Piano Tunes and Improvisations

These tunes are simply played in and recorded direct on my Kawai ES920 digital piano, which has the facility to record my playing directly onto a USB stick.

The sound quality is impeccable as direct from the output with no speaker distortion or abberations from the room acoustics. 

Although I also produce videos you can find on my YouTube page (under my name Alex Govier) I find it much less distracting to produce music without worrying about the camera positioning.

So here are a selection I am accumulating perhaps to later produce something as quaint as a CD (they seem to be removing CD players from everywhere around me,in my iMac and in my latest car!)

For videos see the video pages here and of course hundreds of songs on my YouTube Channel

Easy Sunday Morning

This is a quietly happy little tune, even though improvised mainly in a minor key.

Mood: Relaxed, contented.

Alex's Waltz in E flat

This is a very restful solilouquoy of an improvised tune. Something special happens with a change in the playing technique about halfway through, see if you can work out what it is.

The Mood: Gentle, contemplative.

The Answer is available on the link here. Don't spoil iyour enjoyment by cheating first!

You Made Me Love You

Yes, this is the song you thought of when you read the title. But accorded a different treatment respecting its history as an iconic romantic theme and presented as a thoughtful piano arrnagement on the fly when improvised live onto USB.

The same song but a very different mood from the one hollered after ten pints at closing time or hammered out to helpless OAPs in a care home in a music hall songs selection, assuming that they all must have been born about 1880.

Mood: Respectful, Thougtful, Gentle, Romantic, Mildly Pianistic

String Song

This is just some really nice sounds I found in playing a few chords on my Kawai ES920. Not really piano at all I am afraid and just like a short overture that leads nowhere. But a beautiful orchestral sound I think worth the few seconds of listening to.

Mood: Contemplative yet full sounding, rich.

With A Song In My Heart

Recorded direct onto USB on the beautiful grand piano sounds of my Kawai ES920 piano like most of the tunes on this page. You will find it on my Youtube channel where I added strings while doing the video. It sounded nice but this is the original probably more authentic version.

Moon River

This is a song that has been played so much I often do not want to play it, but there are so many ways you can do it. This is just the way it came out on my Kawai ES920 piano this morning, emphasising vreying touch and feeling as well as movement

San Antonio Rose

A little foray into Floyd Cramer country music area, although perhaps a little more gentle in presentation

Movie Music Improvisation

I think you will llike this one

This has to be moderately original as it is definitely improvised by me on the Kawai ES920, to illustrate the use of the sustain pedal hopefully to produce a full join up without too much mess of overlapping chords.

I have noticed that a lot of otherwise excellent pianists are not good with the sustain pedal, making a messy sound which smudges out the harmonic changes, even though generally impressive.

Yours - Triple Pedal interpretaion

Using a three pedal system emulating that of a concert grand piano plugged into my Kawai ES920 piano gave me the feeling of having an extra freedom and dimension playing this old standard.

See if you can hear the difference made by using a combination of the standard sustain pedally independently and together with yje sostenuto pedal sustaining selected parts.

It feels like being two separate players on two pianos! Very exciting to play this way.

When A Child Is Born

This is your christmas insert but basically still done with the three pedals with a lot of reliance on the sostenuto as well as the sustain pedal.

With this degree of control and with quite a slow tempo this feels very exposed to play, more so than if a lot of flourishes were included. More than ever on this kind of song it is impossible to play perfectly, but still nice I hope.

When I Fall In Love

A great song made famous by Nat King Cole, this is a tune to bring a lump to your throat and a break to your heart.

If I played it as it should be played, that is.

And this is a very sentimental version of this song, in piano and orchestra style on my Kawai ES920.

The Answer:

So what technique changed halfway through Alex's Waltz in E flat?

Until about halfway through it was played with left hand only. At the point when it all settles into the higher octaves/

Prosaic reason which gave increased meaning::At that point i finished eating my apple held in my right hand