suggesting the piece.... but @#@*$%&@@#$^ probably comes close 😄

ShiroKuro

rsl12 that was great!! 👍

HeartKeys

rsl12 nice progress!

it's so interesting how this song can be concocted in millions of different ways, especially the left hand (syncopation/arpeggios/bass/chords) etc.

rsl12

WieWaldi thank you for listening! Sometimes I try to force a technique or a lick into a improv practice recording, but generally I try to free my mind and play as naturally as possible.

rsl12

Sophia I can't post in public what I what I like to tell WieWie for suggesting the piece.... but @#@*$%&@@#$^ probably comes close 😄

Oh no! I've seen Likas' other 2+2 scores, and I can imagine big jumps and wide reaches. You can always play 1+2 or 2+1 in the necessary places. Good luck!

Sophia

Ok, this might be a good time to confess that I actually don’t know what those terms mean 😋

rsl12

Sophia It's super simple! Whenever there is a chord, you play two notes with the left hand plus two notes in the right hand. (The top note in the right hand is the melody, but still, he calls it 2+2.) So if you are having trouble, I suggest trying to eliminate one of the harmony notes.

Sophia

rsl12 Ahhhh one more of life’s mysteries solved! Thank you ❤️

keff

rsl12 Yet another practice recording.

Very nice indeed. I made my first recording this morning exposing unevenness in rhythm mostly where my left hand has to open to reach the wider chords. My thoughts are to omit the octave notes when this is a problem. Here are the first five bars of intro.
https://whyp.it/tracks/313821/intro-28sept25?token=mvdi8

WieWaldi

keff Like that classy bar piano sound. AL has indeed a lot of potential to be played in a lot of different ways. I mean, rsl did already 3 different styles, and only heaven knows about the style he uses in his final recording.

Btw: Didn't know about whyp.it as audio sharing platform. Looks tiny and sleek, seems to be very suited for our purpose. 👍

rsl12

keff sounds like a nice full arrangement. I can imagine why it gives you trouble. You could also play it slower and I bet it would still sound very good.

keff

WieWaldi Like that classy bar piano sound.

Thank you. My sense of rhythm is not good enough to know if I am playing the first three bars in strict time and so just trying to make it sound reasonable.

Sophia

Very nice @keff! Agree, there seem to be as many arrangements as there are autumn leaves 😃 I'm really excited about this recital!

Simonb

Hi All

Just submitted mine.

Cheers

Nightowl

Simonb Good news. From other recital pieces you've played I expect this will be a top notch video, so it seems right for it to be at the top of the list. 🙂 I'm aiming for the last place because I have the least playing experience - last and least is going to be my mantra here. 🙃

keff

Simonb Just submitted mine.

Well done. I intended to record my version nearer to the go live date but there is a (small) chance that I may purchase a different piano tomorrow and ought to consider doing it earlier whilst still owning the upright.

WieWaldi

Simonb Just submitted mine.

Me 2

« Previous Page Next Page »