Roger Williams at 86 played a 12 hour marathon here in Phoenix in 2010

I was working so missed the Roger Williams concert at the new Musical Instrument Museum here in Phoenix where he played for 12 hours straight-- still going strong at 86 years old! I thought I'd look it up on Youtube to see if anyone recorded and posted it. Sure enough! What do you know? He does a nice little show here-- very nice show-- taking requests and doing humor. Beautiful typical Rogers Williams style. Lots of humorous improv too. I always wondered how he did that famous run in Autumn Leaves-- was it double recorded or real? The camera doesn't view his fingers in the second part of the video so again I can't be certain but I think it's real. I have the sheet music and it very possible it's real.

Is Barry Manilow really playing the piano in this video?

I wonder if Manilow is playing or PRETENDING to play in the following clip. The same goes for the singing. It seems to be off. Apparently a lot of bands these days use so much electronic backup that for the most part, there's no such thing as a live concert anymore. This trend troubles me because if someone is pretending to play or sing, then what's the point of seeing it live?

 I use automatic rhythm backup for my piano playing and a vocoder but this is all done up-front-- without pretending I have a band. I have used recorded crowds for some youtube's just for kicks to see if I can make it realistic and it often works well. Take a look, however, at this video of Barry doing "I can't Smile Without You" and see if you think it "works". I'm not sure it does. After Barry plays, more versions of the song follow in the PLAYLIST LESSON I've assembled here. Each video has a particular point we'll discuss in the forum linked at the bottom of this post.

[DISCUSSION]

Playlist for IAB - Gershwin, Porter, Rogers/Hart, Bacharach, Ellington/Sinatra

The following video is a playlist on Youtube of 5 videos that average 6 minutes each. You can relax and listen to the entire 30 minutes or you can click the videos forward with the arrows in the bottom left corner.

Songs covered above are
GERSHWIN
Rhapsody in Blue
Embraceable You
Our Love is Here to Stay
S'Wonderfull
They Can't Take that away from me
The Man I Love
Someone to Watch over Me
Fascinating Rhythm
I've Got Rhythm
Rhapsody Theme

COLE PORTER
I've Got you under my skin
Night and Day
I Love Paris
Begin the Beguine

ROGERS & HART
I'll Take Manhatten
Blue Moon
The Lady is a Tramp
Love
Bewitched
My Funny Valentine

BACCARACH
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
I'll Never Fall in love again
This Guy's in Love
Look of Love

ELLINGTON/Sinatra
Satin Doll
NY NY

We're playing Orchard Mesa today!

We  played for the group birthday party at Orchard Mesa Apartments in Mesa, Arizona on Monday to a really appreciative group in the main community activity hall on the Orchard campus. We met Jesse, the Activities Director for the first time in person and the entire show, from the Show Prelude by Dorothy on the in-house acoustic grand piano, through Dorothy's main set on our Piano/Keyboard Combo featuring a Tribute to George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Liberace and MC'd by Rick, the Birthday Song, Beatles Birthday, and Rick's set, everyone had a great time. Our primary feedback seemed to be that we offered a wide variety of types of live music. We hope to expand on the reputation by working to make that happen consistently.

The Activity Hall also has an in-house Lowery Organ that we showed resident-music-enthusiasts how to get the most out of. The trick was in hitting the "*" button the select the rhythm background then hitting the coloured light button to get it started. This particular model of Lowery was not designed with the easiest set up but once learned-- never forgotten. It's a nice organ-ensemble and the residents had a great time with it afterwards.

Source Apartments for Rent in Mesa, AZ | Orchard Mesa - Home
QUOTE
The Orchard offers ideal, affordable adult living in a beautiful garden atmosphere for those 55 and older. Enjoy the shaded, park-like surroundings that include over 600 trees. Pick the oranges, tangerines and grapefruit from the trees near your apartment. Enjoy a meandering walk through The Orchard neighborhood.

The Orchard activities are the finest! Meet new friends in the pleasant environment of our fabulous Recreation Center. Our full time Activities Director will fill your day with fun and excitement. Read a book from our library or surf the internet, emailing your family and friends from our computers. Play a game of billiards, work out in our fitness center, or watch a good movie in our theater.

At the Orchard, every effort is made to pamper and please our residents. For your convenience, we provide free transportation services to grocery stores, and for a reasonable fee transportation can be scheduled to the local mall and medical services.

With a scenic backdrop of the Superstition Mountains, and the convenient proximity of shopping, restaurants and salons, The Orchard Apartments combine breathtaking Arizona beauty with the relaxed and friendly lifestyle of the East Valley.
UNQUOTE
Source Apartments for Rent in Mesa, AZ | Orchard Mesa - Home


Orchard Show Jan 2015
Dorothy played the first half on piano/keyboard, Rick played the second half.
Dorothy's Segment was a tribute to Gershwin, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, Bacharach, Sinatra.
Gershwin
Embraceable you, Our love is here to stay, the man Ilove, Somone to Watch Over Me, Fascinating Rythm, I've Got Rhythem, Lady b Good, Swannee, Rhapsody in Blue
Cole Porter
Night and Day with Latin rythm on keyboard
I've Got you under my skin
Begin the Begine
Liberace
Boogie Woogie, Tommy Dorsey's Boogie
Malaquena
RICK-- Book 11
Wind, Nadia, Music Box Dancer with orchestrations
Last Dance, Moondance, Chariots, Skating, Lobe Boat, Sweet Caroline, Piano Man, Old time rock and roll, Great Balls of Fire, Yakaty Sax. 

1920s to 1940s Sing Alongs for Senior Residences and Nursing Homes in Phoenix AZ

[ABOUT US - click here]
Dorothy and Rick can play in combination on equipment they bring to your facility or Dorothy can play your in-house piano while Rick MC's and leads the sing alongs. Here is an example of our work.

Our rates as of Jan 2015 are $50/hr plus a variable travel and set up charge depending on distance and equipment needed. See Gigmaster or Gigsalad links above for more info.
[ABOUT US - click here] 

Video Playlist Lesson-- Voicing chords and other more advanced ideas.

I'll be filtering some youtube videos and adding them to the following playlist this weekend regarding voicings and a few other more advanced ideas. Beginners and Intermediate people will find them interesting too as a portent of things to come in their future-- a general hint of the types of things piano playing is concerned with. Of course, if the particular video in the playlist is not striking you as interesting, just click the arrow in the bottom left to advance to the next one in the series I've selected for students. I generally only add videos that I think have merit of course.

Chord Lesson Playlist -- Watch the entire playlist and learn automatically.

We can improvise soundtrack music scores for cartoons.

This is a short example of how we might be able to score a cartoon for you. Our equipment includes the Technics PR902 among lots of other computer hardware, DVD and CD recording equipment. We can use your in-studio equipment if you prefer. Dorothy improvises a soundtrack to a few short cartoon clips below. 

September Stylings 2012 by Dorothy Motto on Technics PR902

PLAYLIST for Key Signatures in Piano Music for Beginners-- and a review for Intermediate--

This key signature playlist lesson for beginners can be easily found again by scrolling down into the alphabetical index here under "key signature playlist lesson" or "lessons - key signature for beginners". I've put the videos together in a playlist based on what I think are our students' needs but if the student finds the material in any particular video unhelpful at this time, they can click to the next video ahead in the bottom left hand corner. 

To find this blog page again, note the URL address is www.RickPotvinPiano.Blogspot.com. When you arrive at that URL, scroll down to the alpha index below to find and click on "key signature playlist lesson". We prefer that the student watch the video series a few times through complete before their next in-person lesson. Progress will be much more rapid and money spent will be made more worthwhile. 

Don't be concerned if you don't understand or follow all that's being said on the first or second run through. Try instead to pick up the general idea and gradually whittle down the more involved areas over time. 

Dorothy Motto will play live Valentine's Day 2015 for your Phoenix AZ event.

Hire Dorothy to play live ROMANTIC PIANO for your Valentine's Day 2015 event-- at a hotel,  a private party or other venue. The piano she plays on could be your own house-piano or her partner Rick can bring a KORG DIGITAL PIANO with a 400 watt amplifier suitable for larger hotel rooms with controlled appropriate volume for smaller rooms to make it all sound "just right". Rick plays piano too and they will take turns so you get two piano stylists for the price of one! Listen to 10 minutes of Dorothy's Liberace- style piano playing, then click on the Gigmaster or GigSalad link at the top of this page to hire her-- or if you like- contact Dorothy and Rick directly at rick_potvin@yahoo.com.

SONGS in the Demo Reel Above
As Time Goes By
My Funny Valentine
Autumn Leaves
Valentine (Brickman)
Gershwin Medley-- Embracable You, Our Love is Here to Stay, Someone to Watch Over Me, Moon River, Love Story.

Dorothy and Rick have many more tunes both memorized and on paper that can be played at your Valentine's Day event. Special requests are accepted and can even be suggested in advance. We do our best to accomodate all styles and decades of music for all Valentine age groups.

You Look Wonderful Tonight & More Piano Cover Playlist by Rick Potvin & Dorothy Motto for Valentines Day 2015

Hire a Live Piano Player for Your Valentines Day Event

Call Rick Potvin (602) 371 0095

or click on GigMasters in the header above.

Phoenix Arizona and surrounding area only. 

Wedding Piano Music by Dorothy Motto

   

Classical Themes for Prelude to Processional while people enter church

Chopin Nocturne in Eb

Chopin Fantasy Impromptu

Chopin's Till the end of Time

Liszt's Liebestraum

Beethoven's Fur Elis

Dubussey's Claire de Lune

Ave Maria

Canon in D

Somewhere in Time

A Thousand Years (Current Pop Tune)(

Trumpet Voluntary

Bridal March Precessional

Wedding March Recessional

Queen of Sheeba Post Recessional while people exit.

Simple Man by Lynard Skynard - piano vocal peformance & lesson playlist by Rick Potvin

I'll add to this playlist in coming days. There are 3 simple chords for simple players.... Am, C and G. We should think of it as being in Am-- so Am would be a minor one chord (i). From there, the C is actually a bIII and the G is a bVII. Those are the common rock chords that give this song it's flavor. I see it's one of the easiest guitar songs too-- it figures although the C chord on a guitar is a bit challanging. We'll focus on piano here for the most part. I'll also discuss green screen, lights, fake audiences and vocoders and more. I might even find a place to play it in public for real in Phoenix somewhere. We'll see.

Adult Elementary Piano Concepts Playlist - for Chris - Chords, Keys and More

Chris's assignment-- watch 3 hours of video about basic piano concepts. (If you're not Chris, but happen across this playlist and want to understand theory of piano in an easy fun way, you watch it too.  Youtube and the Net are changing education. We all have to indulge in this new system just because it's so great... and it likely works better than anything the past). You don't have to watch the entire playlist in one sitting-- that's not recommended. Watch a bit at time-- up to an hour. You can even keep a screen near your piano or keyboard-- via desktop or mobile-- and stop the video where you want to try the exercises given yourself. I chose these videos while random sampling them for a student so you get the benefit of my editing since there is more than enough bad material out there that you could easily waste your time wondering what to watch. I'm steering you all and Chris in the right direction with the following. If you take paid lessons from me, we'll reinforce these concepts and work with them in the studio which is even more powerful.