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.
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.
This is a wonderful video of Abdullah Ibrahim playing “Cape Town Flower” from the Lugano Jazz Festival, recorded in Lugano, Switzerland in 1999. His trio playing in this recording is superb, and they are one of the very best groups he has performed with. I love listening to Abdullah Ibrahim. He is a superb pianist and composer. His music is so diversified, with major influences from his native Cape Town, South Africa, and more from musicians from all over the world. His playing is a rich composite of elements from Jazz, Blues, and Ethnic African music.
Born in 1932 in Cape Town, South Africa, Abdullah Ibrahim began his musical journey early on. He was eager to take piano lessons at the age of 7. He studied recordings of Jazz music brought over by American sailors. His professional career began in 1949. He later moved to Europe, New York City, and then back to Cape Town for a while.
Much of his music revolves around musical memories from his childhood. Distinct features of African, Gospel, and Blues, are the foundation of his unique Jazz sound. Thelonius Monk and Duke Ellington were strong contributors to the sound he has created.
Learning to play improvisation has much to do with listening to and hearing what other musicians have done. I teach piano in Portland, Oregon. When my piano students express an interest in studying Jazz or Blues Piano, I often suggest Abdullah Ibrahim as someone to study. His music is accessible compared to most mainstream Jazz. Piano students will find it easier to understand. Abdullah Ibrahim has recorded many albums, and has contributed immensely to the world of Jazz piano history.
Some of Abdullah Ibrahim Best Albums
Banyana
Anatomy Of A South African Village
African Sun
African Suite – For Trio And String Orchestra
African Marketplace
African Magic
Africa – Tears And Laughter
African Dawn
Here is a great example of the extraordinary piano playing of Oscar Peterson. The song is ‘I Can’t Get Started’ (With You); music written in 1935 by Vernon Duke, lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Peterson was one of the most accomplished jazz pianists in history. His playing was stunning, technical superior, and totally absorbing. His astounding left hand was one of the best ever witnessed since Art Tatum. He played powerfully, with lightning speed. The articulation of every note was remarkable. His complex piano playing sounded like an entire band of musicians. Peterson was an enormously talented piano player and band leader.
He was born Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) in Montreal, Canada. As a child, he was immersed in the black culture of jazz so popular in the early 20th century. Oscar Peterson began piano lessons at the age of 5. He also played trumpet, but tuberculosis prevented him from continuing. He placed all his attention on playing piano. His father was also a pianist and was one of his first piano teachers. His sister taught him classical piano. Peterson was totally dedicated to the piano and committed to an arduous practice schedule of up to six hours a day. It was this complete focus on piano that helped him attain his exemplary piano virtuosity.
While studying classical piano, he became enthralled with jazz, ragtime music, and boogie woogie. At the age of nine, his mastery of the piano had already impressed many adult professional musicians. At the age of fourteen, after winning a national music competition, Peterson dropped out of school and began playing professionally. He played on a weekly radio show, at hotels, and music halls. His style was completely his own, with strong piano blues influences. His career took on legendary proportions as he began his prolific recording career, releasing over 200 recordings. Peterson’s remarkable piano playing earned him seven Grammy awards. In his lengthy 65 year career, he played thousands of concerts around the world, was enthusiastically received, and awarded many honors. Oscar Peterson was one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.
Piano video from the movie ‘Secret’ (不能說的秘密), starring and directed by Jay Chou. Two very talented pianists battle it out on the piano. Yuhao Zhan’s improvisation skill is absolutely amazing. A brilliant showdown of dueling pianos in competition.
Cast
周杰倫 (周杰伦) Jay Chou as 葉湘倫 (Ye Xianglun): Music student majoring in piano and lives with his father.
桂綸鎂 (桂纶镁) Kwai Lun-mei as 路小雨 (Lu Xiaoyu): Music student who lives with her mother.
黄秋生 (黄秋生) Anthony Wong Chau-sang as 小倫爸爸 (Xianglun’s father): The discipline teacher of Xianglun’s school and his father.
曾愷玹 (曾恺玹) Alice Tzeng as 晴依 (Qing Yi): The girl Ye Xianglun met when he joined Dangjian. She always admired Ye Xianglun.
宋健彰 Devon Song as 阿宝/阿寶 (Abao): Not a well-behaved student. Member of a rugby team.
黃俊郎 (黄俊郎) Huang Junlang as 阿郎 (Alang): Abao’s good friend, captain of the rugby team. Organised a dance party where he performs.
詹宇豪 Yuhao Zhan as 雨豪 (Yu Hao): “Prince of the piano”, a talented piano player, had a “piano battle” with Ye Xianglun.
Plot
Ye Xianglun, a music student majoring in piano, transfers to Tamkang (Danjiang)Secondary School. It is a school famous for musically talented students, especially for those who play piano. On the first day of school, as he wanders through the piano building, he hears a mysterious melody being played that leads him to Lu Xiaoyu, another piano major. When he asks her about the song she was playing, she tells him that it is a secret that cannot be told. The two develop a relationship that is clouded in mystery. When Xianglun tells Xiaoyu of the demolition of the piano building on graduation day, she teaches him the song that he heard on the first day of school.
However, when a mis-passed note leads to Xianglun’s accidental kissing of Qing Yi, Xiaoyu disappears for five months, only to return on graduation day and mysteriously disappear again. Xianglun asks around and discovers through Xiaoyu’s mother and his own father that Xiaoyu was actually a student from the class of 1979, who graduated 20 years ago. His father tells him claimed she time traveled to the present via a piece called “Secret” that she played on an old piano in the piano building. She had fallen in love with Xianglun, but the only barrier is that, in the present, the first person she sees on each trip is the only person that can see her.
When Xiaoyu was misled that Xianglun liked Qing Yi, she returned back twenty years to her normal time. During her absence, her story spread and everyone believed that she was crazy. Remembering that the piano room would be destroyed on graduation day of 1999, she tried time traveling to see Xianglun one last time, but was misled once again that he liked Qing Yi as she saw Xianglun was wearing Qing Yi’s bracelet, loaned to him for good luck for playing at the graduation ceremony. Xiaoyu retreats back to her own time and faints due to an asthma attack, while writing on her desk, to which Xianglun desperately tries to write back by writing on a desk with white out.
After finally learning of Xiaoyu’s story, Xianglun realizes that the piece that she taught him was “Secret”, which had the power to take the pianist forward or backward in time depending on the tempo at which it is played. He rushes off to the piano room, which is about to be torn down. Xianglun’s father retrieves the manuscript of Secret that Xiaoyu had given to him for safekeeping, then realizes that Xiaoyu had written a secret message to which he finds out was for Xianglun. Meanwhile, Xianglun enters the piano building where the old piano is. As the demolition begins, Xianglun begins “Secret” from memory, recalling something Xiaoyu told him while teaching him the piece: “I always play it that fast when I go back”. Just before the piano room is completely destroyed, Xianglun travels back to 1979. He sees Xiaoyu, and she sees him and smiles, but doesn’t seem to know him. The last scene is when the 1979 Tamkang (Danjiang) Secondary School graduation picture is taken, in which Xianglun and Xiaoyu are present. As the old piano and the piano building have been destroyed, Xianglun stays forever in the past living a normal life with his love Xiaoyu.
