Hymn to the Preciousness of Human Frailty #3

A third time, recorded straight to SoundCloud on my iPhone. I keep playing this song over and over, but this is the best version yet anyway. My piano is very out of tune, though. Need to fix that.

• play
• pause
• min volume
• max volume

posted by koeselitz (12 comments total)

If you want an in-tune piano, buy another one. That one's perfect. It totally makes the song.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:08 PM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I agree. Once again, the jangliness of the piano, mixed with the sketchy recording fidelity of the iPhone creates a perfect ambience for this.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 12:09 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I commented on this over on Soundcloud. It's just perfect. I didn't know it was onto your iPhone. The crickets just make it.
And my offer still stands to come and play my shitty piano the next time you're in Toronto. You think yours is out of tune. I tune mine with a pair of pliers. Not joking.
posted by chococat at 8:52 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

What everyone has said. This is pleasing in a lot of ways.
posted by Corduroy at 4:34 AM on June 22, 2012

Very nice. I picture myself reclining on a warm summer porch evening, enjoying a nice cool beverage.
posted by sarah_pdx at 3:41 PM on June 22, 2012

Just fantastic in every way.
posted by Doleful Creature at 3:53 PM on June 22, 2012

I love the crickets in the background.
posted by MattMangels at 7:12 PM on June 22, 2012

Out of curiosity, is this an upright piano? Our spinet doesn't nearly sound this great.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:26 PM on June 27, 2012

Yeah, it's a full upright. I tend to avoid spinets assiduously – they really have a completely different sound, and these days, pianos are so readily available on Craigslist in most places that it doesn't seem necessary to settle. To be specific, my piano is a 1928 Gulbransen "Registering" (player) piano; the player piano unit doesn't work at the moment, that's something that I'm looking to fix, but I think it sounds pretty good right now. For what it's worth, I paid $140 for it after looking for a few weeks and finding someone pretty reputable who was selling it. I've gotten good pianos for free in the past before, though; lots of times, when families are moving, they'll let you have the things if you'll just haul it away.
posted by koeselitz at 9:03 PM on June 27, 2012

Hey, K, would you mind sharing the changes?
posted by unSane at 7:58 PM on June 28, 2012

Sure, let's see... This is pretty much it, with something like a 2/4 reading in E♭:

E♭ | G⁷ | Cm | A♭m⁷ | G⁷ | C⁷ | F⁷ | B♭⁷
E♭ | G⁷ | Cm | A♭m⁷ | B⁷ | B♭⁷ | E♭

A♭m⁷ | A♭m⁷ | E♭ | E♭ | A♭m⁷ | A♭m⁷ | E♭ | Dm^7♭5, G^7♯5
Cm | Cm⁺⁷ | Cm⁷ | Cm⁶ | A♭m⁷ | A♭m⁷ | B⁷ | B♭⁷

E♭ | G⁷ | Cm | A♭m⁷ | G⁷ | C⁷ | F⁷ | B♭⁷
E♭ | G⁷ | Cm | A♭m⁷ | B⁷ | B♭⁷ | E♭
posted by koeselitz at 9:27 AM on June 29, 2012

Thank you -- such a lot of fun to play. Walking up the fourths in the first line is an absolute gas, as is the terrific change from the Cm to the Abm7, and the trill on the seventh.
posted by unSane at 10:18 PM on June 29, 2012