I have a lot of respect for stride pianists. It takes some SERIOUS practice to get that stuff down, and this guy is just out of this world. I've never seen anyone play stride that fast (and his notes are still breathtakingly accurate). That's just sheer world class talent. Watching people like this play almost makes me feel depressed sometimes ... you think you're a good pianist and then you watch this and you realize that no matter how hard you try, you will never be as good as that guy. And for those of you who love covers of pop/rock songs, nobody covers classics better than Brad Mehldau. And for my money, nobody's more dexterous with both hands than he is -- sometimes when he's playing it's like he has three independent brains controlling three independent hands. I don't know how else to explain it. And he does it while creating this amazing sound that you won't hear from any other pianist -- it's almost like he's massaging the piano and the piano responds by grunting in pleasure. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KcjwaWSuB_U&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KcjwaWSuB_U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Check out this guy. He's playing the same song I posted earlier (The Maple Leaf Rag), but at around 0:41 in, he starts improv'ing it very, very well. He's making it look very, very easy... and it is NOT very very easy. That is one super-dorky looking dude, too. Close your mouth, for God's sake! <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zRS-9wQ4gYg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zRS-9wQ4gYg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I like playig piano pieces of songs, but they do sometimes get generic for instance, pretty much all songs are right hand dominant, the right hand plays all of the tunes and the left just plays the underlying tune (what's it called? mono something and poly something). Plus, when I play some songs I hate it when just repeats and repeats again and again, there's one piece that has the same sequence repeated three times together, and after playing it I just got bored.
sorry to double post, but my god, that guy's speed and accuracy was just mindblowing........I read this handbook on people who want to take diplomas in piano, and it had a section on accuracy, and it said that one average a diploma candidate would make 1 mistake every 150 notes, and that guy was playing incredibly quickly + getting them all right. I mean, only when I play my most familiar pieces do I get all of them right, let alone a piece that long and complicated.
2 fantastic pianists, Chick Corea and Hiromi Uehara playing a duet of Corea's "Spain". Aside from the unison melody near the end, the arrangement is entirely improvised. They both know the song and interject bits of the melody throughout but it's about 99% made up on the spot. The interaction between the two and how they play off one another is simply amazing. It starts to pick up and get the groove going around 2:54. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8DTWa96M5DM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8DTWa96M5DM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ShvMm00B1YY&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ShvMm00B1YY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
