When I was a young music student/musician in Southern California, I made several hundred (no lie) piano recordings. In retrospect, my infinite energy and vast musical repertoire astounds me. Nowadays, I hardly have the energy to crawl out of bed and feed the cats.
At that long ago time, I never really thought about preserving any documentation of my musical efforts. When I was an accompanist and performed with various chamber orchestras my concerts were often video-taped, but I have no clue what happened to those tapes.
My solo piano performances were mostly recorded on cassette tapes, which were usually tossed into boxes and quickly forgotten.
After I moved away from California I began to lament my musical past and wished that I had more diligently preserved my efforts.
I had a small music studio in San Angelo, Texas, where I decided to record some video tapes of my old piano repertoire. I was sorely out of practice , but figured anything was better than nothing.
The video tapes were less than amateur - and I made the mistake of placing the camera too close to the piano, which distorted the audio and made my playing sound harsh and annoying.
At around the same time, I discovered several boxes of old cassette tapes containing my piano music. There were over 100 tapes, in various degrees of rapid deterioration.
Fortunately (thank God for modern technology) I found a way to transfer the tapes to mp3 files. It was a long and tedious task, but a worthy one.
The only problem was that the audio quality is mostly appalling, but at least my music on the crumbling cassettes is saved.
So what's my point?
Very recently (this week, in fact) I've discovered how to edit my tapes and videos to (at least slightly) improve the audio quality.
Last night I edited two of my videos recorded in San Angelo. I admittedly didn't know what I was doing, but I do think they sound somewhat better.
I'm posting both of the videos here for your listening pleasure.
I can hear you applauding! All two of you.
The first video is the original piano version of Clair de lune by Claude Debussy ( 1862 - 1918).
The second video is my own arrangement of Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona ( 1896 - 1963). My arrangement is EXTREMELY difficult. It takes a helluva lot of technical stamina to get through it.
Oh, one more thing -
my piano videos were purposely designed to keep the light focused on my hands - - not on my pretty face.
(*smile*)
Hope that you did hear me applauding, Jon, not only for your musical virtuosity but for being able to figure a way to transfer the cassette tapes before they totally downgraded! Thanks for the performances.
ReplyDeleteYou are so gifted, Jon! Thank you for sharing these with us today!
ReplyDeleteBravo! A standing ovation from me!❤️
ReplyDeleteAs always, your playing is beautiful and you are blessed with a wonderful talent, Jon. Sorry I have not been blogging for a few days. I have had my hands full with my mom's medical issues - never stops. I hope to get some time to blog soon!
ReplyDeleteI could listen to Claire de Lune over and over again. Finally! Something I recognize! Your "Russian" composers might be hot in your Inner Musician circles, but not for us laymen. ( ok, mostly me. I always thought I was more cultured than that, but apparently there are lots of holes in my music culture appreciation. ) Very nice! Seriously, re-post that one now and again so I wont have to file back in your blog steam. It was excellent.)
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your kind words. You can find this video on my YouTube channel, which is Jayveesonata. I have lots of videos on my channel but it shouldn't be too hard to find.
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