Search found 4028 matches
- by Gill the Piano
- 04 Apr 2005, 18:05
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: What age is best?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 9526
Sorry - pressed the wrong button before I'd finished! :oops: No child can learn from books/tapes/CD's/internet alone; if she starts a bad habit, no book/tape etc. will pick up on it! And unless you're a pianist, neither will you :) .... I think ease of action is important for a beginner, but to be h...
- by Gill the Piano
- 04 Apr 2005, 17:57
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: What age is best?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 9526
If the teacher suggested it, then they obviously feel that your child can handle it. She will have to learn to read the bass clef - and the younger you do that the better. Financially, the only way to get a cheaper lesson is to get both violin and pianolessons at the same place - is there a local Mu...
- by Gill the Piano
- 04 Apr 2005, 17:49
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Sticky piano Keys
- Replies: 6
- Views: 10323
- by Gill the Piano
- 04 Apr 2005, 17:46
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Some keys not sounding
- Replies: 15
- Views: 21069
Fan heaters are a bit vicious - you could try just leaving the top of the piano open to get a little air circulating in it. Or even take the front (top door) off completely. I have occasionally (when the piano has been required for a party or a lesson that evening, not allowing time for recentring) ...
- by Gill the Piano
- 30 Mar 2005, 18:32
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Piano lock
- Replies: 2
- Views: 4976
Heckschers of Bayham Street London will sell you keys, but you need to know whether it's a hollow key, a triangle or a solid one. Have a look in the hole - if there's a central spline it's a hollow one, if it's triangle - shaped it's..er...triangle, and if it's got nothing but a hole, then it's prob...
- by Gill the Piano
- 28 Mar 2005, 10:32
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Sight-reading in Associated Board exams
- Replies: 28
- Views: 34287
- by Gill the Piano
- 28 Mar 2005, 10:31
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Sight-reading in Associated Board exams
- Replies: 28
- Views: 34287
If you were to contact the Associated Board at Potland Square, London, they have a publication whose name escapes me (Allegro? Can't remember - getting old and stupid! :roll: ) sent to teachers and people who enter themselves for exams. In one of these I'm fairly sure there was an in-depth discussio...
- by Gill the Piano
- 26 Mar 2005, 16:50
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: W H Barnes / Knight circa 1939
- Replies: 1
- Views: 5014
Alfred Knight gave his factory over for the war effort, and I think they made Spitfires there. The Knight pianos are generally well-made and nice instruments, but everything depends upon its condition. The only real way of getting a true valuation is to ask a technician or tuner to have a look for y...
- by Gill the Piano
- 26 Mar 2005, 15:58
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Allison Grand
- Replies: 9
- Views: 13238
- by Gill the Piano
- 24 Mar 2005, 18:51
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Picking out the melody
- Replies: 1
- Views: 7710
No. don't belt it, just use a heavier arm weight on the top notes by leaning into the notes you want to bring out. Practise hands separately - you'll hear better what's going on if you do it one hand at a time. Basically you need to practise, practise, practise until you drive everyone else mad. I f...
- by Gill the Piano
- 23 Mar 2005, 19:17
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Allison Grand
- Replies: 9
- Views: 13238
It's a bit like asking what Rolls Royces are like - depends how old and how it's been looked after! Allison were one of the leading British makes at the beginning of the twentieth century and very solidly made. The uprights I tune are very good for their age, but the only grand I tune is in dire nee...
- by Gill the Piano
- 20 Mar 2005, 23:34
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Itching to start, but not sure how :S
- Replies: 2
- Views: 6646
Digital's better than nothing, but a proper piano lasts longer and keeps its value.From a teaching point of view, the touch of a digital is not the same, whatever they tell you in the shops, and neither is the sound, certainly not at the lower end of the price spectrum. Five hundred quid will get yo...
- by Gill the Piano
- 19 Mar 2005, 18:16
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Ease of tuning versus length of strings
- Replies: 12
- Views: 16102
- by Gill the Piano
- 19 Mar 2005, 16:47
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Ease of tuning versus length of strings
- Replies: 12
- Views: 16102
- by Gill the Piano
- 18 Mar 2005, 16:21
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Ease of tuning versus length of strings
- Replies: 12
- Views: 16102
Do a proper course; electronic gizmos are fine, but you're not learning anything - the gizmo tells you what to do but not why you're doing it. Also, if you have a piano with false beats (like a small grand! :? ) the gizmo can't cope. It's built to tune perfect pianos, and any tuner will tell you the...
- by Gill the Piano
- 17 Mar 2005, 18:05
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Ease of tuning versus length of strings
- Replies: 12
- Views: 16102
Yes - don't! They can be really false with odd harmonics. Where are you going to do the tuning course? They'll probably warn you off small pianos to start with, and ease you into it with just a strung piano back which you pluck first - it's easier to hear the soundwaves on a plucked string. You'd be...
- by Gill the Piano
- 16 Mar 2005, 16:50
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Discount dealers
- Replies: 7
- Views: 12631
- by Gill the Piano
- 15 Mar 2005, 18:55
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Discount dealers
- Replies: 7
- Views: 12631
Some of these big dealers pay exactly what the small ones do for their stock, but sell at a smaller profit margin; I think the logic is that if they sell a piano cheaply and provide a good service (free delivery and first tuning, etc) then people who are pleased with their service will recommend the...
- by Gill the Piano
- 11 Mar 2005, 16:50
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Help Please! Thompson's Easiest Piano Course
- Replies: 2
- Views: 7564
- by Gill the Piano
- 09 Mar 2005, 18:20
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: do you know this tune?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 8410
- by Gill the Piano
- 07 Mar 2005, 21:30
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Schimmell too difficult for amateur?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 10624
I agree with everything Barrie has said; it might be a Schimmelly thing as one I tune does have a slightly 'muted' sounding bass, but that's only one of five that I tune. If you're unhappy, you could bring in an independent -ie, not linked to the shop where you got the piano - tuner, and ask his opi...
- by Gill the Piano
- 01 Mar 2005, 18:14
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Kemble Millenium Quantum
- Replies: 14
- Views: 18485
- by Gill the Piano
- 28 Feb 2005, 21:54
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Very out of tune after 6 months?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 6645
What is also relevant is the amount of time between its last tuning and the one before that; if someone is selling a piano privately, they don't want it. If they don't want it they haven't been playing it, and if they haven't been playing it they're not going to spend out on having it tuned. A tunin...
- by Gill the Piano
- 27 Feb 2005, 21:58
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Adult re-starter
- Replies: 4
- Views: 10224
Despite the government cutbacks, most places have public libraries (for the moment, at least! :roll: ) where you can borrow sheet music. If you find a local library with a sheet music section you can go and have a browse and see what appeals to you. I also haunt second-hand bookshops and charity sho...
- by Gill the Piano
- 27 Feb 2005, 21:48
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Digital - are they any good
- Replies: 8
- Views: 13810
If I might be sexist at this point, Quinie...it's always men who think something with lots of bells, whistles, switches and buttons to press will be a good idea. This observation is based on over 20 years tuning real pianos for women whose husbands/other halves periodically try to make them buy some...
- by Gill the Piano
- 26 Feb 2005, 18:07
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Are big pianos louder?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 6458
- by Gill the Piano
- 26 Feb 2005, 18:02
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: sticking notes on chinese piano
- Replies: 8
- Views: 13539
There's felt in the bottom of the keys which bushes a hole where the key locates over a pin. All you need to know is that new felt is fat and fluffy, it gets fatter and fluffier if the air's damp, and then it grips the pin so the key sticks down. The tuner/regulator can ease the keys (squash the fel...
- by Gill the Piano
- 24 Feb 2005, 20:04
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Will I get used to a heavier touch?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 6787
If it's a new piano you can ask the dealer to send a technician who can regulate it for you, perhaps on its first tuning. Any competent technician should be able to do this, so your own tuner would be able to do it or recommend someone who can. Sometimes a heavy touch can be due to tight centre pins...
- by Gill the Piano
- 17 Feb 2005, 22:01
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Which upright for beginner?
- Replies: 9
- Views: 16348
The Boyd seems expensive when you can get a good second-hand Yamaha or Kawai for only a little more than that. Also an older piano can be unhappy in a modern centrally-heated house, whereas with a newer one you don't have to think about it as long as you don't actually park it on top of a radiator o...
- by Gill the Piano
- 15 Feb 2005, 18:15
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Can Down's symdrome child learn to play piano?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 8983
I've taught a Down's lad in a very rudimentary fashion; we had different coloured stickers on the keys, and I simply drew coloured blobs on a page (eg, Jingle Bells was red red red, red red red, red blue green pink red). Matthew had a terrific memory and was an excellent mimic, so once I'd demonstra...
- by Gill the Piano
- 13 Feb 2005, 19:08
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Good price for a Welmar?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 6421
Depends on the dealer; it sounds like the price some of the more expensive dealers near London might charge, certainly. I like the Welmar piano, as you've got the power available with the control to play softly if you want to. I've often said that if I had to have a modern piano on under five grand ...
- by Gill the Piano
- 13 Feb 2005, 14:24
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: 5 yr old wanting to learn
- Replies: 5
- Views: 10370
My parents were utterly bemused by my wanting to play the piano as well; neither of them played a note either. It's actually a help for the child, believe it or not...my friend's parents were always telling her to play louder/softer, lift/drop her wrists, play louder/softer, and so on, until, severe...
- by Gill the Piano
- 09 Feb 2005, 19:12
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: A question about chords
- Replies: 5
- Views: 10088
You can get picture chord books which have photos of hands in the apposite positions for various chords - is that any help? For me chords are too much like maths for comfort and I go all of a doo-dah if I have to work 'em out, so a book like that would be useful for me in your situation. However, it...
- by Gill the Piano
- 03 Feb 2005, 18:54
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Reading sheet music
- Replies: 3
- Views: 9750
- by Gill the Piano
- 02 Feb 2005, 18:12
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: My piano won't stay tuned
- Replies: 5
- Views: 10286
Are the three notes which won't stay in tune in a pattern of 'every other note' on the keyboard? If so, there's probably a crack running along the wrestplank. You (or your tuner) might be able to wedge something beside the offending strings to silence them - loo paper often works! Not an approved re...
- by Gill the Piano
- 31 Jan 2005, 18:23
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: To recondition or to buy another piano?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 3646
The price sounds fairly right to me. Unfortunately you can't budget for sentiment; I speak as a woman who's spent more on her Morris Minor than it'll ever be worth... Some years ago I had a similar dilemma; the piano my parents had bought me was no longer capable of giving me the sound I needed, but...
- by Gill the Piano
- 31 Jan 2005, 18:15
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: My piano won't stay tuned
- Replies: 5
- Views: 10286
Is the piano action an overdamped action? In other words,when you look in the top of the piano, is there a long strip of wood running from left to right across the top of the hammers (bits that hit the strings)? If so, I have managed to revive a couple of 'untuneables' by standing old (small) margar...
- by Gill the Piano
- 28 Jan 2005, 18:46
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Seem to have a natural ear for music but reading is so hard!
- Replies: 14
- Views: 19478
- by Gill the Piano
- 28 Jan 2005, 18:40
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Reading sheet music
- Replies: 3
- Views: 9750
Gawd...I know what it is, but I'm not sure how to tell you without lots of pointing and hand-waving. I'll see if I can explain... basically, the bracketed bars are part iof a repeat. You play bars 1 - 10, then go back and play bars 1 - 8 again, but carry on to bar 11 and 12 omitting the bracket mark...
- by Gill the Piano
- 28 Jan 2005, 18:06
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: invalid session
- Replies: 6
- Views: 10620
- by Gill the Piano
- 28 Jan 2005, 18:04
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: starter piano
- Replies: 9
- Views: 13074
- by Gill the Piano
- 27 Jan 2005, 23:15
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: invalid session
- Replies: 6
- Views: 10620
- by Gill the Piano
- 27 Jan 2005, 23:08
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: starter piano
- Replies: 9
- Views: 13074
- by Gill the Piano
- 14 Jan 2005, 22:06
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: John Spencer Piano
- Replies: 16
- Views: 24570
Do you mean keys -ie, the bits you press - or hammers -ie, the bits that hit the strings? Hammers would be more likely; they are often missing (usually found rattling around inside the bottom of the piano) and most piano supply houses sell replacement parts, but the size of the hammer varies dependi...
- by Gill the Piano
- 07 Jan 2005, 18:13
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Any harm on pianos when not tuned????
- Replies: 3
- Views: 7933
- by Gill the Piano
- 06 Jan 2005, 18:05
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Teaching piano
- Replies: 4
- Views: 6763
They ALL lie about practising at some point (God knows I did...and sometimes still do :twisted: ) but some of them do it all the time and look at you as though they want to call Childline if you suggest half an hour's practice a day would be beneficial. I once tried to teach a four year old who had ...
- by Gill the Piano
- 03 Jan 2005, 20:45
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Teaching piano
- Replies: 4
- Views: 6763
Why would you need to insur yourself? Would you injure them, or would they injure you?! :shock: I started teaching in a small informal way from Grade VI onwards...it depends whether you're doing this for a career or pocket money. If it's as a career then the Incorporated Society of Musicians would p...
- by Gill the Piano
- 29 Dec 2004, 19:03
- Forum: Learning & Teaching Piano
- Topic: Where To Start?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 4565
Splendid that you're taking the plunge! The best way to find a teacher is unquestionably by recommendation. If you have friends who are learning and they like their teacher and are happy with their progress, then ask their teacher if they are willing to give you a trial lesson to make sure you like ...
- by Gill the Piano
- 29 Dec 2004, 18:50
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Merry Christmas
- Replies: 2
- Views: 5728
- by Gill the Piano
- 17 Dec 2004, 19:29
- Forum: Piano Advice
- Topic: Wendl & Young VS samick (reid-sohn)
- Replies: 7
- Views: 13723
Have you thought about the Bristol Piano Company? They're in Whiteladies Road, Bristol, I think, and although they're millions of miles from here (Buckinghamshire) I have 2 clients who have bought from them because they were so reasonable. They are willing to come down on prices more than your avera...
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