Piano?

We've seen a few threads on guitars and whatnot. Anybody here play piano? Own a piano? Had a piano fall on your head?

My younger son is beginning lessons today. I figure he's an All-Star baseball player already. Might as well round him out a little. Actually, he's very enthusiastic. We'll see if it lasts!

Picked up a 1940's Chickering upright from Craigslist over the weekend. I've had some experience moving pianos, but it never gets any easier. Got it up some stairs and settled into my son's room, where I hope it can stay for some time.

Anybody got any words of wisdom? Amusing anecdotes? Anything?

"Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine."
- Ludwig van Beethoven

I have an old upright that I am trying to find a good home for. (actual ivory keys)

However, it needs work.

I believe after the piano acclimates to its new environment you are supposed to have them tuned. I once moved a piano and the owner played the theme from "The Entertainer" as we rolled through town . It seems most accomplished musicians write and compose on piano.

I've played all my life. I have a K. Kawaii GS-30 grand piano, a Roland GX-700 keyboard and an old Yamaha DX-7 synth. My main instrument is trumpet, but if I had it to do all over again, I would have gone with the piano. Best instrument there is, IMO. BTW, my son Brad took it up at 6 years old. He's now a pipe organ performance major at Baldwin-Wallace University.

We have a Chickering short grand that's probably 100-120 years old. The interesting thing is, it's a player! Vacuum-operated with an electric pump. I have a couple tubs full of song rolls for it. It was probably an expensive and valuable piece at one point, but it's never operated in my lifetime. Also, the finish is shot and it doesn't sound great when played the usual way.

We got it from my mother when she was giving it away, because we had young daughters and, well, my wife is like that sometimes. I'd love to get rid of it, but I doubt I'll ever be allowed to because of the perceived value / actual value disparity.

I had a 1902 Steinway K52 for a few years until I went digital, with real keys, with headphones. I miss that piano but in a 1400 sqf house it could shake the foundation when I went to town. The next house will have room for a baby grand or I am not moving.

Get it moved, get it acclimated to your home over say a month or two and then pay someone to tune it. It should hold tune for at least two or three years with constant playing if you do not move it. Unless it needs to be restrung.

TRoglodyte wrote: I believe after the piano acclimates to its new environment you are supposed to have them tuned.

I have heard the same. I actually just went up and down the keyboard and checked each note against my chromatic tuner, and it seems to be rather consistently just a touch flat, which is encouraging, I suppose. None of the notes seem to be very far off. I will let it "settle in" and have a professional go over it.

1988RedT2 wrote:

TRoglodyte wrote: I believe after the piano acclimates to its new environment you are supposed to have them tuned.

I have heard the same. I actually just went up and down the keyboard and checked each note against my chromatic tuner, and it seems to be rather consistently just a touch flat, which is encouraging, I suppose. None of the notes seem to be very far off. I will let it "settle in" and have a professional go over it.

The old owner might have had it intonation/intonated for a specific style of music which is why they are universally flat to a degree.

In reply to wearymicrobe:

Possibly, but based on the little bit of reading I have done on the internet, which makes me an EXPERT the pitch will drop during periods of low humidity and rise during periods of high humidity. My house is fairly dry right now, with a relative humidity of 30%.

In reply to 1988RedT2:

Hopefully thats the case. Unfortunately when pianos go out of tune they normally don't do it consistently across the board. Another possibility is that when pianos get old, the strings stretch and eventually there is no more adjustment left to keep them up to pitch. In these cases, the tuner may tune them flat in order to get the piano in tune with itself, but it will no longer be the correct pitch.

Give it a good old fashion Jerry Lee beatdown.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to 1988RedT2: Hopefully thats the case. Unfortunately when pianos go out of tune they normally don't do it consistently across the board.

Yeah, you can count of a few points of swing but when they go out from a move they really go out.

Occasionally when they all go flat the harp distorting from the tension due to age as well. On one of that era the harp starting to bow is more then likely not happening .

I have my Moms old piano, that she bought new in the 60's. She bought a bigger older one at an auction sale, and my daughters took lessons, so we got the spare. Its sitting now, and whenever I talk to my piano rebuilder friend, he tells horror stories of soundboards on old pianos exploding during a tuning. He also talks about how they are really not worth anything unless they are a seriously high quality name brand piece. There are museum warehouses full of old donated pianos all over the place these days. It used to be a thing, not that many years ago, that almost every household owned. Now, it a big, hard to move, pain in the ass thing that can be replaced, in many cases, by an easy to store light and simple electronic keyboard. Mine is going to my niece, but it needs to go 6 hours away from here, and that's a pain.

I've also played for the vast majority of my life, though I don't own a piano at the moment (2nd floor condo; not neighbor friendly!).

Regarding the instrument: I'm a fan of annual tuning but I used to play competitively so I'm a hair more OCD. Older pianos, if well maintained and regularly tuned, are less likely to go "tinny" (Yamahas are notorious for this, though my upright was from a music school and sounded great!). If it's ugly but with a good tone and great dynamic range, you're golden!

Regarding the learning: I really advocate three things to try and focus on early, since they're hard habits to break later.

1) Keep your wrists up! The palm of your hand shouldn't ever drop below key level. This helps not only with control, but also with preventing stress/injury over time. Tell your kid to pretend there's an alligator under his bench waiting to nip his wrists if they drop.

2) Emphasize consistent dynamics. It's easy to play a note loudly or quietly, but keeping the entire line that volume is trickier. You don't need a music teacher to hammer this in; just tell your kid while practicing to repeat what he just did quietly, or loudly, or build up, or quiet down. This can make for some very fun jam sessions with your son.

3) Even is better than fast. It doesn't matter how fast you can play a line if it's choppy and out of time. If your son isn't quite on time for a phrase, just have him play it very slowly (maybe with a metronome) until it's smooth, then speed up a little until it's smooth, then full speed. This is what makes practicing tedious so be sure there's praise for sticking with it.

Have fun and make sure he learns some songs by ear and some entirely by sheet music!

We had an old piano upright piano that my sister played from time to time. After she past away, we didn't have any use for it. We put it in the paper and online but no one wanted it. After I called the local music store and told them the Make/Model, they said "Yeah every family has a hundred year old piano in need of some repairs but unless they are of a specific make/model, they are worthless." After years of trying to get rid of it (for free!), my dad and I cut up the entire piano, including the cast iron part, with the sawzall on the basement floor. I felt a little bad destroying an instrument, but it needed work to be completely usable and it was practically worthless.

I studied music in university and learned as much piano as required. It's a better social or solo instrument than saxophone, though - if I'd played piano I'd probably still be playing, instead of simply packing up my horns when I moved to the US and lost all my contacts. I've thought about picking up an old upright to play with and get some chops. I've got an old MIDI keyboard but it's just not the same.

I was made to take organ lessons when I was a kid. Thing is, it wasn't my idea and it didn't stick. It wasn't until later in life, when I chose my own instrument, that music took hold of me and I actually took it seriously. Hopefully your son will be inspired.

About tuning - when I was in school, we had something like a hundred pianos in the building, mostly in individual practice rooms. Every fall, when the heat went on, they'd all go out of tune. Then the heat would go off in the spring and they'd all go out of tune. It was a never-ending burden for the poor piano technicians.

Piano is an instrument I've always wanted to learn. Every time I find a piano in a derelict building, I feel the need to see if it still works. There have been several I've wanted to schlep them home.

One of our neighbors used to teach piano, up until about 2 years before she passed. I really wish one of her pianos had made it to my house when she passed.

This thread is addicting. I'm gonna post again.

On the subject of "everyone and their mother has an old piano and because of it, they're all worthless," that's absolutely true unless your piano is in tune, has a great sound, and has a good maintenance history or some other indication that you gave a Berkeley about it. Then it's worth whatever you want!

I bought a ~1950 Yamaha P2 for $600 including transport from West Music. It was in an ugly color, was dented all over, and had a coffee mug stain on the music deck. It also sounded great and had every hammer autographed and dated when it was tuned by its previous music school owners. When I sold it, I included a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MczR1xuLXkE) and asked for $1500. It practically sold itself 3 days later.

Also, I should start playing again... now that I sold it. xD

Personally, I want one that looks like crap but plays well.

Duke, if you ever decide to get rid of it, give me a call.

I played through high school and had a piano in the house for a long time. None of my kids were interested so the piano went to my sister for her kids.

Here is some inspiration for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fAZIQ-vpdw

I made the mistake of focusing on woodwinds for a lot of years. I didnt start the piano until I was 16, and i had trained my brain to only read one music line, without bass clef, so I had a tough time, and never conquered it.

But my Dad owned a music store, and I have tuned a lot of pianos.

My wife plays. She was a music major.

My 3 younger kids all play well. My 13 year old has a pretty special gift. He understands the feel and touch better than most kids. He actually made his piano teacher weep this week (for the first time in her 25 year teaching career) as she listened to him. It was beautiful. (Proud Dad).

I spend a lot if time helping them learn to listen while they play, instead of getting wrappped up in the mechanics of fingering, etc. We work on tempo, touch, listening, and feel. I let the teacher work with them on technique.

my dad has a 60 year old piano that is junk - he refinished it but the guts are wasted. at some point we are making it fire wood.

our last church had a baby grand with a cracked sound board. when we mentioned we were getting rid of it for an electronic baby grand a ton of people freaked. but the new one had 100% better sound than the old beater piano.

Derick Freese wrote: Personally, I want one that looks like crap but plays well.

Gaze upon the 100+ year old Steinway that adorned my hall. Never has something so ugly made such a great sound.

Refinished in what I can only assume was Home Depot varnish and missing at least a dozen ivory keys that had been replaced with plastic. But best sound I have even heard out of a upright at any price.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sFK0-lcjGU