Exploring alternative instrument sounds on a digital piano

[knutmarius]

I am the owner of a Yamaha CLP 440 digital piano, and I really love it! I bought it two years ago when I decided to pick up playing (played for a while as a kid), and since then the world of piano has really opened up to me! When I play I like to mix it up with using the four different "Grand Piano" sounds that my piano has, and tweaking the sound can often give new life to a piece I have played to the point of it almost getting boring.

However, I have not yet found a real use for all the other instrument sounds that my piano comes with. Although I would probably still use just the grand piano sounds for 98% of what I'm playing, I figured it would be cool to know a couple of pieces that really suits the other instruments on there. I'm then thinking primarily about the pipe organ, the electric piano and maybe the harpsichord.

My question is if any of you could recommend good pieces that really suits these instruments, and that can be played properly with a digital piano like mine. Before I bought the piano I watched a couple of reviews on youtube, and it sounded really cool when they played the digital piano like it was for instance a proper pipe organ. But of course I realize that you cannot just take a piece written for classic piano, apply the same playing "style", switch on the pipe organ sound and expect it to sound great! That's why I need some help to point out good places to start in order to explore the full potential of my digital piano!

My level of playing is maybe intermediate or "beginner+" I don't follow any lessons, so I don't know much about the "grade system", etc. Note that I don't play by ear (yet), so I would need to be able to obtain the sheet music somewhere. Some of the more famous pieces I play today include:

Chopin - Nocturne  Eb
Chopin - Waltz No.17 A minor
Chopin - Waltz C# (64/2)
Beethoven - Sonata Pathetique
Some pieces of Ludovigo Einaudi, Yann Tiersen, ++

[bronnestam]

I got my piano the same week I got married, so on my wedding day (no party fuss, no guests, we just got married) I celebrated by turning the volume up and play Medelsohn's Wedding March with the church organ sound ...

   Sounded great! Right now I'm learning Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (not difficult) and that is great too with the pipe organs.

I also play the Pathétique adagio with Dual mode, Grand Piano x + Strings 2 or sometimes Choir, just for fun. The String addition is also nice when you play some popular music like Ballade Pour Adeline (very easy). I often add some Phaser, about level 4, to get more reverb effect.

Today I want to play The Pink Panther Theme, because one of my kids asked for it, with the Vibraphone sound.

[knutmarius]

Thanks for the tips! I will try to get a hold of the sheet music for "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", as it seems to be a good starting point for the pipe organ. I don't know about the wedding song though, as I think it would set some sort of expectancy with my girlfriend if I suddenly start playing that Adding strings as a secondary to the Pathetique seems interesting, so I'll try that as well!

I am also happy to receive tips for songs that really suits a "split" with different instruments for the left and right hand. I seem to think that most pieces cannot have a split, as notes for the left hand and the right hand often overlap some point during the piece. Therefore it would be difficult to make a definite split point between the two instruments..

[hfmadopter]

Add strings to the Nocturne ! The purists and Chopin himself might have to look the other way. Play about 95% warm grand and 60% strings and see what you get. If your Yamaha is like my Kawai there are various string sounds to try.

Some of David Nevues pieces are great done that way, Solitude in particular is a favorite for my little party of listeners, it literally brings tears to my wifes eyes and gives my adult daughter goose bumps all over her body . Vision In White is another good one to do a mix with, with this one I use a Synth String Pad along with Grand Piano, that one stirs up my younger adult daughter ( the other I mentioned was my oldest).. David has some beautiful pieces of music for the intermediate level player incidentally and that string mix really adds a richness to something that isn't so traditional as Chopin. Look around his site here and listen to some clips : https://www.davidnevue.com/  . You can also find more complete videos of his pieces on youtube ( some are not his playing and some are).

Stairway to Heaven is another one I do the mix with and I really play this one up.

For Organ, Bach. You will need to learn some new technique, you need to make the organ sing more than the piano.

[bronnestam]

I fetched the Bach piece directly from here, at pianostreet. It was free.