Old 06-01-2022, 12:00 PM   #1
BenjyO
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Default Be Thou My Vision [Piano arrangement]

I wrote a piano arrangement of the classic old christian hymn Be Thou My Vision (based on an irish folk song) and finally managed to record a performance of it. Hopefully someone enjoys it



Recorded and mixed in Reaper. I'm not as happy with the sound as I would like to be but it was the best I could do with my current knowledge and skillset.
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Old 06-01-2022, 12:47 PM   #2
jansen
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I am enjoying this, thanks! It is a very pretty arrangement of probably my favourite hymn. I grew up listening to Van Morrison's version from 1991, have you heard it?

Anyway congratulations for the arrangement and the performance!
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Old 06-01-2022, 05:10 PM   #3
Pashkuli
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ooohh, those risky 10th intervals (re-third) in the left hand at 0:47
you got quite a span, long fingers
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Old 06-02-2022, 01:12 AM   #4
BenjyO
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Originally Posted by jansen View Post
I am enjoying this, thanks! It is a very pretty arrangement of probably my favourite hymn. I grew up listening to Van Morrison's version from 1991, have you heard it?

Anyway congratulations for the arrangement and the performance!
Thank you. I was not familiar with that version up until now. Listened to it and I must say I loved the part where the fiddles and flutes (whistles I presume) joined in. Love that sound

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Originally Posted by Pashkuli View Post
ooohh, those risky 10th intervals (re-third) in the left hand at 0:47
you got quite a span, long fingers
Risky as in they're easy to miss or risky as in they could cause injuries? I'd say both can be true. Had to practice those parts a lot, slowly and with intentional relaxation prior and after each such interval. Otherwise that hand got strained very fast and I didn't want to risk any injuries - had some nasty hand/wrist/arm pain problems in the past.
Can't hit a major 10th on all notes though: White to white keys or black to black keys are OK but white to black or vice versa are out of reach or are a painful stretch.

Ohhh ... Now I see why you pointed out those. Checked out your socials and realized you're working on overcoming these obstacles. Intersting keyboards and concepts. Would love to see some performances on those. Are you familiar with this: https://paskpiano.org/ (they're not attempting to innovate like you are but your efforts reminded me of this association)?
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Old 06-02-2022, 05:40 AM   #5
Pashkuli
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Originally Posted by BenjyO View Post
Can't hit a major 10th on all notes though: White to white keys or black to black keys are OK but white to black or vice versa are out of reach or are a painful stretch.

Ohhh ... Now I see why you pointed out those. Checked out your socials and realized you're working on overcoming these obstacles (https://paskpiano.org/). Interesting keyboards and concepts.
Yes, I am familiar with those. Actually during the centuries there was no standard size for piano keys... also with regards to the tuning there were different 'base\ref frequency'.

Well, as strange as it may seem, I can barely play a few chords on piano and maybe if my life depended on it. I can not play piano.

I like watching\listening people like you and take notes with regards to chord inversions, finger movements, phrasing etc.

Also, I am pretty sure about the historical and technical reasons the piano keyboard is as it is now. The mechanics of it are brilliant, but those are hidden components. They keys is what players touch 99% of the time (not the hammers, jacks and capstans).

I also think (as the guys from paskpiano.org) that the current piano keys are a bit oversized.
With my redesign (curved standard keys) the size can be reduced quite substantially. Consequently though, the size of an acoustic piano would downsize, the sound produce will be quieter because of it (obviously).
Maybe not a big problem with modern amplification, but I think we could get away with 2 strings per high and mid range keys and only one for the low strings. It will make the overall sound a bit clearer (not so muddy, as most acoustic pianos are a bit muddy), albeit the resonances will be quieter – good for home practice but for concerts it might require amplification.

Your piano (Yamaha, digital... P-100 series?) from the video seems to have some pseudo-hammer action implementation, from what I can guess.
Real hammer action is a bit expensive.

How do you find the difference? I suppose you have played a grand royal or upright piano with real hammer action.

Reducing the size as mentioned above also would reduce the size\width of levers and components, which will make them more brittle and bendy.
So there are pros and cons. But I think resize should be done.
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Old 06-03-2022, 12:02 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by Pashkuli View Post
With my redesign (curved standard keys) the size can be reduced quite substantially. Consequently though, the size of an acoustic piano would downsize, the sound produce will be quieter because of it (obviously).
Maybe not a big problem with modern amplification, but I think we could get away with 2 strings per high and mid range keys and only one for the low strings. It will make the overall sound a bit clearer (not so muddy, as most acoustic pianos are a bit muddy), albeit the resonances will be quieter – good for home practice but for concerts it might require amplification.
Would be interesting to try playing on one of them.

Quote:
Your piano (Yamaha, digital... P-100 series?) from the video seems to have some pseudo-hammer action implementation, from what I can guess.
Real hammer action is a bit expensive.

How do you find the difference? I suppose you have played a grand royal or upright piano with real hammer action.
Yes, very close. It's actually a Yamaha P255 and they call it the Graded Hammer (GH) action. It's definitely pseudo-hammer action but I find it to be quite good compared to a real Yamaha piano. I do prefer a real piano's action but don't have space nor money for one - maybe an upright would be possible but definitely not a grand.

Quote:
Reducing the size as mentioned above also would reduce the size\width of levers and components, which will make them more brittle and bendy.
So there are pros and cons. But I think resize should be done.
I agree that producing different sized keyboards/pianos should be done and should be normal practice in the industry. Would make a lot of people happy
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Old 06-03-2022, 01:58 AM   #7
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Would be interesting to try playing on one of them.
I also would wish to give those to as much players as possible, but for the time being the logistics is only restricted to the town I currently live in. And it is not a grand royal or such just MIDI keyboards with semi-weighted action. I was about to make a hammer-action one but the covid-lockdown happened and I can not find the guy who had spare hammers from a broken digital piano (still browsing ebay for some similar offers).

Unfortunately building one downsized from scratch with all the components the right size is a big time and money investment (if not 10k+). So I will have to stick to the current "standard" size, despite the fact that with my curvy re-design such big sized keys is not needed at all.

The uniform layout keyboard is small-size by default. Also there are possible fingerings on chords for both small and big hands, without the need to have a separate "small-size" keyboard construction.
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Old 06-04-2022, 09:07 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by BenjyO View Post
I wrote a piano arrangement of the classic old christian hymn Be Thou My Vision (based on an irish folk song) and finally managed to record a performance of it. Hopefully someone enjoys it
Nice work, one of my favourite hymns, and I enjoyed the chord choices in the second half
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Old 06-11-2022, 07:00 PM   #9
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Nice work, one of my favourite hymns, and I enjoyed the chord choices in the second half
Thank you Mark. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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