Hey,

I've just been offered a job to play a 2 hour set of music on the piano in a nice restaurant. Just need ideas for building up a repertoire since i've NEVER done anythin like this before!!!
I don't want to go overboard with the cheesy stuff, but i want to stick to popular songs since i'm no jazz/blues proffesional pianist!!!
So anybody got ideas of good songs that sound good on a piano, something with a meaty accompaniment that could fill a room!!!!! Basically, stuff that you proper musicians would like to hear!

Cheers!!!!

wow congratualations on the job! that's cool!

erm about the pieces, i have one piece by a Croatian composer that might interest you...its perfect for restaurants!

email me about it and i will send the piece to you

it's called 'Claudine' + its not too hard but sounds really beautiful !

AAAAAAAAAAAh, i can't e-mail you! Really interested though! How do i e-mail you????? it won't let me!!!

how about some Ludovico Einaudi music?!!

it'll go down a treat!!!lol

Yes! Einaudi for ever!!!

My friend calls it restautant music... how rude! But is is easy to listen to and very beautiful.

pianista, i will email u the piece now..

whats ure email?

you can PM me

QUOTE (Emma C @ Aug 4 2004, 07:13 PM)

Yes! Einaudi for ever!!! My friend calls it restautant music... how rude! But is is easy to listen to and very beautiful.

yeah go Einaudi go go!!!lol

seriously though pianista it will go down well,its brilliant music!

I must listen to this Einaudi someday!

missfabflute, if you want to listen to some Einaudi, click here to hear some little extracts of his pieces from the album 'I Giorni'

or even better, go buy his stuff!!

ps: if you don't have windows media player, it might not work. Sorry!

flight of the bumble bee and rach 3

Some songs from popular shows?

It depends on the kind of restaurant, the time of night and whether people will be able to dance as you play.
Some of the run-of-the-mill oldies may be requested: cole porter, gershwin, etc. Doesn't matter if it's cheesy as long as you get some decent chords with plenty of added notes and suspensions! A few flash arpeggii...
LOL...treat the final chord as a tonic with added 7th and 9th.

QUOTE (dannydandan @ Aug 5 2004, 03:49 PM)

flight of the bumble bee and rach 3

flight of the bumblebee? lol!

¬_¬ any chance ure a maksim fan there? lol

Ballade Pour Adeline is always a winner for restaurants or bars

lol at whoever said Flight of the bumblebee

whats so funny about flight of the bumble bee.
u ever seen the movie shine
when the boy plays it at a restraunt they love it
and no i dont like maksim

Something jazzy, preferably improvisations. If you've played The Sims before, take a listen to the Build mp3s, and imitate. If you give details on how the restaurant looks like, what people and age group it's catered towards, price and location we may be able to help even more.

The person who mentioned "Flight of the Bumble-bee" ought to be shot. The last thing I want to listen to at a restaurant after a bad day at work is something that rushes me to finish my food and out of the restaurant, prompting me to take a table to the pianist's head.

lol flight of the bumblebee always makes me want to go and shoot everybody in the room!!! But I guess some people might not find it so irritating... maybe?

QUOTE (deborah_L_watson @ Aug 6 2004, 12:17 AM)

Ballade Pour Adeline is always a winner for restaurants or bars

ooh ive played that!

but Einaudi is still the best!

QUOTE (cecilia @ Aug 6 2004, 09:49 AM)

lol flight of the bumblebee always makes me want to go and shoot everybody in the room!!!

lol that's true!!

I mean you want, peaceful type music... so that everyone can enjoy their meal! lol

QUOTE

If you've played The Sims before, take a listen to the Build mp3s, and imitate

I LOVE THE MUSIC ON THE SIMS! it's so cute!

hi... i'm new here... i have some of The Sims sheets transcribed by Pseudo from the Gamingforce Forum. if anybody wants them, pls give me your emails.

How about Satie's Gymnopodies??

They're nice and relaxing

QUOTE (ping-lee @ Aug 6 2004, 11:36 AM)

I LOVE THE MUSIC ON THE SIMS! it's so cute!

I hate it. It drives me mad hearing it in the background all day when my children play the game. Maybe it's different if you are the one playing the game.

Go ang get a book of 30's and 40's tunes such as those written by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael etc. Lovely tunes, beautifully constructed and easy on the ear too. Just the thing for helping the seared salmon on a bed of rocket leaves go down...

Violinia

Lucia: That depends on which music you're referring to. The Build mp3s (piano solos) are something different, a style of improvisation I haven't come across yet, save for a very few, elite jazz pianists. Chording and note placement of the songs are very unique when compared to anything else I've listened to.

pianoplayer: As for Pseudo's transcriptions, it wouldn't be fair then... You're supposed to improvise and make up your own, not play from the script.

QUOTE

I hate it.   It drives me mad hearing it in the background all day when my children play the game. Maybe it's different if you are the one playing the game.

No, I have to turn it off when I'm playing it- it does drive me insane.

There is a really gorgeous romantic Etude in E major by Chopin, which immediately came into my head on reading that message, it would be perfect in a restaurant setting... unfortunately I don't know the details and opus number, or anything that would actually help! It's killing me that I can't specify which one I precisely mean, although I think the song "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was based on it, if that helps at all. Anyone else know it? Sorry I couldn't be more specific - it's years since I played it, and I can't find the book it was in! Good luck with finding your pieces, anyway... and with your new piano job, which sounds great.

--
singingsiren
xx

ok chopin, i know a great piece, ive only played it trascribed for the guitar but it is truely awesome
its a quite similiar style to the flight of the bumble bee well the only similarity is that its a chromatic piece but its amazing
ok i think it is

Chopin's Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus No. 2

yes thats definitely it. if u play that not only will you have the 'wow' factor of flight of the bumble bee youll also have people saying 'well that's the best piano concerto in A minor I've heard in a long time!'

Yes yes yes to Gershwin and Cole Porter and all 30's and 40's music.

Add to the list, Fur Elise, Moonlight Sonata, they're bound to be requested some time.

John Williams Cavatina,
Send in the Clowns
Theme from Anne of Green Gables, arr.by Dan Coates.

You're not neede to show off, in fact, this doesn't go down very well at restaurants at all. People like to get on with why they came in the first place, and it's usually not to hear someone play the piano (until your reputation grows of course....)

QUOTE (dannydandan @ Aug 7 2004, 06:36 AM)

Chopin's Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus No. 2 yes thats definitely it. if u play that not only will you have the 'wow' factor of flight of the bumble bee youll also have people saying 'well that's the best piano concerto in A minor I've heard in a long time!'

Here's another suggestion that ought to be shot. You don't need something flashy. Nobody would probably bother to praise you anyway; people are there to eat and not to get distracted by your music.

QUOTE (singingsiren @ Aug 6 2004, 07:39 PM)

There is a really gorgeous romantic Etude in E major by Chopin, which immediately came into my head on reading that message, it would be perfect in a restaurant setting... unfortunately I don't know the details and opus number, or anything that would actually help! It's killing me that I can't specify which one I precisely mean, although I think the song "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was based on it, if that helps at all. Anyone else know it? Sorry I couldn't be more specific - it's years since I played it, and I can't find the book it was in! Good luck with finding your pieces, anyway... and with your new piano job, which sounds great. -- singingsiren xx

It's Op. 10 No.3.

I agree about not playing pieces like flight of the bumblebee of Chopin's piano concerto no. 2. Not that these are bad pieces, they're just not suitable. The idea of music playing in a restaurant or shop is that it is background music - you're almost not aware it. It should also be relaxing, people come to a restaurant to enjoy their leisure time. If they wanted to concentrate on some particularly complex music, they would go to a concert.

Thanx so much for all your suggestions, they've been a lot of help, i've got 5 weeks to build up a rep so i'm going to get down to sum deep searching to find this music!!!
it's been very funny how some peoples replies go off at a tangent!!!

Cheers again x

Someone knew what I was rambling on about! Thanks Hannah!

xx
singingsiren

QUOTE (dannydandan @ Aug 7 2004, 06:36 AM)

ok chopin, i know a great piece, ive only played it trascribed for the guitar but it is truely awesome its a quite similiar style to the flight of the bumble bee well the only similarity is that its a chromatic piece but its amazing ok i think it is Chopin's Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus No. 2 yes thats definitely it. if u play that not only will you have the 'wow' factor of flight of the bumble bee youll also have people saying 'well that's the best piano concerto in A minor I've heard in a long time!'

it's not a PC. It's his etude op.10 no.2

This is probably not 'meaty' enough for you but I thought I would suggest Pam Wedgwood's After Hours 1 and 2 as good music for a restaurant, but also for anyone who wants some good relaxing music to play around grade 6 standard. Great for between exams.

Bach's French Suites

QUOTE (Pianista @ Aug 7 2004, 05:33 PM)

Thanx so much for all your suggestions, they've been a lot of help, i've got 5 weeks to build up a rep so i'm going to get down to sum deep searching to find this music!!! it's been very funny how some peoples replies go off at a tangent!!! Cheers again x

Hello..

How about some of the slower preludes from the WTC?

Of course, the ubiquitous Cmaj comes to mind, but the fmin from Book 1 is nice also... Not too busy to get attention, but harmonically intresting enough to be heard.
Extrapolating to the Chopin preludes is also good, I think.

Interspersing the classical pieces with 'showtunes', (eg Phantom of the Opera, Jesus and the Technicolour Dreamcoat, Cats, etc etc), should provide some variety...

Songs by the Gershwin brothers are also a good bet - harmonically interesting, and people will (more than likely), recognise SOME of them..

Hope this helps.

Mike

i would think anything thats sort of jazzy... no rachmaninoff or that sort tho