Charley Wyser - Kumbaya

Topic: Instrumental Versions
Piano versions of "Kumbaya" were more common than other types of instrumentals on YouTube. They tended to be private renditions created to record milestones like childhood recitals or show others the secrets of playing the song. Many videos only showed the hands and keyboard.

Charley Wyser had long, slender fingers which were not placed on either side of middle C. Instead, the left hand hovered over the pair of black keys to the right of middle C while the right was over the three black keys further to the right. They stayed in the area covered by the treble and bass clefs, and made no large movements to either frontier.

His fingers obscured which keys were being pressed. However, one could see a number of black keys being used. Since "Kumbaya" usually exploits the simple, all-white, C-E-G chord, that transposition was the most notable thing about his version.

The introduction used chords played by both hands that set the moderately slow pace.

During the two repetitions of "Kumbaya" the melody was played by the right hand, usually solo. The left hand played chords or arpeggios between phrases. Beginning with the second line of the first repetition, Wyser introduced blues notes, and used a jazz motif on the final "ba yah" of the first iteration. The second repetition was similar to the first, only Wyser played a wider range of accompanying notes, many of them chromatic.

The interlude made no reference to the Kumbaya tune. Instead, the right hand played melodic phrases and the left played chords. The conclusion began with several repetitions of the final kumbaya phrase on black keys, followed by jazz melodies in the right hand that transferred to arpeggios by the left. It ended with deep-toned chords.

The continuity between parts was maintained by the fact the hands never stopped playing; there were no pauses like those used by Anthony Giamanco mentioned in the post for 3 September 2017.

The only visual signal that Wyser was an African-American musician was the color of his hands. His ability to intersperse jazz and blues elements into his version no doubt came from his exposure to jazz when he lived in Washington, D.C. But even with that freedom, he still did not alter the melody much and maintained the slow pacing associated by Anglo-Scots Protestants with proper religious music.

Performers
Instrument: acoustic piano; only the keyboard was visible

Credits
© 2012 Charley Wyser Musical Services, Inc.

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: slow
Key Signature: many black keys used

Basic Structure: two repetitions of four-line verse with introduction, interlude, and finale

Notes on Performers
Wyser was born in Los Angeles, where he first played trumpet and saxophone. He changed to classical piano before he entered Howard University. There, he studied jazz with John Malachi, [1] who once said pianists were either acrobats or poets, and he preferred to be the latter. [2]

After graduation Wyser moved to Minneapolis where he taught piano. In addition to private classes, he developed web-based courses that specialized in showing how to play blues piano. [3]

Availability
YouTube: uploaded by cwmsinc, 15 November 2012.

End Notes
1. International Double Reed Society. Annual meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 1993. Program notes.

2. Wikipedia. John Malachi.

3. "About Charley Wyser." Piano Lessons and Tips website.