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Topic: The show went on - Going pop  (Read 1324 times)

Offline storyseller

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The show went on - Going pop
on: June 11, 2016, 09:34:44 AM
As a pianostreet veteran (since 2008) I thought I could post this typical "hey listen to what I made" thread here... Comments are welcome as always...

Moreover, since the theme of the song is about the show "going on",  I'd love to discuss how and why classical-trained musicians crosover to other gernes... Anyone else here plays/teaches classical piano profesionally but also works-endeavours  in other gernes of the "music industry" as well?


Offline josh93248

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #1 on: June 14, 2016, 05:33:31 AM
Can't say I particularly like the music personally, just typical pop.

Despite that I find the question of being a crossover artist interesting. As a singer as well as pianist I've started to increasingly think about what covers and even original works I might make in genres other than classical. However my heart is centred on classical and I doubt I'll ever be more interested in anything else than the classical tradition (and perhaps future)
Care to see my playing?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBqAtDI8LYOZ2ZzvEwRln7A/videos

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Offline ronde_des_sylphes

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #2 on: June 14, 2016, 10:35:36 AM
I assume you wrote this yourself? Classical musicians are usually terrible at writing pop (edit for the sake of clarity - this isn't terrible!!). I can't say I'm particularly enamoured of the music, but it is fine for the genre it entails. Best bit was the harmonic change at 3.13.

You're such a good pianist I'm slightly curious as to why you would do this. Commercial/financial imperatives, a genuine desire to do so, general course of life events, or other reason? No need to answer, it's a slightly rhetorical question and me thinking aloud as much as anything else.

If I was going to do crossover type stuff, it would definitely being arranging. Famous tunes of the day arranged into either Lisztian paraphrase-type stuff (I would find that easier) or jazzified. I think there's a fair bit of scope for success in such a field.
My website - www.andrewwrightpianist.com
Info and samples from my first commercial album - https://youtu.be/IlRtSyPAVNU
My SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35

Offline storyseller

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #3 on: June 14, 2016, 09:00:31 PM
Dear Ronde...

You were and still are one of my favorites here... Nice to hear from you :-)

(Yes I wrote it... even the lyrics- deffinatelly not my field of expertise)

Well... for the song... outside it's typical pop but I acctually had a hard time to find a decent record company to release it here in Grecce exactly because it's anything but typical (for a pop song): there is no real chorus (the lyrics and the number of verses keep changin till the end), there are 2 different verses (no uniformity), use of counterpoint, a professional choral ensemble, full string and brass sections, and in the end it gets really polyphonic... Some frineds called it "symphonic pop" but maybe that was a joke :p... I think in the end it came out as "clasical trained guy tries to clothe one of his compositions in pop garments"... Anyway, tastes are tastes and I understand you not liking it.

As for why to do this... A lot of reasons - financial, desire to reach a broader public, desire for creating my own stuff - expresing myself,  my belief that there are good stuff in all gernes of music (I dont feel that pop is always "vulgar" or "just commercial" or that music stoped in the 1900's or that contemporary-elitist-atonal etc writing is the only way to do something decent nowdays), my job(s) (playing for ballet classes, thater, piano bars etc. where I had to start to improvisse-songwrite-"compose" etc and then it got into me) ... and more...

Or maybe life is what happens when you make other plans... I was acctually studying Scriabin's 24Preludes and some other obscure stuff like Blumenfeld at the time I was recording - producing this. Maybe I'm just strange and cant settle down in just a thing at a time :-)

Offline briansaddleback

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #4 on: June 14, 2016, 09:06:53 PM
Your last name is too long for me to pronounce correctly.
Work in progress:

Rondo Alla Turca

Offline storyseller

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #5 on: June 14, 2016, 09:14:28 PM
Hahahaha...

Dont worry... Maybe it's good to be "that guy with that strange long name"... Call me Dimitris... Or maybe do you have a suggestion for a shorter stage name?

Offline ronde_des_sylphes

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #6 on: June 14, 2016, 09:25:19 PM
Oh, I can be verrrry rude about some pop..

I don't hate this. It's a bit on the mellow side for my pop tastes but it's not like some other stuff which I find irritating/aurally offensive/etc.


This:

As for why to do this... A lot of reasons - financial, desire to reach a broader public, desire for creating my own stuff - expresing myself,  my belief that there are good stuff in all gernes of music (I dont feel that pop is always "vulgar" or "just commercial" or that music stoped in the 1900's or that contemporary-elitist-atonal etc writing is the only way to do something decent nowdays), my job(s) (playing for ballet classes, thater, piano bars etc. where I had to start to improvisse-songwrite-"compose" etc and then it got into me) ... and more...


I can very much agree or sympathise with. I think self-expression through composition is ultimately good for one's piano-playing. I'm very much on the side of the musician who wants to create rather than the musician who wants to project the sacred score. Reaching a broader public, yes, absolutely. It's just a shame when someone who can play like you do in the Katsaris Rachmaninoff homage piece doesn't appear to get the recognition they deserve - that is real piano-playing (unlike what a lot of more famous musicians often produce).
My website - www.andrewwrightpianist.com
Info and samples from my first commercial album - https://youtu.be/IlRtSyPAVNU
My SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35

Offline storyseller

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #7 on: June 14, 2016, 09:52:12 PM
Oh... Dont make me get sentimental Ronde... ;D

Thank you for the comment on Katsaris... It still is my "greatest hit" and my best "finding" from my "obscure pieces noones else plays" list... I'm moved that you remember it. <3 People that know me personaly are always asking me to play this and Scriabin's Left hand Prelude and Nocturne. And I almost always play them as encores when I do a recital (I havent quit playing-teaching piano at all)... I've even recorded the "Katsaris" for the Natinal Radio here last year and they broadcast it now and then: Last summer I met a young girl who was studying it, and not knowing who I was told me proudly that "I play this very beatiful and rare piece - but you probably wont know a thing about it"!!!

I wish I could make more people interested in "clasical" music and always try to do that, but even people with ten times my skill at piano, and 100 times my resources and time to practice never seem to succed in that.

So, it is what it is and that's not a bad thing at all... The show goes on (it's not that it MUST go on... It's what it does!). And maybe this is the point I was trying to make with this song!

All the best

Offline ronde_des_sylphes

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #8 on: June 14, 2016, 10:20:05 PM
"obscure pieces noones else plays" list


My favourite music list!  ;D
My website - www.andrewwrightpianist.com
Info and samples from my first commercial album - https://youtu.be/IlRtSyPAVNU
My SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35

Offline piano petals

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #9 on: June 15, 2016, 01:06:44 AM

Well D.....

I liked it! Though I am a pathetic pianist and cannot sing at all, I do watch The Voice, sorry. Only wish
you had put more force, more of a stronger/louder tone in some areas. I wanted more emotion.
Keep up the good work!

Offline storyseller

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Re: The show went on - Going pop
Reply #10 on: June 18, 2016, 12:45:30 AM
Thx for the listening and feedback pbalke!

All the best
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