forum dead?

[Derek]

Wow, this forum has been dead lately. I wonder if everyone's busy or what? Maybe this forum ought to be re-vitalized somehow. Like, find some way to turn it into more of a workshop rather than a hey, that was a nice piece.  *wall of intellectual text*  Hey, that was a nice piece. *wall of intellectual text*

I was thinking maybe suggesting "constraints" to try and then have a thread of people trying to improvise within that constraint. For example, we could do:
-post improv played entirely with one hand
-with one finger
-with the thumb and pinky
-all in one key or mode
-all using certain kinds of chords, rhythms, programmes

If nobody bites right away maybe I'll try to start one off.

[pianowolfi]

In my case I can say yes I actually am very busy these days. And I always think posting a lot of improvs within a short timespan might not be a good thing to do, because after a while and after more than two or three improvs in a row nobody will listen anymore.

Plus I am particularly busy at practicing for my recording sessions for "Styx. Music from a long journey" Plus I'm writing my next program "In secret. Music from a recondite time." Plus I can't really listen to music very often because it tends to interfere with my composing in a sort of difficult way.

And to me improv is also something that I can't do always. The last really good thing I did which was truly inspired was Steps 4.1 somewhen last spring. I didn't do much improv since then because I badly want first to edit the material that I already have and that will keep me busy for years....
But your suggestions are good and perhaps I can contribute the one or other thing somewhen...

[furtwaengler]

Yeah, it is a busy time and not without a certain amount of stress. I have not been recording much, though I have doodled and dabbled off the record (hard not to!). I sometimes spend too much time on the internet; it's easy to get carried away. But I really enjoy the comradery that has existed on the Improv board, and the great exploration of other peoples minds and fingers and the new sound worlds born on a whim. Count me in for some sort of interactive projects! This could be fun.     

[ted]

These days I am playing and recording a huge amount of improvisation. Moderation must my keynote with posting it though; I don't want to impose my often lengthy, weird and personal creations on everybody at a frequency out of proportion to those of other players. Therefore I try to post recordings about as often as other regular improvisers here. Admittedly, for various reasons, perhaps I have not commented as frequently as I have in the past, but I can assure everyone I do download and listen with pleasure to many recordings, both here and in the performance section.   

[littletune]

I was thinking maybe suggesting "constraints" to try and then have a thread of people trying to improvise within that constraint. For example, we could do:
-post improv played entirely with one hand
-with one finger
-with the thumb and pinky
-all in one key or mode
-all using certain kinds of chords, rhythms, programmes

If nobody bites right away maybe I'll try to start one off.

Well I think that sounds really fun! I would wanna try that!   (and listen too of course)  It's just that other people wouldn't have so much fun listening to my improvisations    but sounds cool anyway 

[riskarb]

Wow, this forum has been dead lately. I wonder if everyone's busy or what? Maybe this forum ought to be re-vitalized somehow. Like, find some way to turn it into more of a workshop rather than a hey, that was a nice piece.  *wall of intellectual text*  Hey, that was a nice piece. *wall of intellectual text*

I was thinking maybe suggesting "constraints" to try and then have a thread of people trying to improvise within that constraint. For example, we could do:
-post improv played entirely with one hand
-with one finger
-with the thumb and pinky
-all in one key or mode
-all using certain kinds of chords, rhythms, programmes

If nobody bites right away maybe I'll try to start one off.

I'm new here but completely agree.

What can we do to spice up these boards? My suggestions:

- Forum board administrator should have each persons pic/avatar below their nickname. Helps put a face to the posts.

- Meet-ups. I used to be a moderator on a number of other boards (car forums, real-estate, other hobbies etc etc) and would arrange regular meet-ups for posters on the board. We'd have meetings all over the globe and lots of friendships were made in the process. We had international meets that people would fly into (!) and over a number of years, many people even dated on the site (horror!). There should be a separate section on the boards for meet-ups/concerts where pianostreet members can meet each other in the flesh and share their music.... jam sessions.

- People should post more of their music, no matter how good/bad they think it is. Music should be shared and not pontificated to death.

- If you post a recording, try posting a video (vs an mp3) so we can SEE you. As an "artiste" *incredulous cough*.... I tend to connect better to people/personalities than an individual performance from "pianoplaya8888"

- I've noticed that people here are really into Busoni, Alkan and Medtner (disproportionately so). Wonderful composers but it's clear the board caters to more advanced players and treads on the exotic/esoteric..... somewhat like Marc Andre Hamelin after he had conquered the 'traditional' repertoire. Don't expect this place to become more popular/lively if these are the prevailing themes! I'm disappointed not to see more jazz, more Gershwin... maybe I'm just on the wrong boards.

- FUN FUN FUN.... just like what the above poster mentioned. Need more improvisations, more experimentation (e.g., Gabriela Montero, Denis Matsuev, Hiromi Uehara)..... there seems to be a fear of 'failure' or intolerance on the board, perhaps b/c a large chunk of us are hardcore classicalists. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but let's face it: classical music (and musicians) tread on irrelevance today because we've been playing the same pieces for hundreds of years (in essentially the same way) and chasing minutae/technical perfection in lieu of inventing anew. Can we lighten up just a bit?


On that note, Deutsche Grammophone had this contest to celebrate Chopin's 200th birthday couple months back. You had to submit any work of Chopin to be judged.

Here was my submission

Needless to say, I didn't win. (Bloody Germans. No sense of humour!)

[Derek]

Whoa...wait a minute. Fun? Music?  What?  .... I'm confused....!

[goldentone]

- I've noticed that people here are really into Busoni, Alkan and Medtner (disproportionately so). Wonderful composers but it's clear the board caters to more advanced players and treads on the exotic/esoteric..... somewhat like Marc Andre Hamelin after he had conquered the 'traditional' repertoire. Don't expect this place to become more popular/lively if these are the prevailing themes! I'm disappointed not to see more jazz, more Gershwin... maybe I'm just on the wrong boards.

If you're talking about the audition room, you are incorrect.  Medtner is a rarity (maybe five submissions in a year's time), there is one Alkan on the first page, the only one that I am aware of in a long time. Busoni may appear once in awhile.  But in the audition room you mainly find the regulars as the first page testifies.  In the last few years Rachfan has recorded a lot of Bortkiewicz and introduced Catoire, a wonderful but forgotten composer.  I am eager to hear the "new."    

I love Gershwin, but he didn't compose many solo piano works in the usual sense, such as his Preludes. The reason you are disappointed in the amount of jazz here is because this is a classical site.

The inflow of improvs has been very healthy for awhile now in my opinion since it became its own board. There are some wonderful and capable improvisers here such as K (she hasn't posted in awhile, also known as m1469), Wolfi, Furtwaengler, Quantum, and Derek, to name prominent ones.

[rachfan]

Hi riskarb,

Since 2003 I've posted over 100 recordings at Piano Street, the vast majority of them being standard repertoire pieces.  Over the last two or three years, however, I've reached a point of departure where I now prefer to explore the piano music of lesser known, obscure or nearly forgotten composers.  Much of this repertoire is of very high merit and deserves to be heard. So it pleases me to delve into it, learn and record it, and let members and visitors hear what seems to be "new music" to them.  

To be honest I no longer have the interest to post the 1,346,782nd rendition of Chopin's "Revolutionary Etude" etc.  I doubt that I can say anything new in playing war horses which hasn't already been said in countless interpretations preceding my own.  In my opinion, branching off into the unknown, like the Catoire pieces, is more exciting and rewarding, and I'm happy to say that those works have been well received as well.  

You're not limited to what you see recently on the Audition Room forum pages. You can also go to the top entry in Page 1 and click on Index to Audition Room.  The composers then appear in alphabetical order such that you can scroll down to composers of most interest and select your favorite standard repertoire pieces from myriads of recordings there in the index.

I joined Piano Street 1/4/03 and I confess to having posted a Medtner sonata recently. I just looked at the Index, and there are only 4 Medtner recordings displayed there.  Mine hasn't been added yet, so it raises the total to 5.  Over the 7 years I've been posting here, that doesn't seem excessive to me.

I hope this information helps.

[pankrpec]

As for me, I was quite busy too didn't have time for the forum, because I'd rather invest it in the piano. Then I return after a while and the first post I see in my favorite section is "forum dead?", that was scary.

My reason for not posting much is virtually the same as the others have said, I don't want to swamp the forum with too many improvisations, no one would listen to them. That's the lesson I learned in my first week here. Though I admit that I could have been more active.

As for Derek's suggestion on 'constraints', I'm certainly up for it! Expect me to participate.