New Piano Day

TimmyO · March 2016

Well ok, "ordered a new digital piano for delivery tomorrow day"

It's ostensibly for the eldest lad (10) who has been having some lessons and enjoying it, but I am going to have a dabble myself.

Who here plays?

stickyfiddle · March 2016

A little. Had lessons right through school and was pretty decent by 16 or so, but then I got a guitar, and then another guitar and another....

I have a Yamaha P85 in the spare room and still have the muscle-memory-bit fairly good but the brain part slows me down significantly. I honestly haven't played it in a year.

TimmyO · March 2016

Cool.

Yes I went for a Yamaha - P115 on the way

stickyfiddle · March 2016

Nice. I don't think that even existed when I got mine

Sporky · March 2016

Lady BMcH plays - she has a Casio thingy at the mo which is surprisingly decent, but the plan is to upgrade that to one of the posh Roland modelling jobbies.

Phil_aka_Pip · March 2016

I keep an upright and a Rhodes MkI 73 key stage piano. Never had a lesson in my life and my mum says I use all the wrong fingers but I can get a tune out of them, and have written more songs at the piano than with a guitar

TimmyO · March 2016

Rhodes - nice!

TimmyO · March 2016

Sporky;1012764" said:
Lady BMcH plays - she has a Casio thingy at the mo which is surprisingly decent, but the plan is to upgrade that to one of the posh Roland modelling jobbies.

Yes I nearly got a Casio - was recommended one of the Privia models as well as the Yamaha

Has anyone here learned as an adult? Lessons? Books? Apps?

Sporky · March 2016

Yup - Lady BMcH did, mostly from books with the odd YT video I think. I can certainly enquire.

TimmyO · March 2016

Thanks Andi

thecolourbox · March 2016

I'm much more of a piano player than a guitarist, mine is a Yamaha but an acoustic, always had a real one so have never even looked at a digital to know anything about them.

Whether it's simply because I'm better at piano than guar I don't know bit I think you learn a lot more actual musicianship from playing piano than guitar. Also guitar solos tend to be a lot easier to play on piano than guitar

I would love a Rhodes

Sporky · March 2016

Lady BMcH has recommended the kiddy (ie not adult or accelerated) Piano Adventures. series. Very enthusiastically. Includes sight reading, theory and repertoire. If Mrs O can read music at all then you can skip the primers and start at level 1.

Performance book

Lesson book

Technique and artistry book

Sightreading book

She also strongly recommends ignoring Allan Chan's youtube stuff. The Piano Adventures website is apparently very good too, links in with the books.

fretmeister · March 2016

A bit. I did 5 years of lessons from about 7 years old. Forgotten most, but I like to dabble. If I had the room I'd love to get an old upright.

TimmyO · March 2016

Sporky said:

Lady BMcH has recommended the kiddy (ie not adult or accelerated) Piano Adventures. series. Very enthusiastically. Includes sight reading, theory and repertoire. If Mrs O can read music at all then you can skip the primers and start at level 1.

Performance book

Lesson book

Technique and artistry book

Sightreading book

She also strongly recommends ignoring Allan Chan's youtube stuff. The Piano Adventures website is apparently very good too, links in with the books.

Thanks :-)

It's for me not Mrs O - she can already play, and Cal has his lessons - I'll probably not keep it up but would like to have a go...

Sporky · March 2016

Ah! Sorry, yes, got myself confused there.

From a listening point of view they're packed full of decent tunes.

ArchtopDave · March 2016

I feel a bit guilty. I've got a Baby Grand in my sitting room. My daughter was at one time learning, and I acquired it from someone who couldn't fit it in the smaller property that they were moving to. Had it reconditioned and restrung a few years ago - cost an arm and a leg.

TimmyO · March 2016

Nice.

No volume control on it though I'm guessing? :-)

I can hear Cal on his now - thankfully at moderate volume - he's been faffing around practicing and just making things up for about 2 hours. A good purchase so far.

jackio · March 2016

I'd love a Rhodes. However, I have the Chapel piano my grandparents bought in the 1930s. Cost more than their house in Grimsby, so I'm told. We all learnt on it as kids, did all the grades, now I hack Queen and Lord Elton of John on it. And some music too

Baby grand, yes please.

rolls1392 · March 2016

Just got a Yamaha and learning from YT. Good fun!

TimmyO · March 2016

rolls1392 said:

Just got a Yamaha and learning from YT. Good fun!

any channel in particular?

StanleyAccrington · March 2016

I would love it if I could walk into a music/piano shop, sit on a piano stool and play the intro to Griegs piano concerto (the one played by Andrew Preview on the Morcambe and Wise sketch). Then just walk out!!

thecolourbox · March 2016

I'll probably look like a right douche (even more than usual) when I say this, but in Birmingham city centre there is a piano in one of the shopping areas where children tend to plinky plonky about on it playing Titanic or Sam Smith. I one day I was annoyed with then so I did precisely that, except I did the last bit (the loud bit) of Rachmaninoff's prelude in c# minor... Scared them right off

TimmyO · March 2016

haha, nice

Sassafras · March 2016

There's an old upright in Brighton station for any old dosser who wants to tinkle the ivories. A couple of weeks ago there was a young girl playing for over an hour and it was world concert class virtuosity. I didn't know the music, all classical, but she put on a mesmerizing show for anyone that was interested.

rolls1392 · March 2016

TimmyO. Try Alison Sparrow. Stuff she does is pretty straightforward.

Phil_aka_Pip · March 2016

ArchtopDave said:

I feel a bit guilty. I've got a Baby Grand in my sitting room. My daughter was at one time learning, and I acquired it from someone who couldn't fit it in the smaller property that they were moving to. Had it reconditioned and restrung a few years ago - cost an arm and a leg.

Wish I had a house big enough for a baby grand!

TimmyO · March 2016

rolls1392 said:

TimmyO. Try Alison Sparrow. Stuff she does is pretty straightforward.

Cheers. Looks good

LoFi · March 2016

StanleyAccrington said:

I would love it if I could walk into a music/piano shop, sit on a piano stool and play the intro to Griegs piano concerto (the one played by Andrew Preview on the Morcambe and Wise sketch). Then just walk out!!

You mean you can't?

viz · April 2016

thecolourbox said:

I'll probably look like a right douche (even more than usual) when I say this, but in Birmingham city centre there is a piano in one of the shopping areas where children tend to plinky plonky about on it playing Titanic or Sam Smith. I one day I was annoyed with then so I did precisely that, except I did the last bit (the loud bit) of Rachmaninoff's prelude in c# minor... Scared them right off

@colourbox - Great!!! Would have loved to have seen that! I filmed Valentina Lisitsa in St Pancras playing Liszt a couple of years ago. She played for an hour, it was a proper concert to about 12 people!

thecolourbox · April 2016

I love it when proper players just rock up in public places looking like an average member of the public then blast out something like that - leaving nothing but shocked faces pn passers by, and slightly dismayed faces on other buskers belting out Wonderwall. There often to used to be conservatoire students playing a piano on wheels when I lived in Vienna, they used to play a lot of Liszt etudes and I often recognised the odd Shostakovich thrown in with the one girl who used to play there. Meanwhile I was playing Brahms and Liszt in a side street cocktail bar, albeit much more in the rhyming slang sense rather than literally.

Piano is a beautiful instrument, and one that is genuinely fascinating to watch being played as well - it's a truly full body workout at times

viz · April 2016

Yes I love the sound of percussive or plucked stringed instruments more than anything else - piano, guitar, harp - and I think it's because as soon as you've generated a note it starts to die, and that's a beautiful thing. We have volume knobs and volume pedals and distortion but a pianist has to use the next note to create crescendo and the illusion of swell. Awesome.

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