I said it before- you gotta be able to play one decent thing on the piano. Even if that’s all you manage, you can waltz up to someone’s family piano and wow ‘em; they’ll think you’re some kind of real piano player if you can just riff out 15 seconds or so. Then you quit while you’re ahead and proceed to the hors d'oeuvres platter as they ask you for more.
My plan is to learn 10 pieces. Of course you start with Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, then you do the next seven famous dudes. That way you can ask, “Who’s your favorite composer and when they answer you say, “Well, perhaps you’re familiar with this piece,” and just belt it out.
I tried that after I’d learned a simple Bach, Beethoven and a Mozart and with only those three I was able to pull this trick off. Only one out of a hundred is going to say something outside of the top ten like Rimsky Korsakov, or Ottorino Respighi or some such nonsense. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten the Beethoven and Mozart so I’ll have to practice a bit before I try this clever parlor trick again.
Now I’m back to knowing only one single tune, the Bach. Here I play it on the family piano/keyboard back in Japan. On the organ part I throw in some nice pictures of Germany, beginning with a few from Leipzig, Bach’s home town.
Photo Notes
1. Bach portrait 1748 by Hausmann
2. Organ of the St. Paul's Church in Leipzig, tested by Bach in 1717
3. The church in Arnstadt where Bach had been the organist from 1703 to 1707. In 1935, the church was renamed "Bachkirche"
4. 28 July 1950: memorial service for Bach in Leipzig's Thomaskirche, on the 200th anniversary of the composer's death
5. Luther Church in Johannapark
6. Ruhmeshalle, Munich
7. Stuttgart, Schlossplatz
8. Sunset in Lindau
9. Freiburg scene
10. Shiefeshaus, Ulm
11. Streetcar in Kiel, 1969
12. Brooksbridge, Hamburg
13. Barn in Essen
14. Asschaffenburger (Johannisburg) Palace, northwest Bavaria
15. Heppenheim
16. Zwingenberg
17. Bamberg
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