Hi folks,

Not sure if this music right for the site. Robert Vandall is thought of as a composer of pedagogical pieces, and I wanted to record these two, in part, because I want my students to hear them. I don't think I've ever had an adult beginner who wasn't in love with them.

But the fact is—I really enjoy playing these pieces, too. So here they are, take 'em or leave 'em.

Bruce

Vandall - Prelude No.4 (1:08)
Vandall - Prelude No.7 (1:37)

These are cute little pieces, I can see why teachers and students alike love them.
With no.7 I thought for a moment you were going to play the Moonlight sonata
We can put these on the 'Various' page, unless you plan to do significantly more of this composer. Two
lone little pieces don't warrant a new composer page.

Sounds good. Glad you like 'em.

Exactly! The piece comes in handy when a student wants to play the Moonlight and you know they're about 5 years away.

Chris, I notice you haven't put these on-site yet so I'm taking the opportunity to upload a slightly improved version of No.4.

Thanks,
Bruce

Vandall - Prelude No.4 (1:08)

The playing here is about as good as one could wish for of what is IMHO saccharine, rather new-age-sounding tripe. No. 7 is indeed shamelessly derivative of Beethoven's undeniably important but much overplayed moonlit thing, while No. 4 sounds like the type of thing that any C-grade composer who improvises long enough at the keyboard in a meandering way could come up with.

Nevertheless, I must say the playing is admirable. Nice dynamic contrasts and accelerando in the brief middle section of No. 7; good clarity and pearly touch in No. 4.

And I too can see how they could serve as good student fodder -- perhaps a didactic prelude to basking in the real moonlight

Joe

Hey Joe,

Thanks for taking the time to listen and for your kind words about my playing!

Bruce

Ok, these are up on the site (I used the improved no.4).

Not a real piano, I assume?

JG

Geez, if you have to ask, John—of all people—I guess Garritan (and I, perhaps) are doing something right!

I was thinking about you, because you had been talking about what kind of drive is necessary to play the Garritan in real time. I'm doing it quite well, really, without a solid-state drive. Here's a little video of me doing just that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7W6PVU4ihM

Is this what you had been asking about?

Bruce

Not specifically. I just listened and my ears told me that what I was listening to was not real! It didn't occur to me to link your previous posts with the fact that you were using (in this instance) Garritan. Hmmmm..... maybe the Garritan Steinway isn't completely and utterly real sounding. Of course, I use it and I like it!

JG

OK—now I understand your comment. And I'm not surprised. It certainly doesn't sound real to me!

But then, sometimes I think, hey—it's just a different instrument. And the most important question to be asked, I think, is: can it serve as a vehicle for expression? Can I enjoy playing it and creating with it, and can others enjoy listening to it?

If "real" were the only criterion, no new instruments would ever be invented and adopted, and we keyboardists would still be playing harpsichords, or whatever came before.

Of course, someone might argue it's not a good analogy because the piano is clearly an improvement over the harpsichord, whereas a sampled piano is not an improvement over an acoustic. And they'd be right.

But that's where economics enters the picture. And I guess I'm not the only one dealing with that set of issues. As in: Ahh—if I only had unlimited funds, space, and technical savvy, I could get rid of this *&&*## keyboard and record on a real Steinway.

What can I say? Don't get me going!!

Sorry.... can't resist...and this is not a comment on your music..... as a previous poster said quite eloquently:

Performer to his sound editor: "Wow, you did a great job with my raw performance!"

Sound editor to performer: "Yup, I'll bet you never knew you could play so well!"

So in midi-edited or midi-produced piano music (whether the result is played through a real piano or a sampled one), you get the potential for "great art," but not for a "great performance."

JG

How are you guys getting these files to play? Each one plays for only one or two seconds for me.

Well, ummm... we click the links, and then the mp3's play. Easy as pie.
I guess your router has decided it doesn't like this style.

Try cleaning your browser cache. Or do 'Save target as' to download them to your PC.

Well since you've not responded to my email last night regarding these broken links, then I take it this is again something weird with only my computer. Okay.