When people say oh go on, just play one song" and they make u sit down at a piano. Or when someone asks "who can play piano" and u end up tinkling the ivories, what song do u choose to play, because mostly all the songs i know are dark, and creepy, lol. not what u'd want a party...

So what i want to know is what are ur favourite songs to play, ur "showing-off" songs.

Funnily enough i never go for the 'showy off look how complicated the piece is' type thing...i tend to play 'pretty pieces' like Hisaishi's Summer...it gets people going 'oooh aahhh..' Or otherwise any random piece that I'm playing at the moment...

I don't like performing so if they say, "do you play the piano?" I say no.

If they know that I play then I just play any random piece. Usually simple and nothing complicated or long or too depressing.

I would play any piece that I usually wouldn't make too many mistakes on and am confident on.

Car Expert

Whatever I had been playing most recently and could remember!

Hello
Probably the Maple Leaf Rag in Making the grade 2
It's about the most happy tune I know...all the grade things I choose seem to be depressing....
Then Haydn Little Serenade
BFN Mike

i have a cheesy little blues peice that i play - it sounds hard but its mostly 12 bar blues and some appegios - simple but effective

I always end up playing what I am presently up to speed with. Although it is one of my piano dreams to be asked to play something and then I launch into a fast boogie-woogie piece that gets everyone tapping their feet.

Alternatively, I would love to improvise a long blues piece and after I had finished someone says "Wow, that was great. What was it called?" And I reply "I just made it up."

One day,

Shelton

find a piece called sleepy shores it was a piece i did as a teenager for a talent show. I won yay! It's not too difficult and has a run in it thats sounds as if it is difficult

aw thanks for all ur replies. So basically i'll just go with something safe or something that im working on?

Yeah

I do Le Onde!

I once played the piano at Longleat House whilst doing a tour with my kids and the guide said it was such a relief to have someone play something other than fur elise. I did the 1st movement of Kablevsky sonata no 3.

I've been to Longleat!! Got lost in the maze!

It depends.If it's a party I play "The Stripper" and can keep it going for ages.
Teddy Bears Picnic...original 1907 Bratton...goes down very well...Send in the Clowns...dead easy or classical stuff.

If there are sheet music books available I usually become very anti-social and spend most of my time partying sight reading....

Has anyone got a duet called "Niagara"? It's deleted now,but this goes down very well at concerts.I have a few copies if anyone is interested.

hmmm...we'd never have guessed. I love playing pretty pieces just to show some people ( ) who think that a nice piece must be a complicated piece.

I play Le Onde too lol...or I Giorni or I play nice happy pieces or Fur Elise cos lots of people ask me to play that...

i play the bits of Le Onde I can remember!

So do I!!

Second choice Gymnopodie no 1 / Gnossienne no 3 (have you looked at those ever Gnoss 3 is really nice), then Mozart Sonata in E flat / Milhaud Rag caprise no. 2 / Farewell to Stromness which hopefully be the bulk of my first concert certificate repertoire next April so I practise whenever I get the chance!

Then Fantasy in D minor, which I can't *quite* play - I was going to do it at Stalybridge but chickened out as there were a couple of sections I didn't think I'd be able to manage in a nervous state. I played Le Onde instead but hope to come back to fantasy soon and may aim to do it at Stalybridge concert next year.

BTW have you played the Heart First Plesure seeks from the Piano and if so how hard is it compred to Le Onde? Thinking of learning that or I Giorni.

i think it i slightly harder than Le Onde, but are u asking "where to find it on te web" coz ive got it if u want it.?

Thanks but I've got it in a "Classic Chill Out" for solo piano book. It does look harder than Le Onde but i oftern find it hard to judge how hard a piece is!

I usually launch into "Nola" by Felix Arndt or a similar one called "Polly" by Zamecnik.

On the "piano novelty" line, anything by Zez Confrey - Kitten On The Keys, Buffoon, Dizzy Fingers (have a copy of that - might learn it one day)

well i do le onde because you can usually pick it up if you get lost i do that lots hehehe... anyway heart asks pleasure first is complicated. i think because the note that is emphasised is different in both hands but its okay..

I find that a lot harder than Le Onde.

How about I Giorni??

I find Le Onde easier than I Giorni if that is what you mean?

Same...I Giorni requires bigger hands in places.

What is Heart asks pleasure first?

A piece by Nyman from the film "The Piano"

I love it...but I find it quite difficult

Am I weird for never having heard of "Le Onde"? Could someone send me it or something? If it's that good, you know!

NM

YOU'VE NOT HEARD IT?!!!!! ooooh!!!!!

Erm buy the CD!

well, i've had 2 piano lessons but I played by ear before and my friend taught me a few songs, so if there's a piano around I normally cannot reisist temptation to play something! I can play a couple Eva Cassidy songs - Wade in the water, autumn leaves, somewhere over the rainbow - and as i'm a singer, I love to sing to those songs, I can play a few musical theatre songs as well, so yeah,

Dont worry I hadnt until about June (when Nat introduced me..LOL) You can hear some samples off the Le Onde album and 'Le Onde' itself from http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProduct...1;-1&sku=300838 You'll love it so next step: GO BUY!!

I do Melodia Africana III or Passagio or the first movement of Clementi's sonatina no 5. I really like Farewell to Stromness but my hands aren't big enough for some of the reaches. I'll have a look at Gnossienne no 3, thanks for the suggestion.

I love Farewell to Stromness!! But don't have the score yet... I heard it once on CFM and its so pretty!!

I love Melodia Africana III, but have never attempetd to play it, similarly Passagio.

I really want to be able to play the three concert certificate pieces well before I start spending time on anything else. Spent quite a bit of time on them, but also had a few breaks to work on other pieces for Forum concerts!

Playing them all right through now now so in a few weeks I hope to move onto new things. I'll have one more piece to learn from certificate syllabus and plan to concentrate on Beethoven sonata in G as my main piece.

That should leave time to start a couple of non exam pieces, quite like to learn the minuette from Mozart sonata in E flat, but am looking for something totally unrelated to start on. Passagio or I Giorni were my main choices - how do you rate Passagio?

I love Farewell to Stromness!

I really like Passagio as well...it isn't too difficult

The think I find hard about Farwell is the rhythm (I have big hands!)

The triplets in the first and third sections make it really hard for me to count in 2:4 time, so I think of it as 6:8. However, I find that as I go into the second section and start counting in 2:4 I suddenly change speed!

I'm amazed how patient my teacher is, it would drive me crazy going over the same mistake again and again.

Yeah the rhythm is tricky. I've never played it to a teacher so I've no idea how badly I'm playing it. I don't have really big hands...I can't stretch from B to C#!

There's a bit in the Rag Caprise that I play by stretching from A to C with one hand! Not written like that but its easier for me!

Wow!!!! I can stretch an 8ve comfortably, a sometimes a 9th..but not the stretch required in Farewell to Stromness!

My Dad's been to the monestry where Chopin wrote the Raindrop prelude. They have a cast of his hands and they were tiny!!!

Ace!

I might ask my piano teacher in a few months or so if I can learn it

I can stretch a ninth comfortably but hwtas the stretch in Farewell? As bad as the 10th or something in I Giorni?

It is B below middle C to the C sharp just over an 8ve above it

I have that problem when playng I Giorni! Do you play the bottom 2 notes or do you spread it? I tried spreading it but it sounded kind of strange...

I don't spread it...doesn't really sound like..I can't remember what notes I actually play! Probably a variation on the chord lol

I play the bottom two notes of te chord, it doesnt sound right when you spread it. Remember theres a thread about this..

I agree it isn't too difficult, but I don't play it as fast as Einaudi does.

My "show off" piece would be either be some snippets from Rhapsody in blue or some random jazz piece... I like playing for others, cept I mostly know jazz tunes so that can create some problems depending on the audience. Not everyone is a fan