The Black Keys.

[Mr Mark]

I saw this in a Facebook group so had to repost. Wasnt aware this was a thing.

 

[JIM D.]

Comes on handy when the tune is in Db.
:lol:

 

[Corinto]

Pentatonic when the tune is in F#.
Thinking of Irving Berlin and his piano.

 

[JeffJetton]

Am I the only one who was expecting this thread to be about an accordion cover of "Gold on the Ceiling" or something like that?

 

[Anyanka]

Mull of Kintyre is the classic example of a black key tune - less frantic than the example on FB, too!

 

[Mr Mark]

Am I the only one who was expecting this thread to be about an accordion cover of Gold on the Ceiling or something like that?

You know youre out of touch if you have to look that up...reckognized the melody right away when I saw it though. Oh well :lol: .

 

[wirralaccordion]

Not sure why the strap over the white keys? What difference does it make?

 

[Geronimo]

Not sure why the strap over the white keys? What difference does it make?

That makes it a cover.

I guess its supposed to demonstrate that he is not using the white keys. Doesnt seem awfully effective, though.

 

[wirralaccordion]

I won't be convinced that there are no white keys in this piece without seeing the score,.

 

[JIM D.]

A nice video but get a view of this one - It starts at about 2:00 on the video --

 

[Mr Mark]

I looked at a few videos of the Mull of Kintyre, they definitely had white keys in there...maybe the song was transposed to a different key?

Now the dude with the red cloth covering all the keys is just showing off...good on him!

 

[losthobos]

Pentatonic when the tune is in F#.
Thinking of Irving Berlin and his piano.

Perhaps you meant George Shearing and his piano...wrote Lullaby of Birdland and others in key of F# min...mostly because he was blind and the were the easiest notes to feel...

 

[JIM D.]

As far as the comments here about Irving Berlin - well Irving only played be ear and only played piano in the fingering for the key of F#
He had a custom movable keyboard piano that allowed him to finger in F# and transpose in another key.
See here-
https://www.primephonic.com/irving-berlin

I also like the comment about George Shearing that performed in any key and often changed keys on the same tune in performances.
Few know his first recording at a young age was made on a 78 rpm with him PLAYING AN ACCORDION. {}

 

[Geronimo]

I also like the comment about George Shearing that performed in any key and often changed keys on the same tune in performances.
Few know his first recording at a young age was made on a 78 rpm with him PLAYING AN ACCORDION. {}

At 78rpm Id sound like a virtuoso as well.

 

[Anyanka]

I looked at a few videos of the Mull of Kintyre, they definitely had white keys in there...maybe the song was transposed to a different key?

Blame Howard Goodall. I dont actually know what the original key of the song is - M of K is classically used to show off the ease & efficiency of the pentatonic scale, and black keys are good demonstrators: if you can play it using only those, then its pentatonic.

By-ear pianists often head for the black keys, which is how you end up with sheet music thats a bit of a challenge to us readers! Irving Berlin mostly wrote in F#, easy to play, hard to read; and George Winston is another whose scores make it obvious that he didnt write his compositions.

 

[Corinto]

Irving Berlin and his transposing piano.

 

[losthobos]

Thank you for all the info on Mr Berlin and his piano <EMOJI seq="1f3b9">?</EMOJI>...real interesting to me

 

[Corinto]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposing_piano

¨Transposing pianos were never common, and few still exist. Irving Berlin had two such instruments. In 1972 he donated one piano (built in 1940 by Weser Bros. Company in New York City, NY) to the Smithsonian Institution. It is now on display in the National Museum of American Jewish History. Berlin never learned to read music, playing his songs entirely by ear in the key of F-sharp (keeping all five notes of the pentatonic scale on the “black keys”), employing his “trick piano” to do the work as necessary.