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#431250 - 05/02/17 12:17 PM Who Needs An Arranger?
Stephenm52 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 04/13/05
Posts: 5126
Loc: USA
Yes I need an arranger, they are great tools and it opened doors for gigs I probably would not have played if I didn't enter the arranger world, so I'm keeping my Pa4x. Our friend TonyMads is going digital and I'm the process of assisting him in configuring his lead sheets for use with the tablet and PA900. I emailed him a piano solo piece for "September Song" to demo how well ScannerPro and Tiny Scanner works with my iPhone. Tony took a look at the piano sheet and commented he'd like to hear how it sounds. With that said I told him I'd need a couple of days to brush up on playing the tune. Using an arranger makes the left had real lazy anyway spent a couple of hours brushing up on the tune. It's attached it's me playing with no assistance from any arranger features, I recorded it using my Yamaha Clavinova CVP 307.


Attachments
Steve September Song Piano Solo.mp3 (105 downloads)


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#431254 - 05/02/17 01:16 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: Stephenm52]
Scott Langholff Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 06/09/02
Posts: 3163
Loc: Pensacola, Florida, USA
I enjoyed that, Steve. Sounded real good clap

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#431255 - 05/02/17 01:21 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: Stephenm52]
cgiles Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/29/05
Posts: 6703
Loc: Roswell,GA/USA
Nice job, Steve. I'd forgotten how good the Clavinova sounds. Full and rich throughout the full range. You won't be needing to upgrade that baby smile.

chas
_________________________
"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]

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#431259 - 05/02/17 01:49 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: cgiles]
Stephenm52 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 04/13/05
Posts: 5126
Loc: USA
Originally Posted By cgiles
Nice job, Steve. I'd forgotten how good the Clavinova sounds. Full and rich throughout the full range. You won't be needing to upgrade that baby smile.

chas


Chas thanks very much!

I sold my Samick 5"10 grand almost 9 years ago to buy the Clav. The Clav never needs tuning and that was a huge point. I'm sure you know for a piano to sound good it needs frequent tuning espeically here in the North East where weather plays a big factor.

Scott thanks too for the comments smile

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#431261 - 05/02/17 01:52 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: Stephenm52]
tony mads usa Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/16/02
Posts: 14376
Loc: East Greenwich RI USA
I thought I recognized the title of this post ...
Nice job Steve ... clap clap clap piano
_________________________
t. cool

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#431265 - 05/02/17 02:04 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: tony mads usa]
Stephenm52 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 04/13/05
Posts: 5126
Loc: USA
Originally Posted By tony mads usa
I thought I recognized the title of this post ...
Nice job Steve ... clap clap clap piano


Yea Tony I didn't give you credit for the title of the post but it was your idea. Thank you for both the compliments and the idea to post it.

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#431267 - 05/02/17 02:18 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: Stephenm52]
cgiles Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/29/05
Posts: 6703
Loc: Roswell,GA/USA
Yeah Steve, I just had my Yamaha tuned after about a five year lapse (and a move). Had a heat coil in it but that didn't save it. It still does not sound 100% even after a tuning and expert 'going over'. It'll probably take several tunings (after acclimating to the new environment) to get it back up to snuff.

BTW (and I'm sure you've noticed this), Arranger styles, no matter how sophisticated, don't PRESENT beautiful transition chords (or ANY complex ie. 'jazz' chords) as cleanly or as expressive as an 'acoustic' (including the Clavinova). Not a knock on arrangers but just a function of being able to hold a chord just the right amount of time, with just the right voicing, with just the right dynamics, etc. Until AI can read your brain, I'm afraid it's going to be awhile before arrangers can match that level of control. In the meantime, they can still sound pretty good in the right hands. Good arrangement chops plus a strong right hand helps.

chas


Edited by cgiles (05/02/17 02:19 PM)
_________________________
"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]

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#431268 - 05/02/17 02:56 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: Stephenm52]
saxxman Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 10/15/05
Posts: 1433
Loc: Niceville, FL USA
Excellent presentation of a great standard Steve! Thanks for sharing your work and as others have said, your Clav sounds great as does your rendition of this classic song.

Who needs an Arranger? Not Steve! Just sayin'. Me, different story!

PS - I had a regular upright for a while and here in FL with the high humidity, I was paying the tuner guy every 3 months or so.... quickly decided to get a Clavinova and never looked back... definitely eliminated my "habit" of calling the guy w/the tuning software! More money for arrangers and other musical "needs"!
_________________________
-------------------------------------
Randy

PA4X, SX900 (Baby Genos), Roland U-20, L1 Compact, Way 2 Many Saxes

"My computer beats me routinely at chess - but it's NO MATCH for me at kick boxing!"

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#431272 - 05/02/17 03:47 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: Stephenm52]
Stephenm52 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 04/13/05
Posts: 5126
Loc: USA
Randy,

Thanks! With your soloist sax skills ya got no worries on playing quality music. Your being able to play the arranger/piano is icing on the cake.

Originally Posted By cgiles
Yeah Steve, I just had my Yamaha tuned after about a five year lapse (and a move). Had a heat coil in it but that didn't save it. It still does not sound 100% even after a tuning and expert 'going over'. It'll probably take several tunings (after acclimating to the new environment) to get it back up to snuff.

BTW (and I'm sure you've noticed this), Arranger styles, no matter how sophisticated, don't PRESENT beautiful transition chords (or ANY complex ie. 'jazz' chords) as cleanly or as expressive as an 'acoustic' (including the Clavinova). Not a knock on arrangers but just a function of being able to hold a chord just the right amount of time, with just the right voicing, with just the right dynamics, etc. Until AI can read your brain, I'm afraid it's going to be awhile before arrangers can match that level of control. In the meantime, they can still sound pretty good in the right hands. Good arrangement chops plus a strong right hand helps.

chas


Chas you've been there and done that you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes it's a job to keep pianos sounding their best. At one point I had the tech coming in 4 times per year, then his rates started rising so I decided to move to the Clavinova.

As much as I enjoy the arranger I agree nothing like being able to play an acoustic or a Clav so that you can play both expressively and use complex chords.

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#431274 - 05/02/17 06:57 PM Re: Who Needs An Arranger? [Re: Stephenm52]
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15560
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
OUTSTANDING RENDITION, Steve!

Gary cool
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)

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