Bar piano

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As Barpiano or Barklavier music is background music called that, hotels, cafes by a live in bars pianists will be carried forward. The repertoire includes jazz standards , evergreens , hits , film music and classical music , improvisation plays an important role. The character of the music is calm and relaxing to lively animating and designed as background music. The term easy listening also belongs to the spectrum of the bar piano. In its current form, playing the bar piano emerged as public entertainment at the end of the nineteenth century, found its art form in the music of Erik Satie and ragtime , and left evidence in cultural creation from the first half of the century (for example in the stereotypical figure in the films Casablanca and The fabulous Baker Boys or also in the Schlager One should be able to play the piano ).

history

Piano bar of a hotel

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Biedermeier period , the piano had become a status symbol for the nobility and the bourgeoisie. The Schubertiaden , social music events with Franz Schubert at the piano, resulted in shorter, more intimate pieces. These compositions dealt with the mood, with the poetry, with a certain character, in keeping with the aesthetic program of Romanticism. Moments musicaux , songs without words , what they have in common is the tendency towards the manageable, at home gatherings, in the salons of noble ladies.

The situation changed in the second half of the 19th century. The piano began to wander from the salon to the cafes, cabarets and artist pubs. The environment became more frivolous, in Montmartre , among bohemians, aestheticists. A grand piano and pianist were a must on the large transatlantic ships. In the years after the First World War, the term that we associate today with bar piano was born. Decisive were the rise of America and the upswing of jazz and swing in Europe and a politically, socially and morally radically changed society, in big cities like Berlin, a little later the emergence of the talkie . The first classical piano bars sprang up in New York; music from sound carriers was still unknown. Examples of pieces are We make music, Poor musician, You should be able to play the piano, and many more. After the Second World War, Paris became the center again: the legendary German bar pianist Simon Schott worked there in the 1950s . With the triumph of pop music, it seemed old-fashioned to the younger generation, boring compared to rock music. "Retro waves" bring styles of the past to life. Demanding company events employ a bar pianist. At the beginning of the 21st century, many different things are able to coexist at the same time - especially in Berlin there is an increasing number of bar pianos. The Viennese bar pianists established themselves in Vienna .

Bar pianist

Bar pianist on a cruise ship

A bar pianist never acts in concert on the stage in the foreground. Gerhard Köpf describes it: A good storyteller is like a bar pianist. The bar pianist is the embodiment of elegance and discretion, and he is an expert on soap bubbles and long-burst illusions . They have a repertoire that spans many styles of music. The interpretation is adapted to the current mood. Instead of an acoustic piano, an electric piano is sometimes used.

The atmosphere of a piano bar is shaped by a live bar pianist. Hotels and piano bars offer their guests an elegant and relaxing setting.

Chord symbols

The bar pianist needs knowledge of chord symbols and how they follow one another harmoniously. There is sheet music with a notation on the left hand, which, if it seems unsuitable, should be adapted with the "chord symbolism" recognizable from the score. The pianist achieves the "easy" splashing of the most beautiful melodies by adapting the accompaniment to the respective situation, the style of the piece and the emotional expression. He is able to “tinker” a stride accompaniment, a walking bass from the chord symbols or to work with chord splits and arpeggios . The notated arrangements are created by another person and not your own intuition. The goal of a bar pianist is to find and develop your own style.

literature

  • Simon Schott: This is how you play bar piano. Free and without grades. New piano technique of playing by heart and improvising, demonstrated on evergreens. Schott Music, Mainz 1996, ISBN 3-7957-5109-8
  • Reinhard Wallner: The secret of bar music - piano solo. For all keyboard instrument owners who like to play jazz. A standard work, designed for the bar musician - for learning and further education. As a reference work for chord ciphers. Weltmusikverlag, Vienna 2008, ISBN 3-9501993-3-0
  • Peter Galsai & Reinhard Wallner : "The professional bar piano studies" To learn how to play bar music professionally on the piano. Barmusik Records, ISBN 978-3-200-03144-9
  • Waldemar Grab: The man at the piano, guide for keyboard professionals. PPV Verlags GmbH 1997 ISBN 3-9802124-7-5

Music books for bar piano:

  • The Passion Of Bar Music. Weltmusikverlag Art. No. 96 1016
  • Viennese bar pianists , volume 1 to 3. Barmusik Records, Trumau 2010.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Brockhaus Music. Mannheim Leipzig ISBN 3-7653-0374-7
  2. ^ Van Gogh piano and cocktail bar in Berlin
  3. ^ Piano Bar, Charlottenburg
  4. ^ Literature and piano bar Froschkönig, Neukölln
  5. ↑ Gerhard Köpf, An old gentleman (2006 Klöpfer and Meyer, Tübingen. Ed.) ISBN 978-3-937667-82-9
  6. ↑ The professional bar piano studies To learn to play bar music professionally on the piano. Barmusik Records, ISBN 978-3-200-03144-9
  7. ↑ a b cf. Schott, 1996