Byrd, Fantasy a 3, piano solo

[RemovdSande11]

nice! im learning counterpoint right now and im loving Byrd.

[MrCatComics]

I have to learn this song by tommorow :P

[smalin]

@MrCatComics You do? Why?

[MrCatComics]

@smalin It was for school, but it was cancelled. Thank God. I totally sucked.

[MortiCarthago]

how the hell do you keep the voices distinct? I'm playing the two part inventions and even in those it's hard to make the voices sound like two people are playing them! Take for example in invention #2, when the main theme switches to the left hand and then the right hand follows and they meet at D (measure 13). Basically though, how do you make your hands sound like distinct voices instead of together... should you practice each "voice" by itself first then put it all together?

[smalin]

@MortiCarthago You can hear I'm making the voices more distinct than they would be; that is a significant achievement. I could give you advice, but you can figure out all the important things yourself. Get the scores for this piece (I've added them to the FAQ), and listen to how I play each voice. Annotate the scores to show what I'm doing. It's all about the dynamics, timing and articulation being independent in each voice. Practice one voice, then each combination of two, then all three.

[MortiCarthago]

@smalin Thanks so much I'm having a stab at it! Also, I think in the piano version there is a mistake in the first measure in the bass line... it seems to me the last eighth note should be a B, not an A (unless I missed something I'm no expert).

[smalin]

@MortiCarthago Ooops, you're right. I've fixed it and uploaded another version. I wonder how that happened? I made the keyboard version from the open score version (which doesn't have that mistake). Good luck with this. Don't expect to get good at this overnight; I've been playing contrapuntal music for forty years, and I'm still getting better at it ...

[Markohoppis]

smalin's hand thou art. smalin's hands.

[daandwars]

I never heard this before, especially in such a piano-like style. Thank you for posting, great contribution.

[petkrov]

Congratulations ! Very Original Work! I Love it

[HerrWarja]

Sounds almost like a fugue in my ears! (A)

[smalin]

Sure, a fantasy is much like a fugue; the most significant difference is that there are many more themes.

[Jasperismylove]

Ah, blissful piano music. What a sound for sore ears. :D

[wcbroccoli]

This fantasy sounds much better on viols.

[smalin]

I don't doubt it.

[manuelkatarino]

well pleyed Malinowsky! the technique of your hands (sustaining the keys), remembers me of Glenn Gould!

[okiphiarayna]

Well played, but the sound of the keys being pressed is really getting to me.

[smalin]

>the sound of the keys being pressed is really getting to me

That's strange, because I didn't record the sound of the keys; I recorded MIDI (no audio), and then played that back through a sampled piano (see the production notes).

[okiphiarayna]

That's odd, I definitely hear something that sounds like keys being pressed.

It's a very low, quieter sound, in the background. It doesn't match any of the played notes, and is audible for most of the notes.

When you recorded the video of your hands, did you mute the camera mic? If not, it may have been from that.

That's about all I can think of =/

[smalin]

>did you mute the camera mic

No, but I didn't use the audio from the camera at all when I assembled the video; the soundtrack was from the output of Gigastudio (the sampler software), being driven by MIDI, and then some reverb was added afterward.

I guess they must have recorded some of the key sounds in the piano sample.

[wolfgang7445]

You should keep it on a harpsichord

[KesavaAVP]

You play all this for real?

Man, I thought it was all computers playing. It sounds really computer.

[smalin]

>You play all this for real?

I'm not sure what "all this" means ... all the pieces I have on YouTube, or all of this piece? This piece, you're seen the real performance of me playing it. The instrument I'm playing it on is a sampled piano (not a real piano), a Yamaha P-80. In my latest videos, I'm playing a real piano. In others, it's mix and match ...

[KesavaAVP]

I meant all your video's actually.

Ok, now I understand!

[h3115r3p3ntanc3]

his hands look to perfect...

[evesmom]

Nicely conceived work. Amazaing how William Byrd will live when we're all dust. Gives you an idea of what's ulitimatley important.

[tallswede68]

What people remember does not determine value. People can be incredibly stupid. A large portion of Bach's work was lost forever because of carelessness. Time and chance happeneth to them all (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

[hellmuth26]

man, I love this "music" thing, its so beautiful...

[synthbike]

this is cool because i can see hands and animation

[misturSuaveh]

did you play this with your hands?

[smalin]

Those are my hands playing the piece.

[RedRaven555]

no i have very long toes

[barba331]

so beautifull

[hotsoup4u888]

youve gotta do this for toccata and fugue

[CalabusDabus]

its already on here...

[satranifan]

XD lol thats horribly ironic, im sorry. no offense meant

[nicolascaceres]

lovely..

[mercoid]

Just wonderful! Made me :) I wish there were more Byrd on YT.

I am also a little surprised there is no John Bull at all. If you can post his beautifully dry and dignified in nomine (MB#12) I would be most grateful. It would be interesting to see on the scrolling bar graph.

[smalin]

Is that in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book? If not, do you know where I can find a score online?

[mercoid]

It is John Bull's in nomine #12 in The Musica Britannica. But I'm not sure how to cross ref that with the FwVB. I'll try to find a score.

[mercoid]

Ahh! Got it... No.37 in the FwVB.

[smalin]

Cool; I'll check it out this weekend (when I get home to where my scores are).

[smalin]

Okay, I've uploaded the In Nomine. It isn't showing up yet for me, but I guess it can take a while.

[airjer]

Very, very nice!

[bgpiper]

Great!

[pianogirl98]

Very cool!

[christian6657]

Awesome!