A discussion in another thread lead me organize my thoughts about what we can learn from each other's contributions to this forum. Most contributions come in the form of a discussion, but there are a lot of other very revealing manners: audio and video.

Knowing the playing technique(s) used in the audio recordings is at least as important as listening to them, IMO. Again, in IMHO it's useless to attempt judging someone's performance based on the level of sophistication of the keyboard playing technique(s) used. Quality entertainment is
independent of the tool(s) used, so I believe.

However, some ways of playing my keyboard please/interest me more than others, but that remains what it is: a personal interest. Here are the things I believe I can learn/judge from each other's posted demos.

AUDIO CLIPS

a) Using SMFs

a.1 Singing along SMFs

quality of the voice, singer talent, quality of the mix, overall (sound) quality of the performance.

a.2 Playing along SMFs

"pianistic" qualities of the performer (playing one instrument all over the keyboard), quality of the mix, overall sound quality of the performance.

a.3 IF the Midis are produced by the performer itself

additionaly we can have hints and judge on musical arranging art, sequencing techniques, software or keyboard sequencing tool mastering. a good sequencing job is very revealing about the musical skills of the performer.

b) Using Styles

additionally to all the above (except a.3): knowledge of the instrument, musician skills, specific arranger keyboard playing techniques (if explained).

VIDEO CLIPS (with sound)

Additionally to the above...

a) If we CAN'T see the hands of the performer and the keyboard

appearance, attitude on stage, act style, entertaining skills, details about equipment

b) If we HAVE a CLOSEUP of the keyboard and the hands of the performer

many details about the playing techniques can become much more clear than in audio demos: fingering choices, live interaction with the arranger features, mastering of the keyboard possibilities.

All of these forms are very useful but some allow us to learn more things than others. Of course, the discussion can cover the whole territory. Please add others or disagree if you like...


-- José.

Josè, I agree with your idea of sharing our arranger playing techniques; I know that you, like me, own a Tyros and this is important, since our playing techniques depend also on the particular keyboard we own. One problem, with all the arrangers, is the so called boredom effect or, like Scott often says, their "canned sound"; three things that I always do to avoid as much as possible this effect are:
1) Use the multipads whenever is possibile; adding a different multipad can change dramatically a style; since the Tyros has so many excellent multipads, the combinations are almost endeless. I agree that with other keyboards this can be a problem.
2) Many Tyros styles (especially the latin ones, and I am sure that you know them well) have rhytm tracks that are too loud or inappropriate, so I usually lower these tracks (especially the acoustic guitars, even the Megavoices) or mute them altogether (especially the electric pianos) and at the same time...
3) Rise the level of the left hand part and try to play a lot of chord embellishments to add a live feeling.
I hope to post very soon a few examples of these techniques, especially now that Dirk posted his excellent demoes of the Pa1-Xpro; I hope that this will also enable our fellow Forum members to compare the sound of these two keyboards (Tyros and Pa-1Xpro).
Regards,
Andrea


[This message has been edited by Dreamer (edited 02-26-2004).]

Good points Jose' and Andrea. I'm sure many performers would benefit from all of the above, however, conveying this information would require a lot of work, additional equipment, time and expertise. Some of this is doable, while other parts would be quite difficult, especially if the person on the other end is limited to dial-up connection.

Cheers,

Gary

Yeah... I remember him saying that... sort of...

This HIGHLIGHTS the big advantage of organzing Synthzone Arranger KB get togethers. This offers the best opportunity for players to atually see and learn first hand how others play & navigate on their keyboards, picking up arranger kb tricks from others. I encourage everyone to find and connect with the arranger keyboard players in your local area, and for all those who can make it to California, to attend our Synthzone 'get together' in San Jose on May 22nd & 23rd.

Barring this, the playing & performance tips shared here by the pros, as well as audio (MP3) & video clips (WMV) posted are I suppose the next best thing to being there. In addition to adding more MP3 song demos to my web page, I'm planning to include more WMV video clips now as well. Most digital 'still' cameras these days include a video clip recording feature which allows you to record short 20-60 sec clips which can then be easily be converted to WMV format (via Windows Media Encoder: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx ) for posting on the internet. I know for a fact that a number of other members here own digital still cameras which include 'video clip recording', so I'm challenging you guys to take my lead & begin sharing your video clips here as well. As confucious say: "A Video Clip is worth more than ten thousand words, yeah?" - Scott

This thread has prompted me to mention Yamaha demonstrators at the keyboard festival we attend twice a year April & October.
There are usually 3 of them playing at different times and doing tutorials through out each of the 7 days.
Now although their playing ability is very high, they in fact play very simply. Possibly this is done to show off the merits of a particular keyboard rather than the ability of the player. They are basically saying anyone can sound this good with this keyboard.

Dreamer has already mentioned PADS. A lot of the styles I mute a number of parts and activate a pad to replace that part of the style. Or just use Drums.Bass & Pad. This certainly makes interesting variations to the set standard style.

Graham UK.

[This message has been edited by Graham UK (edited 02-26-2004).]

I agree with Andrea'a sugestions for avoiding style-playing being boring. When I play with "finesse", for myself, I also tend to simplify the automatic arrangements, muting some tracks. But most of the time, in my jobs I'm asked to speed up and to be as noisy as I can (yuk!..).

I also agree that some playing techniques are brand/model-related, so they only work in a particular brand/model. But others can be used in all brands. One of them that I do frequently (in pop/rock tunes it works well) is to interrupt the automatic accompaniement, and, in bass/melody split mode (with the drum machine always on), do a bass solo with my left hand, possibly with some comping with the right hand (acoustic or electric piano). This can be easily done in all keyboards. In Yamaha keyboards you can cut down the auto stuff temporarily by pressing three consecutive keys (for example, C/B/Bb) - I love this feature too!

-- José.

Hi José, good points. How about treating us with a sample of some of your songs to hear. Would really LOVE to hear your stuff. - Scott

Scott
A thought for your get together is to perhaps find a couple of people with vid cams to tape what it is you are talking about here and then put a little something to gether for all that can't attend.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Good Idea Terry.....maybe Scott can make a DVD recording of the Arr KB event and sell it to us of the event Highlights....
I'd buy one for sure being I couldn't attend!

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