Tony Banks Classical origins

[@johndominick67]

Excellent Howard!

[@johndominick67]

Awesome Howard! You make everything you play seem so effortless..

[@turnerthemanc]

Carnival of the Animals is probably my favorite suite of music.

[@englishservices]

I've discovered chord progression in Scriabin's 5th piano sonata which remind me very much of the passage in "Supper's Ready" that goes "Wand'ring in the Chaos the battle has left."

[@ancienbelge]

Neat playing and examples. Alternating hand passages didn't start with Debussy, of course :) I believe even one of the Goldberg Variations has a passage like that, and some Scarlatti sonatas do as well...

[@hboder]

yes thats probably right. I've found a lot of Bach in Debussy e.g. 2nd piece from well tempered Klavier

[@Dustydreams930]

The Ripples comparison is striking and that sequence echoes another watery-themed piece with an overt Chopin influence, the opening of Firth of Fifth...

[@diegomorales8616]

I've read interviews where Banks mentioned Rachmaninov and Ravel. I suspect he's (at least) referring to Rachmaninov's piano concerto number 3 in the first few minutes when the strings take the opening melody and the piano does the cross hand technique thing.

[@richardbeaupre6723]

Amazing analysis and great playing. Thanks so much, from Canada.

[@hubertvancalenbergh9022]

The middle section of Mad Man Moon.

[@adrianh63]

Discovery of Tony's technique Thanks you very much!

[@bwalle]

That you for those great references. I’ll have to look for sheet music to play the Saint-Saëns Aquarium and Chopin works. It would be great if you could expand on the classical themes Tony drew on during his early years. Cheers!

[@Zerpersande]

I hit subscribe just from the first sentence of your intro.

[@ancienbelge]

Overhand: check out this 1722 piece by French Baroque composer François Couperin kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqOYnJiZf8uGaKs from the third book of "L'art de toucher le clavecin" (the art of playing the harpsichord). The video is Grigori Sokolov playing it on piano

[@henryptak1726]

Just found your analysis of Tony Banks' use techniques used by French "impressionist" composers. Absolutely dead-on-target - you might include Debussy's "Snowflakes Are Dancing" (from "The Children's Corner" suite) in your example, as well as Ravel's "Jeux D'eau." Interestingly, it would seem that Tony may have gotten the idea for the title of "Dance on a Volcano" from Ravel's own description of his piece "La Valse". How about an analysis of Tony's use of tonic and dominant pedal points in your next installment?

[@javikles]

+Henry Ptak Hi, I think the technique that uses tony in the lamb lies down on broadway is Debussy Prelude Les tierces Alternees. Please If you know of any particular passage in Tony Banks music of Debussy, Ravel or chopin this information would help me in my work. Thank you

[@henryptak1726]

+javikles Yes, I'd completely forgotten about "Les Tierces Alternees" until you reminded me. Good call - from what I understand, Tony was attracted to science and maths as a schoolboy, and I suspect that the overhand technique currently under discussion here is indicative of where the logician in his temperament met the artist. I suspect the presence of some of Rachmaninoff in his technical development as a player (possibly the prelude in G sharp minor, Op. 32 #12?), just judging from the way he weaved lovely melodies into the middle of his figurations, as in the instrumental break from "Mad Man Moon". He was also very taken with the atmospheric sountrack work in some of the 60s Hammer horror films - I'm not aware of any Chopin influence, though. Can you recommend any?

[@javikles]

+Henry PtakI don´t know any part of chopin which is the direct influence to tony Banks. At the end of the video says something about Chopin.I speak little English and I can be wrong. What piece is touching the end of the video?

[@vinzsaint]

awesome! really interessing discovery everytime something more on TB. Btw, I saw play a little piece from ripples, do you have piano score about that part??

[@hboder]

I don't. I've worked it out though. I do have a piano score for the solo bit in the middle on the ARP synth as without that in front of me I get confused as the guitar is playing a complementary part so I always read that bit! (unless I forget the music and then I'm forced to do it by memory)

[@rizz7604]

Informative video, thanks for posting.

[@polara01]

very nice video much appreciated insight into the wizard tree of banks and that is helpful when trying to approach his pieces which can be very daunting to the amateur keyboardist (me) but watching your analysis helps me gain some confidence is to someday being able to perform some of these pieces and you're playing and technique by the way is wonderful! Thanks, Bob

[@rineric3214]

Thank you. Loved it. But, the mischief in me can't help but point out that you guys with English accents all seem to believe that water is woe tar. Not! Tony is the most wonderful composer, is he not?

[@oddities-whatnot]

That was very good, interesting insight

[@cjheaford]

You say Augmented chords, but it seems you are playing Diminished.

[@hboder]

yes!

[@wellylhakim3619]

Awesome

[@johnbeagley1195]

Interesting Howard!

[@Sileithel]

Very interesting, thank you very much! I was searching all over for the origin of this technique. Does it have a proper name? Because "over hand technique" is not specific enough.

[@diegomorales8616]

Tony Banks called it the "cross hand technique" on the Three Sides Live video interview.

[@davidstewart4780]

Sometimes I like to watch the closed captioning just to enhance learning. Unfortunately, Saint-saens is now "satsang" in the computer transcribed version. Anyone new to this information is doomed. The solution? Create an actual English cc track that is proofread. Also, what are the Chopin titles?

[@charleslsegal]

Mouvement de l'intestin de Debussy, peut-être?