Tag Archives: keyboard

scott joplin piano solo elite syncopations live great performance

Scott Joplin Piano Solo – Elite Syncopations Live – Great Performance

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Hans Joerg Fink performs Scott Joplin’s “Elite Syncopations”. Fink is a marvelous performer, giving this Joplin piece a very lively and precise treatment. It’s a very amusing video, as his son enthusiastically runs and dances around the room, while his dad plays the keyboard without distraction.

Scott Joplin (1867/1868? – 1917) was an African-American composer and pianist. Joplin garnered fame for his many ragtime compositions, being known as “The King of Ragtime”. His career was brief, composing 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. He is best known for his the “Maple Leaf Rag” which served as a model for other composers composing classic rags.

Joplin was a serious and ambitious student and took piano lessons after school. He had several teachers, receiving most of his music education from Julius Weiss, a German-Jewish music professor who immigrated to the United States from Germany. Weiss was greatly impressed with Joplin’s musical prowess and after noting his families financial distress, decided to teach him without charge, also helping his mother acquire a used piano. Joplin took lessons from Weiss from ages 11 to 16.

Weiss also taught Joplin to appreciate music not just as art, but as entertainment. This was instrumental in Joplin developing an excellent grasp of how to compose music that was commercially viable. Joplin never forgot Weiss’s tremendous contribution and years later, after achieving considerable fame as a composer, he sent his former teacher money to help him in his elder years.

Video Lang Lang Plays Live Solo Piano Performance – Chopin Valse Brilliante

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A great live video of Lang Lang performing Chopin’s Waltz Brilliante Op. 34, No. 1 in A Flat Major.

Lang Lang was born in 1982 in Shenyang China. He is a concert pianist and lives in New York City. He has performed with many orchestras throughout Europe, the U.S., and in China. He is very well known for his live concerts, T.V. appearances, albums, and film soundtracks. Lang Lang began piano lessons at the age of three. At the age of five, he won a first place award at his first public piano recital. Lang says that his first exposure to Western music was what made him want to study the piano. His flamboyant style and tremendous keyboard power have garnered both praise and criticism. His performances have been described as; “mastery of the piano”, “dazzling technique and charism”, “soggy rhythms and heavy phrasing”, “truly boring”, “vulgar and lacking sensitivity”. Lang Lang has also spent much time encouraging young musicians and children to learn about classical music. Lang Lang has said that his mission is to bring classical music all around the globe.

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Video Valentina Lisitsa Piano Solo Rachmaninoff Live Concert

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Here is a splendid video of Valentina Lisitsa playing the Rachmaninoff Prelude in G minor Opus 23 No. 5. in Seoul, South Korea.

Valentina Lisitsa was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1973. She began piano lessons at the early age of three. At the age of four, she performed her first piano recital. Some of her favorite composers include Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin, and Beethoven. Her technical mastery of the keyboard is evident in this recording. In the very competitive world of classical piano performance, Valentina Lisitsa has used social media to her great advantage. She is one of the most viewed pianists on YouTube. Lisitsa has performed throughout the world, including concerts at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall. She has recorded six CDs. In 1991, she moved to the United States to persue her career, and currently resides in North Carolina.

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Video – Ben Folds Plays Piano Rock Solo Live Concert

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This video shows Ben Folds playing a flashy piano solo improvisation during one of his live concerts.

Benjamin Scott “Ben” Folds is a popular American piano and keyboard player, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was the band leader of the alternative rock group Ben Folds Five from 1995-2000. Since then, he has pursued a solo artist career. He has toured worldwide and appeared onstage with William Shatner, Regina Spektor and “Weird Al” Yankovic. He has worked on several film projects including “Over the Hedge” and “Hoodwinked!”

As a child, Ben Folds began playing piano at the age of 9. He took piano lessons for several years. He learned to play by ear and began writing his own songs. Folds attended the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami on a percussion scholarship. During his studies, he spent much time working on piano technique. “I spent maybe six months just running scales with a metronome like a freak,” Folds said. He dropped out with one credit to go before graduating.

Some of Ben Folds recordings:
Ben Folds Five (1995)
Whatever and Ever Amen (1997)
Naked Baby Photos (1998)
Fear of Pop: Volume 1 (1998)
The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (1999)
Rockin’ the Suburbs (2001)
Ben Folds Live (2002)
Songs for Silverman (2005)
Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the LP (2006)
Way to Normal (2008)
Lonely Avenue (2010)
The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (2011)
Fifty-Five Vault (2011)

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Video – Randy Newman Sings and Plays Piano – Song From Toy Story

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Randy Newman playing acoustic piano and singing “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” from the movie “Toy Story”. This video was recorded live at the Macworld convention in 2008. The song is about two of the film’s characters Woody and Andy, and their strong friendship. Randy Newman, as always, does a great job in delivering a clear message in his song, along with his special vocal style and keyboard playing.

As a piano teacher, here in Portland, I also work with students who are learning to accompany voice with their piano playing, as well as learning composing and songwriting. I often use songs like this to use as examples of how to work with a strong foundation of melody and chord structure to build a song that is memorable, well written, and to the point.

Randy Newman grew up in Southern, California where he began taking piano lessons when he was 6. After moving to in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the age of only 17, Newman started his illustrious career as a songwriter. His influences include blues and gospel, the music he loved when growing up. His songs, many of them controversial, often take the form of a parody of individuals who are socially intolerant, such as his song “Short People”.

For decades, Randy Newman has been making music, singing and writing about the culture around him. He has composed music for numerous films, including “Ragime”, “Toy Story”, “The Natural”, “Maverick”, “Awakenings”, and “Bean”. Newman’s inspiring film scores and songs have earned him awards from the Academy Awards, Emmy, Oscar, and Grammy organizations. The world of American music has been greatly influenced by Randy Newman’s music.

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