My Love of the Piano (Pianos, Keyboards & Synths in general)

Member Name: katygriff

Product:	Pianos, Keyboards & Synths in general
Date:	29/09/05 (345 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Instrument which Sounds Gorgeous

Disadvantages: None

This review is all about the wonderful instrument the piano. As I do not have a keyboard or synth then I cannot really say much about them.

I love my piano and I hope this review helps you understand a bit more about why pianos are so great.

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What is a piano?

A piano is a large musical instrument that is played by using your hands to tap notes and your feet to press pedals.

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How does a piano work?

The mechanism of a piano is very simple. When a key is pressed it will activate a hammer which will in turn strike a string which creates the tune. The strings vibrate freely because a mechanism called the damper is released from the string when the hammer strikes. If you look inside a piano you will see this happening. You can also see that the strings are very taut and stretched across wooden bridges. The bridges are in turn attached to what is called a soundboard which you will see as it is basically just a large piece of wood. The soundboard is what allows us to hear the sound as it acts like a speaker. When the piano key is released, the damper is placed back on to the string and the sound stops.

So as you can see the mechanism for making the piano sounds is very simple and if you lift the top off of the piano and play it while watching the strings it looks really interesting although all it is are hammers and strings.

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What sort of pianos can you get?

Well the most common piano is the upright piano which costs anywhere in the region of £300 - £3000 and can be of varied sizes. These pianos are just your basic pianos that can stand against a wall with ease and will not come out very far. You can also get baby grand pianos which are lovely to look at. These are the ones you see in movies and restaurants where the entire roof of the piano is lifted up and suspended. Baby grand pianos can cost anything from £1000 to £40000, perhaps even more.

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How can I get a piano?

Some musical shops will sell pianos so it is just a matter of looking around. On the internet though type in buy pianos into google and it will come up with hundreds of sites to look at. Also a good way to do it if you don’t mind spending a bit of money on it is to go to eBay. You can sometimes pick up pianos for as little as £100 and also if you are lucky can get them for free but you need to collect it. Pianos are extremely heavy so if you are going to collect a piano from a shop or elsewhere then it is a good idea to have two people. Pianos can weigh as much as 500 kilos and more so be careful.

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Are they hard to maintain?

Pianos do need to be tuned ever so often. I do mine once a year as I play on it quite a bit. You can tell when it needs to be tuned as the sound becomes ever so slightly off. Tuning costs around £20 - £50 so not that bad if you get the use out of your piano and love it. Also the leathers in pianos need to be tuned sometimes which can cost a few hundred but they do last a long time so you will not have to do it very often at all.

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How do you play the piano?

Well the piano is played using your hands by reading sheet music. Sheet music can look confusing to people who are beginners but trust me after a few lessons it all makes sense. There are white keys and black keys which you will learn when to press them. The notes you play are shown on the sheet music and as you probably know from piano music you have heard, the sounds it makes is impressive. Pedals are used to soften or prolong the sounds so by pressing one pedal you will soften the sounds of the notes you are playing and by pressing the other one you can keep notes going and overlap them all. Both sound effects are extremely effective.

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How do I get good at the piano?

Well as you can guess you have to take lessons. When you have found a tutor they will have their own method of teaching you and this usually involves buying lots of beginner books. Starting from the start you will think well this is easier than I thought, then when you get to the grades it starts to get hard. I would recommend having an hour lesson each week and lots of practise inbetween. When you take lessons you must be committed to trying your hardest in between lessons otherwise you will just be wasting your money and you will get nowhere fast. Lessons usually cost around £10 for an hour. The time it takes to do each grade depends on how quickly you pick it up and also how much effort you put in.

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What are the musical grades?

Well with musical instruments you can achieve each grade. The grades for musical instruments are grade 1 – 8. The grades basically mean that you take an exam. You usually have solo pieces to play, scales and also you get given a piece of music you have to sight read which basically means try your best. When the grades get higher the exams get harder and with one of my exams I had the examiner playing notes on the piano and I had to sing them back to him. The musical exams are quite scary and I used to cry after every one of mine but plenty of practice will mean that you do ok.

As well as doing grades in your instrument you can also do musical theory grades. Although these are not essential to do, they help your understanding of music if you do them alongside your musical learning. The exams you do basically test your ability on what musical words mean such as Staccato and what you understand about music. You may be asked to look at a piece of music and continue it which means you must be able to sing it in your head. The exams are quite hard but as they are theory and not practical I used to prefer doing the theory exams as they are less scary. Again you can go up in grades with each grade exam getting progressively harder.

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Is playing the piano all about serious music?

To be honest if you are concentrating on doing the grades then yes the music is often very classical and you do not get to play very fun pieces, well some may disagree. However playing the piano is about having fun as well and there is a huge range of sheet music available ranging from movie music to your favourite bands. I have got a whole range of music from the theme tune to the Simpson’s to music from Disney films. All I am trying to say is that have a bit of fun as if you just play the music for the grades then you go a bit mad and I got very bored of it.

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Me and my piano.

I woke up on Christmas morning in 1993 and there sitting in the corner with red wrapping paper across it was a very large square looking object. What could it be I thought as I made my way across to it, I never had presents this big. I walked closer and sure enough there was a message ‘to Katy love mom and dad x’. I took off the wrapping paper and there it stood my brand new piano. Seriously I know it sounds stupid that I didn’t know what it was but I had been told for years that I could not have one as there wasn’t any room so was surprised when they had bought me one. It was gorgeous, a dark brown with immaculate keys and pedals and it just looked lovely. I had never even played the piano before so I immediately told my parents I wanted lessons starting the next week.

They found my tutor Karen and me and Karen had a wonderful hour together each week as I was so eager to learn that I was a joy to teach she used to say to me. I took piano lessons until I began my GCSEs and then had to stop so that I could concentrate on my exams. In that time I managed to do three grades of piano and five in theory, (it may not seem a lot but I also took flute and did five grades but ill leave that to another review).

When I stopped doing grades I have just had fun with my piano. I have bought lots of silly music like songs from the little mermaid and steps but I have fun playing it. The piano is all about having a bit of fun and at Christmas my family love it when we all get around the piano on Christmas day and I play carols for them all. In fact the piano has become a family thing now. When I first started playing I couldn’t bear anybody but my tutor to hear me play but now I play for anybody who wants to hear. My mom always buys me songs from musicals like Phantom of the Opera to learn so she can have a good sing song so everybody has fun. Also playing is very relaxing and I love just having a little play when I am feeling stressed.

Now I am looking for tutors again as I want to get better at the piano and go up grades as I think I love playing it so much that I should strive to be the best that I can.

Pianos are a great instrument that sound beautiful and are hard to play but with the right amount of commitment everybody can learn. If you want to know anything else then leave me a comment and I will add it to my review.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

Summary: Fun Instrument to Play