Personal Information: (December, 2011) I am a 76-year-old retiree currently living in Cape Coral, Florida with my loving wife of 54 years. We moved here in the mid-1990’s after our 3 children "left the nest" and I retired from my career as a research engineer/manager with NASA. During our early years in sunny Florida, I tried the normal outdoor things like boating, golfing, etc. But after encountering some medical problems, I decided to try a less strenuous hobby that I could do indoors in air conditioned comfort. So I returned to my childhood musical roots and bought a keyboard, and I’ve been struggling with keyboards ever since.
Musical Experience: I had 8 years of classical piano training as a boy, but I quit that in my mid-teens when I became more interested in doing other things that teenagers typically do. After that, I didn’t touch any kind of musical instrument for many years. But later I purchased a Hammond organ for our kids (and me) to learn music appreciation when they were growing up. I played around with that for several years, but I never really had the time to get serious with it.
In 2006, I decided to make a concerted effort in learning to play a keyboard. After doing some online research, I bought a PSR-3000. Then I quickly came to the realization that I not only had to learn how to operate this new contraption, but I also had to refresh my long-dormant playing skills. Fortunately, I found this very helpful forum that was critical in learning how to use the many features of the keyboards. And "practice, practice, practice" helped revitalize some of the playing capabilities that I once h
ad. As I progressed on this musical journey, I got more serious about playing. So I upgraded to a Tyros2 in 2008 and then to a Tyros3 in 2010.
I have to admit that I’m not really a "performer" as are many in this group. I primarily play in my home for my own enjoyment, but I occasionally play outside volunteer gigs for local nursing homes and clubs. I most enjoy arranging the various songs. I generally use styles that have been developed by others for specific songs, but I tweak them to my liking. Then I spend considerable time in developing the melody voices that I like for each song. That’s primarily why I like the Tyros series of keyboards since I can blend up to 3 voices to get those particular "sounds" that suit my tastes for each song.
Song Postings: In selecting songs for this page, I chose songs that I recorded on all 3 of my keyboards to indicate my progression over the past 5 years. I thought this might be helpful for other keyboard "newbies" that might be following in similar footsteps in the future. I included both MP3 and MIDI versions of all songs since I found that I learned much by inspecting the details of MIDI files made by more experienced performers.
All of these songs were "Quick" recorded (initially as MIDI files) since I have not yet mastered use of the more complex multi-recording features of the keyboards or external sequencers. I hope that you will enjoy listening to some of these songs. Any suggestions/critiques you might have are certainly welcome.
Note: Neal has provided a gig disk collection that includes almost three hundred song-named styles. Check it out on Neal's Gig Disk page.
Neal's MIDI Songs
Neal provided 70 songs in midi format. These were created on the Tyros3 (T3), Tyros2 (T2), or PSR-3000 (3k). Individual songs are shown in the table below and any one song can be downloaded by right-clicking on the song link. The table displays the song title, tempo (T), time signature (TS), lyrics (L), chords (C), where possible, the style used, the original volume (V), and the keyboard used (K). You can download all of Neal's 70 MIDI songs here: NS-3k-T3.zip
Title | T | TS | L | C | Style | V | K |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alfie | 77 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
All Of Me | 130 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
All The Way | 85 | 4/4 | N | Y | SloPianoBallad | 07 | T3 |
Amazing Grace | 90 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
American Patrol | 145 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
And The Angels Sing | 120 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
Autumn In New Yorl | 96 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
AwayInAManger | 88 | 4/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Begin The Beguine | 116 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Besame Mucho | 108 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
Blue Bayou | 100 | 4/4 | N | Y | Blue Bayou1 (GD) | 07 | T3 |
Blue Skies | 120 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
Blue Christmas | 96 | 4/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Born Free | 96 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
But Beautiful | 106 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
Cabaret | 190 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
Can You Feel The Love Tonight | 87 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
Christmas Song, The | 85 | 4/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Come Fly With Me | 116 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
Don't Be Cruel | 150 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Don't Know Much | 116 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
Everythings Coming Up Roses | 120 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
The First Noel | 87 | 3/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Glory Of Love | 103 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
Hark The Herald Angels Sing | 90 | 4/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Have I Told You Lately | 105 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas | 96 | 4/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Heartbreak Hotel | 85 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Hello Dolly | 170 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
How Deep Is Your Love | 100 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
How Insensitive | 130 | 4/4 | N | Y | Bossa1 (EL) | 07 | T3 |
How Sweet It Is | 67 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
I Dreamed A Dream | 72 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
If Ever I Would Leave You | 84 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
I'll Be Home For Christmas | 120 | 4/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
In The Mood | 130 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
It Don't Mean A Thing | 186 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
It's A Blue World | 125 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
Jambalaya | 154 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
Last Date | 86 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Little Drummer Boy | 120 | 4/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Makin' Whoopie | 120 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
Mame | 130 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
Meditation | 135 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Memory (from Cats) | 68 | 6/8 | N | Y | Moonlight 6-8 | 07 | T3 |
Michelle | 108 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Misty | 80 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
Moonlight Serenade | 82 | 4/4 | N | Y | 04 | T3 | |
My Way | 84 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
Nothin' But The Blues | 82 | 4/4 | N | Y | Blues Ballad2 (EL) | 07 | T3 |
One (from Chorus Line) | 126 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
Perfidia | 108 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
Que Sera, Sera | 172 | 3/4 | N | Y | QueSeraSera | 07 | T3 |
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head | 120 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Seventy Six Trombones | 102 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
Silent Night | 86 | 3/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Silver Bells | 90 | 3/4 | N | Y | 06 | T3 | |
Solitude | 110 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
SongSungBlue | 115 | 4/4 | N | Y | CountrySwing | 07 | T3 |
So Nice (Summer Samba) | 96 | 4/4 | N | Y | BrazilianSamba | 07 | T3 |
Spanish Eyes | 118 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Tangerine | 114 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
The Nearness Of You | 90 | 4/4 | N | Y | 01 | 3k | |
Tie A Yellow Ribbon | 100 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
True WhoCanITurnTo-NS07T3.midLove | 90 | 3/4 | N | Y | Dream Waltz (Henni) | 07 | T3 |
Walkin' After Midnght | 95 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
We've Only Just Begun | 96 | 4/4 | N | Y | 05 | T3 | |
What I Did For Love | 90 | 4/4 | N | Y | 02 | T2 | |
When I'm 64 | 130 | 4/4 | N | Y | 03 | T2 | |
Who Can I Turn To | 98 | 4/4 | N | Y | MovieSwing | 07 | T3 |