New Year, New Challenge

[Sorrano]

I agree the digital keyboard can't compete with the real thing, but it does have a nice pitch and is solely for practicing on at present. I haven't tested out the metronome yet though I did try out the organ, harpsicord and the flute effect, which is rather pleasing. It all seems a bit too technical at the moment so I will get round to referring to the manual when I have a bit more time.

While I happen to be technologically minded I find that I've used very few of the extra-curricular features that the piano offers. I have adjusted the tuning to a scale that was more common in Beethoven's lifetime. It took a little getting used to. Mostly I've used it for practice and recording. Like I mentioned to Chris I haven't even touched the recording features it contains, mostly just recorded to external devices.

[Chris]

I find the internal recording function useful for a few of reasons:

1. Convenience - I don't have to have my PC there to record
2. Security - Sometimes when recording directly to the PC there are little digital glitches, so if this happens you can just replay the performance from the piano and try it again without having to play it all over again
3. It is really recording MIDI data, so you can do things like easily speed it up and slow it down after the fact, which can be a useful practice tool

But in general I don't use most of the fancy gadgets either. I don't even use the other voices on mine. It has a "Classical Piano", which purports to be like a Mozart and Beethoven-era piano, but it just sounds like a more mellow version of the regular grand piano and nothing like a fortepiano at all. It has a nice harpsichord sound, but the action is nothing at all like a harpsichord. It has an organ sound that is alright, I suppose, but the action and lack of ability to change stops makes it useless for anything but playing around.

One of these days I really must get a brand new Steinway Model D. And a house it can fit in...

[Sorrano]

But in general I don't use most of the fancy gadgets either. I don't even use the other voices on mine. It has a "Classical Piano", which purports to be like a Mozart and Beethoven-era piano, but it just sounds like a more mellow version of the regular grand piano and nothing like a fortepiano at all. It has a nice harpsichord sound, but the action is nothing at all like a harpsichord. It has an organ sound that is alright, I suppose, but the action and lack of ability to change stops makes it useless for anything but playing around.

One of these days I really must get a brand new Steinway Model D. And a house it can fit in...

Like you, I pretty much ignore the harpsichord and other piano sounds. The organ I do find useful for practicing purposes when I am unable to get access to an organ (sometimes I use the strings for this, as well). A former organ teacher suggested moving the feet as though there were pedals there so it has been helpful doing that. Otherwise, those sounds aren't very useful except for playing around.

[Megan]

Meters

Reading through a book on music, I came across this amusing excerpt.


A term musicians use a lot is the word meter , which describes a regular musical pattern of beats per measure. Just like the dials on your gas meter, musical meter has different bits that you need to get to know. So whether you're reading music or your gas meter, you have to know what each bit means. But musical meter is much more fun and you don't have to pay for it!

[Euan Mackinnon]

Good luck Megan.

I've recently started to learn the bassoon so we're in the same boat. At present I'm learning the hard way a lot about the physics of acoustics and how much of a compromise the position of the holes etc is. Keeping the thing in tune is a real headache. Either that or I have invented a new temperament. The main problem, though, is that where I live there doesn't appear to be any bassoon teachers, no Peter to give me helpful advice.

Still, I love the sound of the bassoon (when played properly) and am driven on by the (very) distant prospect of playing in some amateur group.

Talking of pianos, I have just finished reading a lovely, gentle little book: The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by T E Carhart. I would recommend it to anyone interested in pianos.

Euan

[Megan]

Good luck Megan.

I've recently started to learn the bassoon so we're in the same boat. At present I'm learning the hard way a lot about the physics of acoustics and how much of a compromise the position of the holes etc is. Keeping the thing in tune is a real headache. Either that or I have invented a new temperament. The main problem, though, is that where I live there doesn't appear to be any bassoon teachers, no Peter to give me helpful advice.

Still, I love the sound of the bassoon (when played properly) and am driven on by the (very) distant prospect of playing in some amateur group.

Talking of pianos, I have just finished reading a lovely, gentle little book: The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by T E Carhart. I would recommend it to anyone interested in pianos.

Euan

Thank you for the book recommendation Euan. It must frustrating that you don't have a tutor near you. Perhaps what the internet offers may be helpful also there is wealth of good quality teach yoursef books.
Here is an interesting link on bassoon lessons, not sure if it is too basic for you. Have you played any other instrument?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLfH38m-VF8

[Sorrano]

Euan, check for oboe teachers, as well. They might have some good tips for playing double reed instruments.

[Euan Mackinnon]

Megan, Sorrano

Thanks for your suggestions. I shall follow both of them up.

Euan

[Enrique]

I had a Yamaha YPP-50, and by that time there already existed keyboards with a harder action (one of these was call Clavinola, and was used by Bruno Gelber when he was out of reach of his piano). Mine was very soft, a bit harder than that of an organ. When I sit down beside the proffesor, she said: "Do not push the keys". Then I came back home, and the Yamaha keys seemed so soft! But again I got used to these soft keys, and when back again at the conservarory, I was "pushing" the keys again. And the piano in that classroom was not very hard. What a torture and wrong decision that piano was for me. I also thought: "Perfect, everlasting tuning".

[Megan]

Playing the piano with nails this long is just too stupid for words.




Article found in Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...X-Airport.html

Just imagine her long finger nails all clacking around on the wrong keys. Stupid!

[Sorrano]

I had a Yamaha YPP-50, and by that time there already existed keyboards with a harder action (one of these was call Clavinola, and was used by Bruno Gelber when he was out of reach of his piano). Mine was very soft, a bit harder than that of an organ. When I sit down beside the proffesor, she said: "Do not push the keys". Then I came back home, and the Yamaha keys seemed so soft! But again I got used to these soft keys, and when back again at the conservarory, I was "pushing" the keys again. And the piano in that classroom was not very hard. What a torture and wrong decision that piano was for me. I also thought: "Perfect, everlasting tuning".

It's nice to have both a "real" piano and a digital one. Maybe I am not so sensitive, but I do not feel very much difference between one and the other as far as the finger action goes. The built in metronome in the digital, though, is extremely valuable to me.

[Sorrano]

Playing the piano with nails this long is just too stupid for words.



Just imagine her long finger nails all clacking around on the wrong keys. Stupid!

I can hardly play if my nails are a little on the long side. Once I recall doing a b minor scale and catching my nail between a black key and a white key. That hurt and to this day it's the most difficult scale for me to master because of that. All I can say of that picture is "EEEEEEK!"

[Quijote]

[...]"Perfect, everlasting tuning".

"I have a dream ..."

[Quijote]

Playing the piano with nails this long is just too stupid for words.




Article found in Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...X-Airport.html

Just imagine her long finger nails all clacking around on the wrong keys. Stupid!

Cor Megan, is that you on the Yamaha? Bloody hell!

[Megan]

Cor Megan, is that you on the Yamaha? Bloody hell!

I once had a petticoat that looked like her dress, if that is what she is wearing.