sergio

Can you imagine a tropical Cuban refugee coming to NYC in 1960, never having seen snow? Well, I'll tell you... That winter was the coldest and snowiest in the longest time. The first snowfall I saw was predicted as "snow flurries", but as the night advanced, it turned out to be a blizzard, 17 inches of snow. Needless to say, I was in heaven (no school either)... So, thank you, but no Michigan for me. I once spent some weeks in Chicago in winter, and that was NOT nice! Come join us in Florida!!! 😁

Very nice, not familiar with Ms. Mier. Hint of Gershwin along the way... 👍 Yes, it's nice here in Florida this morning (Miami). Winters here are soooo nice...

Just curious, why you don't like Webber. I lost track of his music after Phantom, so I'm not sure which direction he's going in. But his Broadway stuff is great, my opinion. Musically I love "Evita" best, but even "Joseph" is a cute piece I enjoy... We both agree on Tsquare!

So nice.... 👍 Loved it! Webber's music is awesome, I think, although some critics don't agree. See what I mean about the transpose button? I think it's priceless (for me, anyway). One question to the more tech out there... I guess Casio just "shifts" the keyboard up or down when transposing, so the lower notes become even lower, which is different than when one changes from key of C to key of A, because the sound of the lower notes (and higher notes) stays the same. Am I right? It seems that there is a tradeoff, but I'm not complaining.. Tsquare, congratulations, and I have to say that we have similar taste in choice of music.

That was hilarious!!! 😁 Never saw the show clip but it's priceless! Thanks, Tsquare! All is relative, I guess, so you worry about right hand dexterity and I've always had a complex about my left hand sub-par performance... Never thought about left-handed piano players... I guess you're supposed to have each hand independently perform, but I can see the extra hurdle for a left-handed player. Is that true?

Thanks for the encouragement, Jokeyman123. I do consider myself the luckiest man in the world if only for being able to sit down at the piano and just play whatever comes to my head. Sometimes it takes effort and I learn either way. I didn't play the piano for so long (about 40 yrs) because my career went otherwise, so now that I'm retired and bought my keyboard, I've been able to get back to my passion. It's funny when one considers "alternative futures" that "could have been" had key decisions in life had been different. I used to feel bad for not pursuing the music path, but the wedding gig days would have been rough... I'm glad you survived it all!!! 😂 Thanks again, Jokeyman123.

Thanks a lot, Jokeyman! It's quite a compliment because I just play what comes out of my heart/hands and you're someone with far more knowledge of music than I do. I agree that any melody can be interpreted in a million ways, and that's the beauty of music, it's universal. I haven't heard it as a merengue, but I think it's such a sentimental song that such a fast, dance beat would not favor it. The composer, Maria Grever, wrote over 800 songs, something that shocked me, but I grew up with a lot of her songs played in my household. She had many beautiful songs, and I remember an LP in particular or a famous Cuban female singer that was only her songs. Sadly, we lost it along the way. This is a song of love, not sure because it's kind of cryptic, but it's all about love and kisses not given or received. Not sure of the English lyrics, which were written by someone else. Her Wikipedia entry tells a lot of her story, and being female in those days, it was quite an accomplishment that this song made it internationally.

I thought I responded last night, but I must have forgot to press the button... Grever didn't write the English lyrics. The original Spanish is a love story (what else?) of kisses not given, etc. It's not a "sad" song, but a "love" song, like most "boleros". Anyway, music is so wonderful because it can convey all kinds of emotion, from elation to depression, and that's what I enjoy from playing the piano, to express my emotions.

I'm talking as a layman whenever I make comments about music, etc. Opinions I have many, but I also recognize that I don't have the music background that probably most of the folks here have. So please take me with a grain of salt. I seldom pay attention to the lyrics of a song, because I'm so hung up on the music. This is a love song but I don't even remember the lyrics. Like most "boleros" (I still can't get over the fact that this woman wrote over 800 songs!), they're all about love lost, love rediscovered, love betrayed, you name it... We Latins are very romantic. But you don't think this song is romantic enough? I could play it "sadder", but I don't "feel" this melody that way. When I started arranging it, I had a more aggressive, louder sound and rhythm, and over time it changed on me... I just go with the flow... I'll try to find a really weepy music for you... some gypsy stuff, that's always sad... 😁

Oh, I forgot... Indeed Maria Grever (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/María_Grever) is the composer. She wrote, listen to this.... Over 800 songs! Talk about prolific!!!

Thanks! Yeah, I don't feel confident enough to fool around, but I'm putting my toes in the water... 😁 Working on arranging this song taught me a lot, really... It's kind of liberating, not being bound to the auto rhythm. For now I'm trying to "stretch" on the piano playing, and I'm happy with my progress so far. BTW, enough "emotion" in the piece??? 😀 It IS a very lush melody...

I haven't prepared the video needed to upload the song to YouTube, but I wanted to share it with the forum now. I've been working on playing the piano solo without the auto rhythm, at least for a while, and I've really learned a lot by going "solo" again... I'm going to continue this way for now, and I still thank my friend m10538 for suggesting this. Please let me know what you think. BTW, the song is really "Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado", written by Maria Grever, the first Mexican female composer to become internationally famous (with this song). The song "oozes" emotion, at least the way I "feel" it, and to me, expressing emotions with music, in full range, is what I get a kick out of... Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado.mp3

Awesome! Great arrangement! 👍👍👍

Yes, I discovered that recently... The tone seems to get deeper. And transposing is a lifesaver for me, because I play on the key of C, and that doesn't always work, depending on the song. Congratulations on your playing!

Tsquare, that was really beautiful!!! As usual, I'm not familiar with the music of John Barry, but I'll look him up. You play with so much feeling (see that, m10538, I'm not the only one) and I love that. I also loved the ending. 👍👍

OK, got it!!! 😀 The "unplugged" term I thought fit leaving out the rhythm and just play the darn piano... OK, not "unplugged", so I'll just call it piano solo... A song does not necessarily have words.. Mendelsohn (sp) wrote them, and I'm sure that Richard Rodgers wrote them without words until Oscar got in the act. The point is that I don't think lyrics and I don't enjoy writing them either. I have TWO I like, one in Spanish and one in English, and that's it. So most of my tunes are simply that, tunes... I don't know what else to call them. And thanks so much for your words of encouragement. I'm trying to get out from under the bottom of the totem pole to a more acceptable position, and I find this forum a "safe place" where I can get honest opinions (good or bad) because I don't get feedback otherwise. So thanks a lot!!! 😀

Thanks a lot, Jokeyman123! My Casio is the PX-780, and I bought it because it's a full piano, great sound, auto rhythms, different voices, etc. For my purpose it seemed to be my best buy and I have not been disappointed. I keep learning its features every day... m10538, you always make me laugh out loud... I usually smile, but you make me laugh! 😀 I completely agree, though, with what you're saying... You're very wise, you know.... I feel music in my "heart" (not anatomically correct, but anyway), and I do know that I play my soul when I just play. It's true that the auto rhythm limits how much "emotion" you can put into a song, but there are other tradeoffs. I think I've learned to "tame" the auto rhythms now that I know how to use the rhythm editor. Right now I'm still working on a standard and I'm trying to "stretch" my playing, but I still need practice. I'm very happy with how much I've learned...

This is not bad, I think... I hope you can tell the "dialogue" going on in the song... Conversation.mp3

This is another early "song" (not sure what it is)... You can tell how my technique is lacking, because I couldn't play the notes as fast as it should, etc., but hey, I do my best... 😀 Dance.mp3

Very beautiful and haunting, Tsquare! I'm not familiar with this piece and will look it up. Debussy was my mom's favorite composer and I've learned to like him a lot. Interesting about the app... I have an iPhone but will check to see if they have it. Sounds like a useful tool. BTW, regarding the transposing on the PX780... It definitely changes the sound of the piano, and perhaps that's what you noticed... Even lowering the key by one semitone changes it, quite nice, actually...

Sorry, m10538... Player pianos don't count!!! 🤩 Almost as bad as auto-rhythm, right? Actually, auto-rhythms are fine, but I need to use them judiciously and also adjust the various parameters that can be changed.

Mostly on my mother's side... My dad also loved music, but did not play an instrument. My brother played the piano by ear since childhood, but my mom did not want to teach him. Instead, she taught my sister, who excelled at the Conservatory. But not me... I was the bottom of the totem pole. I lucked out with the guitar lessons, and when my mom bought a beat-up piano in NYC, I transposed the knowledge to the piano.

BTW, I only play in the key of C (I play by ear), so the "transpose" feature of my PX-780 is extremely useful... I hear some of my songs (before I learned how to use this feature) that are definitely too high in pitch... Now I can lower it. Also, for some reason, I think it changes the sound a bit... I don't know is it's my imagination or whether it happens in other models.

That's exactly what I do, Tsquare. I record on the PX-780's "Song Recorder", because it's easy to re-record when you want to start over. Once I have a recording I want to listen to or upload, I transfer it to my USB memory stick, and I process the WAV file with Audacity to convert it to MP3. I'm not an Audacity expert, but I use the "fade in" and "fade out" features to bracket a song, and I use it to do edits, etc. I know you can do a lot with Audacity but I just haven't played with it too much. I tried to adjust the volume in a song, that for some reason came out in lower volume than usual, and I couldn't do a good job so I left it alone. I find that in most cases, the recording volume is a function of how hard I play and (I guess) the actual volume knob. I use the Grand Piano setting, but I adjusted the sound a bit to make it a bit less bright. That's my regular piano, and lately I've been transposing a semitone or two down to better fit my sense of the song. I find that very helpful and I like the somewhat "changed" sound that happens once I lower the key. Also, sometimes I've layered on (subtle) some strings... they add some depth and a different feeling...

This is actually a song my older brother wrote many years ago. He actually wrote two songs; this is one of them. His birthday is coming up so I was just playing around this morning and recorded it for him. It has errors in it, so it was just early morning playing around... Si Volviera a Ser Todo Como Antes.mp3