A blues and a rag

[ted]

The blues is mine. The rag was attributed, probably falsely, to James Scott.

[rachfan]

Hi Ted,

I just listened to your "Barclay's Blues".  I loved the opening and its reprise toward the end, where it creates a momentary illusion of one playing in two contrasting key signatures simultaneously.  It produces some really interesting harmonies and dissonances.  In the coda you bring that recurring ambiguity to full resolution with the very effective and beautiful ending.  The main body of the piece is bluesy, clever (I like the syncopations), and engaging.  This is a really delightful composition.

The "Caliope Rag" is somewhat Joplin-esque I think.  Rags are enjoying another comeback now.  You play it flawlessly and it's very entertaining and uplifting, as it should be.

Very nice playing!  I enjoyed listening.

 

[ted]

I'm pleased you like them. Goodness me, I didn't realise I was doing all that. I haven't a clue about harmony or theory; I don't know the right names of chords or anything like that. It's all just ear and keyboard pattern with me.

The rag appeared, as an unpublished Scott piece, in the 1966 edition of "They all Played Ragtime" by Blesh and Janis. However, DeVeaux and Kenney do not include it in their volume of complete Scott because it contains so many features atypical of Scott. They admit a very small probability that he could have actually written it for a calliope, which might explain the differences.

It's a charming enough little piece, so I don't really care who wrote it. 

[go12_3]

Hi Ted,
It was such a pleasure to listen to blues and a rag this morning.  I needed something to cheer me and those pieces did the trick!  Nice pieces and very
enjoyable.  Thanks for sharing!   

Best Wishes,
go12_3

[ted]

I am pleased you enjoyed them, go12_3. The rag and the piano blues were two favourite styles in my youth and I wrote many of them. Now I have the time to do it, I hope to revisit the idioms and make more recordings.

[johnny-boy]

Nice work Ted!

Do I detect a little Gershwin influence in your "Blues" piece? Enjoyed both very much.

Best, John

[ted]

Glad you liked it John. I haven't been posting much on forums for a while because I've been very busy actually playing and recording but I might look in more often now, at least in the audition and improvisation rooms.

Yes, quite likely ! In my youth I practically worshipped the piano music of Gershwin and Waller. Some of it must have been absorbed.  He created many beautiful and original things though, so full of life, so I suppose I could have had worse models. To this day I never tire of playing the Rhapsody In Blue; it always gives me a kick. 

[johnny-boy]

I love Gershwin's music also Ted. Sometimes I wish I was a young composer in the Tin Pan Alley days. It must have been wonderful for songwriters and composers back then.

I see you're from Auckland, New Zealand. I know a singer there named Julia Davis. You wouldn't by chance know of her?

Again, thanks for sharing your music.

Best, John

[ted]

No, I had not heard of Julia Davis. I'm afraid I know few musicians of any sort, local or abroad. The only exceptions are several of the contemporary ragtime group in the States. I discovered them on the internet ten years ago and they have been kind enough to point me in the direction of many scores and recordings not commonly available, and have helped me in other ways.

Aside from these I more or less operate in solitude. 

[csharp_minor]

Hi Ted

Loved the bluesy composition of yours it was really cool I found your one more intresting out of the two! I look forward to hearing more of your stuff, its inspirational. What do you record it with?, I think the sound quality is pretty good, I would like to get some sort of recording device when I have an accoustic piano.

...when I grow up, I want to be like you!

thanks for sharing!

[ted]

Thanks for listening csharp.

Well, many similar scores are lying around the house. It's a style I used to write in often so it's just a question of my relearning pieces and recording them. It was recorded on a very old tape recorder using a single, cheap microphone, so I must have just been lucky.

[pianist94]

Wow.. I enjoyed every note of your blues  i felt swayed by its interesting chords, love the ornaments; i definitely feel the bluesey side of it 
the rag made me feel kinda jumpy  really cheered me up!
amazing..thanks =D

[ted]

Thanks for listening, pianist94. I hope to post more of this sort of thing now I have the time to learn it or, in the case of my own stuff, relearn it.

[practice]

Wow, your blues is excellent, I love it!

[ted]

Glad you like it. If enough people like all these old things I shall write a few more. Once you have written in a style you never forget it.