Tutorial- J. P. Johnson- Over the Bars- ABRSM Grade 8 2023-2024 

Her own unique take on this (not the arrangement in the grade 8 book) is phenomenal, my jaw was on the floor when I watched it 😮

@@HeartofthePiano I'm glad that you got to see her version. She is amazing. My wife and I have seen her live on three occasions and she is always impressive. She is a lovely person in addition. It's a shame that such talented individuals are not better known. Rossano Sportiello is also a skilled stride player and even more versatile than Stephanie. He is also on RU-vid.

Thanks for your in-depth and insightful comments! I would have to disagree about swung triplets though- this just isn't how he plays it in the recording this was transcribed from (link in the comments). Also, it's worth noting that in the recording, he is actually being accompanied by a drummer, and it's useful to hear this in the back of our mind as we play. Which means, yes, I agree, be very sparing and careful with rubato!!

@@HeartofthePiano Thanks for your response! I do agree that in the recording, Johnson never sticks to a triplet feel outright, but he is conscious about the triplet feel and slips in and out of it ever so subtly - so I think he's "feeling" it in triplet and is trying to keep the playing human by varying it ever so often - I wonder if this is something teachable/practical for proctoring a piece like this? I know as an ABRSM student, if I came across this piece earlier in my life I would have heavily struggled with such a concept. As to the drummer - I wonder if the left hand must then be adjusted to take up some of the sonic space left when the drummer isn't present? The drummer (though quite quickly) plays brushstrokes alternating between longer and staccato notes - is this something that should then be reflected in the march left hand? I guess all this then comes to the question - how sacred is the recording vs conventional practices of interpretation (including what's practical to teach students at the ABRSM exam level - I don't have a clear ideas as my exams stopped at the 6th grade a long long time ago)? We know that other, older European pieces lack original era-specific recordings by the composers, so we've been left to our own devices for the last 200-300 years, but Johnson's own interpretation is recorded here - how should this change the way students approach interpretation of this piece? Edit/PostScript - I also realize my interpretation of Johnson's playing comes from listening to his many other recordings (check out his sans drummer of Jingles or You've Got To Be Modernistic) and from this tutorial of the gypsy/jazz manouche guitar technique "la pompe" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sl56Mm_6EZg.html which was derived by Django Reinhardt as inspired by New York jazz musicians in the early 1920s (which would have included Duke Ellington and James P. Johnson). In the link, the guitar player explains that conventional comping requires a proper chord on 1 and 3 with rhythmic stabs in 2 and 4, which departs from the at-first intuitive approach of stressing the2 and 4. It took me a while to understand this, but the stabs place an "accent" on 2 and 4 whilst rung chords/bass notes create "stress" on 1 and 3 (similar to lilting drop-roll right hand figures) - thus if one starts bobbing their head to the music, one finds a down up, push-pull feel to the music created by this contrast. It's subtle, but so powerful in terms of creating a pulse! WHICH again begs my question on that philosophical level - how far down the rabbit hole must students go?

I'm going to post a video soon on the list C Zoe Rahman piece from the Nikki Iles & Friends book- it is *much* easier than Over The Bars!!

Can't believe Over the Bars and Danny Boy are in the same grade. I can pretty much sight-read the Danny Boy. I can't even play a phrase of Over the Bars with practicing! Very inconsistent.

I almost put up a tutorial on Danny Boy a while ago- I actually substantially changed Nikki Iles' arrangement to improve it as there were quite a lot of moments that bothered me 😂

Wrong? Unless you're doing doing something wildly terrible 😂 I wouldn't jump to conclusions you're 'wrong', these are just my personal opinions!

I hope it’s sorted now but if not: Short answer: no

The ABRSM FAQ says no repeats: gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/syllabus-faq/

Many thanks, I haven't done one on the Chopin Mazurka yet- I see there are already some tutorials on RU-vid, what would you find useful in particular to help with this piece? 🙂

Many thanks. Good question. Will think more and will look up other videos. Philip