DAVID J. HAHN

Mandy’s Broadway Stroll

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George Gershwin used to work as a song plugger, which was an early form of artist promotions I guess you could say.  He’d try to get people excited about songs so they’d buy the sheet music.  He’d play four-handed versions onto piano rolls (two hands at a time) and play those for the customers.  There are books out there of these 4-handed Gershwin arrangements from someone that transcribed those old piano rolls.

There’s a long tradition of pianists dubbing over themselves on recordings.  Bill Evans also dabbled in dubbing on his 1963 album, Conversations With Myself.

This recording is my own 4-hand piano-roll arrangment of a song written in 1989 by Thomas E. Broady.  Broady was a contemporary of Scott Joplin and lived in Nashville, Tennessee.  Does it make you want to buy the sheet music?

The Cascades by Scott Joplin

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You have to practice ragtime music S-L-O-W.  Imagine this S-L-O-W.  No, S-L-O-W-E-R.  It’s a terribly tedious thing.  But if you don’t do that it’ll be totally sloppy when you play it at speed, and you’re left hand will be locked up and tense while it jumps around.  S-L-O-W.

It’s a long process to work up a Joplin piece, but here!  You can have the beginning of this one for now.  Take two doses with a shot of brandy.  Wear your top hat.