I can see why someone would need 88 keys...

Great player and a fantastic entertainer.

This was one of my piano heroes, and a great comedian and entertainer as well.



Gary

Great entertainment, got me in real good mood at the start of this day.
Tnx.

I saw the Liberace video a while back. I was quite intimidated at first. Then I noticed that he was only playing a standard blues riff on the right hand so that took some of the "intimidation" out of me. Now the left hand....him playing in the Key of F. I'm thinking "well, you just keep practicing that left hand riff until you get it down solid." So what initially "intimidated" me, once analyzed, he's not doing anything more than what many blues players do.

Before you rush to defense mode. I was just trying to take some of the "intimidation" out for anyone else who feels that way after watching it.

By coincidence, I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully to date)to master that same left hand riff for six months now. Ever since I watched this video.



I have a good piano left hand, but this riff is something I just can’t conquer. So I’m not downplaying what Liberace did with it by any means.

For the record, I'm a big Liberace and Victor Borge fan. Heck I even steal some of Victor Borge's jokes. But they are both exceptional pianists when they need to be. You can tell a lot of practice was done over many years to get to that level. If I'm correct, Victor Borge was originally a concert pianist? And Liberace was just plain a child prodigy.

Something else....I’m not sure if this just applies to me or to anyone. I learned this from a solid month of acoustic piano shopping. I must have played on nearly 100 pianos between all of the stores around here. Here’s something very important I learned (for me!).

The better the piano, the better one plays. That translates to: I make all kinds of mistakes at home on my wimpy upright with it’s not-so-good “touch.” In the piano stores, I’ve played on quite a few grand pianos: Bosendorfer’s and Steinways and even a Fagioli. There’s something about the keys on these monster pianos that just seems to hold your hands in place.......hard to describe but I find I make absolutely NO mistakes when I play on the grands. And the huge sound you get from these grands inspires you to play better also.

Luca is playing that Swanee on a grand. I’m wondering how much the instrument lends itself to his playing and makes it easier for him. That video is ancient now. He turned out to be a fine boogie woogie player as he got older.

Liberace was quite the showman. I’ve seen him in a now closed small venue (3300 seats) theatre in the round called the Warwick Musical Theatre in Rhode Island. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house. We had a great view of Liberace. With that said here’s some useless information Years back during college I tended bar in a restaurant that was nearby the Warwick venue. The owner of the restaurant Rose ( TonyMads knew her too) was a close friend of Liberace. She used to say his friends call him “Lee.” The year I tended bar there Lee was in town and Rose said she had about $10k to spend on redecorating her home. She asked Liberace to use his taste to decorate the home. As the story goes he didn’t spend Rose’s $10k instead used his own money about $50k and within 7 days had some major renovations completed.

Here’s a link with the history of the Warwick facility ( as I say mostly useless info)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwick_Musical_Theatre

My thoughts are if you don't start out from the beginning as a Piano player it is so difficult to adapt and be proficient later on after you have been playing something else, arranger kb, organ, or whatever...
Listening to just Piano playing after a while bores me as it's only the same sound I am hearing only the technic and style of playing Piano dynamics make it interesting to me to bear it if at all. And many times the audience feels the same way after an hour of just piano playing as the try to stay awake during sorry.. Liberace & many others make it pleasing to a point, but in general I need a mix of sounds being played to stimulate my senses. Just my thoughts

take care

Different strokes for different folks..

A great piano player, playing the right material can be most interesting to appreciative musicians..

Let me explain.. what apparently holds your interest are color sounds . I don't think you listen to detail or are not aware of some things..

What separates the boys from the men on piano... "voicing" .. No not vocals

Not just dynamics in your playing, but how you voice a chord... yes both hands Most of the keys on a piano (real piano) use three strings as you strike a key... this is rich in overtones..


Combine the overtones with the smart voicing of a chord... and most musicians should not be bored so easily

Yes I understand music appreciation from being in 100 piece orchestras all thru JHS and HS orchestras playing many large venues when I was younger on Alto Sax, Percussion Tympani etc,..besides keyboard, Drums, Bass, Guitar, Vocals too in bands...on many occasions I attended the Academy of Music to listening blindfolded to Full orchestras perfroming as a
Final Semester test to pick out what instruments were playing different phrases within during the performances,...this made me a much better player learning the "as you say voicings or color sounds"
within a piece of music. That said yes Fran, I know what your talking about, ....but prolonged Piano alone just isn't my bag buddy.
again that's just me

Too much of any instrument or type of music can bore us..

If I go to see/hear an act/show.... one or two sets and I had enough

Doesn't matter who or talent level, I just had it after an hour or so..

Sinatra, Elvis, Streisand , You , Dave, Kath, Just in Time.... There is a saturation point for me..

Vocals will bore me quicker than instrumental.. I can listen to a piano, bass, drums and guitar jazz band.. the longest

Classic rock band not so much... and todays music (hip hop etc) NOT at all..