This Old Man

Another piano piece, inspired when I thought of my dad thinking over his life.  I realize now I should have had more crazy moments in the piece.  Maybe I'll save that for another song.  Comments welcome.

This Old Man

Um, that riff is there on purpose.  I thought it was clever.  :-) 

Yeah, I can hear an orchestra too.  Maybe I'll add that sometime.  And yeah, I'll have to do his wild side in another song I guess.  lol  I was obviously thinking contemplative when I wrote it. 

Ha.  Well, so much for clever. :-) 

Thanks, though. :-)

You make me want to get back into piano...I liked it alot.

LOL Lord! Well I was in piano lessons at 5 played up into college but thats another story...I just started touching the keys a few years ago I've got a couple of tunes I've messed with but I'm not going up against Janet....lol NO WAY!!!!

lol dude!!! homeless man urinating good lord I just peed on my self lol

rockinrobby


I thought it was clever :-) I wasn't sure if you planed it or not, I'm listening to it and I hear "this old man, he played one" :-) I thought it was pretty cool the way you snuck it in there.

Ok, you heard her first, I'll give ya that much, wanna flip a coin for her help on the next song? I call heads, but I'll warn ya I'm doing the flippin' and it's a two headed coin, you can flip me off later robby! GOSH DANG IT!

Just kidding with ya, WOW She's great on the piano isn't she!?

Bobby

Robby...I've helped you??!  Since when did you ever listen to ME??!!  :-)

nice...I like the way you integrated  the nursery rhyme song in just a bit...

I get it, nice.

Cool!

This is great. I love the nod to the 'This Old Man' nursery rhyme and it's impeccable played too.

The piece as a whole does a good job of dipping in and out of a few musical ideas, and I liked the feelings that were evoked in me as I listened along.

Thanks Janet!

Cheers,
Terry.

WOW Janet I needed this last night while I was falling asleep instead of that new noise machine the arrived the other day .

You sure have some magic fingers on your ivory piano keys , very nice I really like this one .

Radio

Thank you, Pat!  I'm listening to Matthew now.  He's quite good.  Thanks.  Sounds to me like you know enough instruments and music to write songs.  Keep working at it! :-) People often collab around here too. 

Thanks Herb.  I had considered doing something in a minor key when I came out of that part, but actually forgot about it when I sat down to play.  Either that, or just decided it didn't work right.  Glad you got it anyway. :-)

Thanks Gary.  Yeah, I tried to sneak it in there, but I guess I gave it away, didn't I?  lol

Thanks John!

Thanks, Rik.  Yeah, I tried to get a lot of things in here, depicting the roller-coaster ride that makes up most of our lives.  Like I said, it could definitely use even more changes if I really wanted to convey someone's whole life.  About going up instead of down--I had about a dozen ideas for what to do with this, which slowed me down for weeks.  I guess I had to land on something and I'm sure there's a reason I ended up on this one.  It could be because I was getting impatient to finish it. :-)  BUT, I could definitely do those last notes an octave higher.  I think there are one or two more available up there.  I'll try it.  Thanks!  :-)

Thanks Terry.  That's exactly what I wanted it to do.  And I had a little help from prv.  I basically played it all through, but then went back and changed a few notes around that I thought would sound better.  I tend to get in ruts with my left hand.  Hopefully as I keep composing and changing, my left hand will learn to play them that way. :-)

Thanks Tim. Glad you liked it. :-)

Thank you, Radio! You can let it put you to sleep tonight.  :-)

Thanks, Bill.  I'm glad you liked it. :-)

  The only thing that I could think of that might be a crit would be at 1:05. At first I
thought that it might be a clash of notes, but it might instead be a timing thing. It
sounds like a flub or unintentional. There is something that the left and right hand
are not together on. It seems that either changing what the left hand does (or) what
the right hand does might clean that up.

  The right hand is playing a quick little lick that seems like it isn't allowing the left
hand to "fall in place". It seems there was something similar in another song of
yours about the "16th notes? or something? Maybe if the right hand had only
8th notes in it instead of that "one 16th note? Or the the left hand did something
to where it didn't sound like it was trying to "keep up" maybe?

   These next comments are what I'd call "just thinking" like "I wonder what
this or that would sound like? One thing that I find when say using the guitar to
play the melody of a song with "words" is that sometimes the "notes" might be
a series of "the same note".

  Lets say that there was a phrase that said "aint it a lovely day" and they were
all G notes. Because of the phrasing, vowels, consonants, the (different) words
etc. there "is" something different in all of the notes (even though) the note is the
same for "all" of them. (with words that is)

  Like your note choices starting 1:00 where there are several G notes. If there
were "words" it wouldn't be noticeable that they were just that, all G notes.

   An example:
 
  I remember playing "somewhere over the rainbow" where I got to a certain place
in the song was it the bridge? Right before that place where there are some
diminished chords or something? that the melody "without words" seemed
"repetitious". They weren't all the same notes (but) playing the melody without
words sounded like a "siren" from one of those foreign country's, Italy? or
somewhere like that.  "without words" I was left with no way to express, for
lack of better words.
 
  Anyway:

  That makes me wonder if you sometimes "hear your songs" as a "song with
words" in your mind. Like the section starting at 1:00. That would makes since
to me as your songs could be easily be vocal songs with words. And very
"good ones" I might add.

  Looking at things from "that perspective" I'd say that anywhere in your
writing where "you do" play a few of the "same" notes that I see where
your going and what you are doing and intend to do. Maybe it even makes
me visualize your melodies as a vocal song and the more I think about that as
opposed to wondering if a section like that might need more variation in the
choice of notes in a particular section.

   So I have no "conclusion" as to whether or not your playing sections where
there are several of the same notes, only that when I first hear a song of
yours that i wonder if it needs to be more melodic in those sections.

   Its absolutely "stunning" how you at about half way through the song start
getting more expressive  and even more so toward the end. Not only very
good at the technical and skill level of the playing but also the emotional
aspect of the way that it musically expresses itself.

  At 4:05 when you strike that chord I would suggest that you sustain it untill
you play that little lick that follows and also sustain the ending of that lick at
4:07. At 4:17 where you play that B note it has an echo sound like you strike
the B note and it echo's itself. I think that second B note being taken out would
make that sound more smooth.

 Janet your performance on this is absolutely amazing. Not to say that "all" of
your stuff isn't awesome because it, is but on this you've reached "even higher".
this is just stunning.

I like this a lot.

I really like what you are doing with your left hand.

I am a big fan of using a motif and then expanding on it. It sounds exactly like "This Old Man" to my ear.

Nice job.

Personally, I enjoy the solo piano treatment and think you hit the mark with this song.


Great stuff.

best regards,
mike