Baldwin vs iPad

Smule marketing approached me the other day and asked me to record the Presto Agitato from Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op 27 No. 2 in C-shart minor, "The Moonlight".  Their concept was to juxtapose performances of this piece on the piano with the "Magic Piano" from Smule.  I mentioned I didn't know the piece and it would take some time to learn it.  They responded by asking if later in the week would work.  I chuckled and reminded them I wasn't Van Cliburn.  They asked to confirm whether later in the week would work...

Not that week but a week later (!), we recorded performances of the piece at Smule's offices in San Francisco with me on the piano and Naoko Maruko of Smule on the iPad.  Here is the final video:

Ironically, they didn't use my first recording.  They claimed the piano was too fast for the iPad—it couldn't keep up (not the performer but "Magic Piano" latency).  So, we came back two days later and recorded again at a slower tempo.  

It's a fun video.   Kudos to Smule marketing:  cute concept and nice editing.  And great job Naoko.  I think the piece might actually be harder to play on iPad than Baldwin.