Ashokan Farewell

[OhioScot]

This song has great meaning to me in two ways, one being my 3x Grandfather David and his brother James both died in the Civil War from illness and being KIA in that order. Second, my mother used to play the song for me on the piano until it went out of tune last. Unfortunately, she passed away May of 2009 so I will never hear her play this for me ever again. Every time I hear this song now I shed tears not only my war dead forefather and his brother, but also my mother who I loved so much..

[sandyrun0947]

in some points the notes are muddied together.. too much pedal at some points but other than that beautiful :)

[MandaMoo4u4]

I played the first part of this as a solo at my school on the violin.

[km426]

played this with the brass band im in great song

well played

[eoboe181]

ur amazing, the best version of this song on youtube

[custom10stepside]

did you get your bracelet on your left wrist from prince rupert canada?

[sarahlitarose]

I got it from a gift shop at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina.

[joe200056]

nice, thank you

[geekspawngirl]

I love this song. I learned it when I was maybe eight (I think it was this version) but five years later I'm still working on improving it. Gorgeous piece.

[notcon4md]

Good job!

I'm learning that too, i think i have the exact same arrangement. It's my dad's favorite song, which is why i started it. My teacher would say that you are not playing with expression, or "just playing notes," but i imagine expression is difficult on a keyboard. Why was it your last recital? I'm guessing you graduated last year :).

[sarahlitarose]

I graduated six years ago. This video alone is about two years old. :-P I don't know if I can blame the keyboard on lack of expression. I usually blame the fact that playing for other people paralyzes me, and for some reason video-taping put me in the exact same mood. Completely tense and nervous. That's why I haven't done any videos in a really long time.

[notcon4md]

then that was a compliment to how young you look =D. Yeah i know how it is being watched or taped. One recital, I completely blanked on how the song even started :P. That was unfortunate.

[squawmt]

20 years ago I had a woods accident when a tree hit me in the head & broke my neck which left me unable to move from the neck down. I later recovered most of my range of motion and when back to work in the woods. Cutting the first tree again put me in a state of terror, but I finally did it. My point is just do it!! You play well and I enjoyed it. Just do it!!!

[mrkringles]

Try video taping all your playing to overcome this fear. It's working for me!

[lesleydianne1]

@sarahlitarose I thought you played it with expression, it was lovely. I too have the same problem though trying to put expression into my (very limited) playing and I do know what you mean about being nervous when the camera is switched on or people are watching. I have a digital piano and when I play my mother's old accoustic, the difference in sound and expression is amazing even at my level.

[vilate77]

@sarahlitarose Please post more piano songs. Petrified with fear or not, you're a talented and beautiful young lady. We can't simply not do bad things. Instead, we need to actively do good, worthwhile things. Keep contributing to the beautiful things in the world. God Bless you and your Family!

[sarahlitarose]

@vilate77 Thanks, but I sold my piano quite some time ago. :(

[notcon4md]

Good job!

I think i have the exact same arrangement, and it's very pretty. It happens to be my dad's favorite song. My teacher would say, though, that you aren't playing with expression, however that's probably difficult on a keyboard.

[pianoalways4ever]

From b4, if you have a link of the website - put it in the description box of video. Thanks so much. Or, if you know where I can get the sheet from, that'd be helpful too! Thanks, again great playing. so serene........

[pianoalways4ever]

Wow! Great Job! Could you please, please post the music sheet for this? thanks so much!

[junkmailboy1000]

sounds great, but a little constructive criticism...your fingers are flat, you should pick your hands up and arch your fingers more.

[wkhyatt]

Beautiful

[culix777]

beautiful. well done.

[ed2suceed]

Sarah, you do a great job. I noticed you said that you never play the song perfectly. I have the music written in the key of C, which should make it easier to play, but the timing is still difficult. It's a lovely piece of music.

[kzone65]

Thanks for sharing.

[sarahlitarose]

I made the video to post on my blog. Hence the talking.

[haha12ha]

i must admit

U PLAY BEAUTIFULLY!!!

but the whole part in the begining

(from 0.00 to 1.20) wuz ummm.........

kinda not nessasary

but keep up the gud work

your awesome :] and this piece that u choose is a great one

mi older sis plays it on the strings n i do think that it sounds better there but its sounds good on the piano as well

but again i say keep up the good work

- HB

[ChubbyCheckerChannel]

beautiful. well done.

[vaultcracker1]

beautiful.

[rockgor]

Hi Sarah, are you the poster, the player or both? Unfortunately the video froze up about 15 seconds into the piece (seems to do that a lot here), but what I heard was excellent.

[qwiklikebunni]

I must say, this is more than a touching, heartfelt piece, if I'm not mistaken. As a piano player myself, my only suggestion would be to not only put more emphasis in your playing, but to actually 'feel' it. Make it come alive through your soul instead of fingertips. Crazy as it sounds, but recently, I actually bought a violin just to learn this piece. Something about it...

[VampSlayer17]

The first time I ever played, or heard this song was for a strings concert. I loved it so much, and my friend is getting the sheet music for me. I found the piece so beautiful and sad. It was amazing.

[EmoAFILuvr]

Oh my!!

Amazinng!

My school wind ensemble is playing it in 2 days at our school end of the year concert.

I play tuba so I don;t get much melody, but i heard you play one major part i have :)

Do you know how i could get the chords for this on piano?

-Jackie <3

[kleph001]

excellent work. and very helpful. i've recently rewatched the documentary to examine the technique of burns and hearing the piece in this form helped me understand how the emotional tone of the work was created.

[acehigh543]

you are great. i love the documentary that it was in

[cmc10101]

I am a native Southerner, and have a deep appreciation of the history of the War of Northern Aggression :) That song, despite Ken Burns' bias in his documentary, is absolutely haunting, and goes beyond the taking of sides whereas the conflict was concerned. It embodies both the Romantic, and the desolate.

[Submariner75]

The song itself actually has nothing to do with the Civil War, it was not written for the show. It's actually a lament for leaving the Ashokan fiddle camp at the end of summer. But it fits the show and the war well, definitely.

[akimbogeo1]

I enjoyed your video. Have you checked out Ashokan fiddle and dance on the net? I went last summer,for 'Northern Week'. Jacqueline Schwab taught piano! The whole fabulous week, $750! Classes all day, great food, and dancing/jamming into the night! akimbogeo1

[wazagirllx14]

I <3 this song. we are singing it in an SATB song festival in 2 weeks. what key is this? because at parts it goes to high, so i know its not the right key for a SATB choir. do you know what our key might be? its either key of C, F, or G.

Thanks!

<3becca

[sarahlitarose]

It's D Major

[iLoveCheesecakey]

Thank you for posting this! It has helped me learn the song

[jdstorms]

This is a great video to practice along with on violin.. you play it just right! thanks. j

[Wertuma]

well done =)

[Garbage101]

piano does not do this peice justice

good try 4/5 stars!

[ShawDAMAN]

Yeah great piano skills but the song is just made for violin, period. It just doesn't have the same effect on piano

[sarahlitarose]

Unfortunately I don't play the violin. :)

[ShawDAMAN]

yeah I'm not criticizing, you play very well...keep it up :)

[ZShadow]

:) I still like it with violin, but you play very beautifully and are an amzing pianist!

[MarktheMusicMan]

very good preformance!

you will play if perfectly, if you'd loosen up your wrists a bit.. they seem too stiff lol

[CalikoKat]

Great !! Wonderful to listen !

[jdstorms]

i like the arrangement. Well done!

[xTropiiKalTide]

Great job!! Way better than what I can do :P I'm still a newb at piano. You did real nice ^.^

[rlwalker2]

Now I feel like a dodo. I go to their site at least monthly to see what else is new. I should have been checking out what is old. lol Thanks.

[rlwalker2]

Gorgeous. Perhaps you could give the ISBN number and other info from the sheet music so I could locate that version. I think its terrific.

[sarahlitarose]

You can find it on this site:

jayandmolly[DOT]com/prodmus[DO­T]shtml

It's the one with the sepia photograph on the cover (Key of D). Sorry I messed up the URL, but YouTube won't post the comment otherwise.

[Patsquatch]

Excellent performance! Although you said before you played it that you can never quite "play" it right. You shouldn't try to play the song, you should try to feel the song. Like, pretend you're there lol xD You'll play far better. I know I sound corny and all, but trust me. Could you possibly send me the sheet music for this song?? I'd greatly appreciate it =]

~Patsquatch~

[sarahlitarose]

I'll try to scan it...

[SuperNerdFace]

Don't be offended, but this is supposed to be a VERY emotional piece. It almost seems as though you were playing the music, rather than FEELING it - that sounds so corny, but this piece, moreso than most other pieces, is truly about feeling and understanding more than just playing the right notes. You might also notice this with Clair de Lune - it's more important to understand the piece than it is to play it perfectly

[sarahlitarose]

I'm not offended. :) I understand what you're saying... and I seem to be able to do that as long as I'm not doing it when anyone else is around or I'm filming it. Then all I can think about is not screwing up. It's very annoying.

[cupcakechagrin]

shut up...SNF...let's see your take....

[SuperNerdFace]

I've been playing this piece for years, but thank you for the ignorant comment =].