Not everyone's cup of tea unless of a certain age but ...

...'old git (me) plays Gershwin' to chill out to.
After 25 years away from music i now have time to get back into it especially as we are in lockdown

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Very good. Love a bit of Gershwin, reminds me of one of my music teachers at school.

 

Sounds good. I think i'm going to learn the piano once this lockdown is finished. It has been an instrument I've always wanted to learn.

 

not over bothered with Gershwin..... we listen to classic FM a lot, totally enjoy it too.

 

I too am a Classic FM fan

I too like Classic FM - but find the same pieces of music played repeatedly - I wonder are there hundreds of tunes that don't see the light of day?

Am also listening to Karl Jenkins - Cantata Memoria about the Aberfan disaster - It's absolutely brilliant how he's managed to put the tragedy to music. Has memorable lines 'nothing but darkness' - 'killed by the National Coal Board' etc.
It's on You Tube. Well worth a listen.

 

Hey mate, that is excellent. Gershwin undoubtedly one of the great composers of the 20th century, bridging jazz & classical. I'm also a big fan of Gil Evans, who arranged Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain, etc for Miles Davis, who was a follower of Gershwin & Ellington. It's a shame your workload has not given you the time or motivation to play for quarter of a century.

Having a boring afternoon getting my accounts up to date on Quickbooks. Have decided to pull out the double LP of Ella Sings Gershwin.

 

25 years , that’s a long time not listening to music . I went through a period when my kids were young that I didn’t really listen to any new music but still played my collection .

 

Rhapsody in Blue,,,, still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

 

Did'nt stop listening totally but playing went by the wayside as I was jaded after being obsessed with music from the age of 7 and been in numerous bands (none famous).
I bought one of those Yamaha CP80 Electro acoustic when they came out in the 70' before sampled pianos arrived on the scene. Even though it was in two parts for touring the rest of the band used to curse me at every gig as it weighed a bloody ton plus in those days you needed load of other keyboards. I was always skint as they cost a fortune too. It gathered dust in the house for many years until I sold it to a studio in Estonia in September last year, after which, my wife 'relented' and let me buy the Yamaha CP88 Stage piano you see in the video. Piano playing is coming back steadily but the voice is struggling a bit ATM. The classical stuff like Chopin that I could play in my youth is still very difficult.
As a piano player before I also took up keyboards I found there is a difference between Piano/Synths and Stage Pianos. Even the Nord (the red ones you often see on stage which so many pros use) IMHO doesn't quite have the keyboard 'feel' and certainly not the sound of the Yamaha. Not cheap though but a few hundred less than the Nord.
Most importantly it has inspired me and now my daughter is married with kids of her own and we are retired and , whilst certainly not rich, we have enough time and money to enjoy life.

 

I love Ella but her choice of songs - excluding the Gershwin stuff) was often a bit suspect. I generally preferred to listen to Billie Holiday. That said Ella and Satchmo singing Porgy and Bess (notably Summertime) is something I first heard when I was about 6 years old and liked it even then, although then I never though about piano but Trombone having seen and heard Geroge Chisholm!!

 

I used to be able to play that...still have the music. Not even close now sadly.

 

Wow! Playing that is some feat!

 

That's what my music teacher liked to play, he was great!

 

Very good!

This version is quite good too

 

I did pass grade 8 piano when I was 18 before I got bored. I am probably back to about grade 5 or 6 with classical stuff and even one or two pop/rock songs I wrote and performed back in the day I currently struggle with. I suppose I must have been quite good

 

What school did you go to (or was it private lessons)?

 

Ir wasnt in Barnsley. It was the music teacher at school although I did have viola lessons for free through the LEA .I only got to about grade 5 standard. I liked playing in the orchestra and singing in the choir though.

 

I’m learning guitar at the moment but I’m finding it hard. I think I’m too old really so even though I don’t think I’ll ever be any good, I do enjoy trying.

 

Great stuff. Stick with it you are never to old to learn. If you enjoy learning and playing it doesn't matter how good or bad you are. Apparently learning a musical instrument is great for deferring Alzheimers although in my case I am not so sure. In my 'band days' I could learn a 'cover' in about three days... one to listen and analyse, two to program the sounds, keyboard splits etc and learn the chords and solos etc and day 3 to consolidate it all. Nowadays it takes a week at least for each stage I have been working on a 2 hour set for months now and still make cockups.

 

Grade 5 is pretty good. You were well past the 'sounds like a cat being tortured' stage. Don't you ever want to take it up again or do you not have the time?