10 to 20 Minute a Day Musical Challenge

Absolutely not...at least tuning wise. My piano is coming up to thirty years old and not so long ago I noticed that a layer of dust was accumulating under the keys. This was dust that had fallen through the gap between keys during daytime when the lid was open, it always was closed over night. I lifted the keys and vacuumed.

There is a strip of felt that can be lowered in front of the hammers to make pianos quieter. I used this all the time in the early days and eventually the strings cut through the felt so it was no longer effective. Went to the fabric shop, purchased some sort of felt , probably not the best for piano application, and hand stitched a strip over the  worn out bit.

keff - Totally agree. The piano does have the advantage that notes play true (if it's tuned) but you have to play so many of them at once! On the recorder I have one at a time and that's bad enough. Pianists cope with zillions and I really don't know how they do it!

Given King Oliver, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, etc, I assume he'd have been a jazz player.



I suppose there probably are instruments that girls or boys are just more exposed to. It's a pity, but the reality is that kids have more musical opportunity at "posh" schools and the young ladies of wherever probably aren't offered, say, bass trombone much. My son went to a fairly posh boys grammar school and definitely was not offered harp tuition. He was offered choir, but he and all his friends could not have been less enthusiastic if they had tried. Which probably goes some way to explaining why, when I joined a choir, almost all the members (it was large, maybe about 100 people) were female - even most of the tenors. Only the small bass section was all male.

Of course you are right, most rock stars are men, but there have been some women. (It was a great disappointment to me to learn that Moe Tucker, the drummer with the Velvet Underground, was a Trump supporter, but hey ho.) I noticed the other day that most Grammy awards seemed to have been won by women this year.

Maybe these things take time. Once, most of the women in orchestras seemed to play the violin, now you see them playing tuba and double bass and so forth, so maybe one day there will be more male harpists.


Maybe I should! - it's always looked like it would be a fun parlour trick to be able to play them.


I always like to encourage high standards in other people.


It's Mrs P's piano and I would feel I was intruding if I used it, even though she probably wouldn't mind. I've sometimes considered getting a keyboard but my room isn't very big and I think that would make it cramped. Plus, realistically, I struggle to improve at what I'm doing already, without taking anything else serious on.


Thanks, I will keep an eye out. I've never heard of the JW orchestra, I'll look it up.

pavane - You could help blaze the way with a little harp! It's very quiet. And soothing. The cows would love it!

pavane - Here you go! And keff has given you the inspiration if you needed it. You're even in the right country. Perfect!

Click Here

How hard can it be to play four strings! 




edit: My memory! I forgot to add, it's cheaper than a clarinet thumb rest!

Woah - Did you see the space the dancers were dancing in?! I'm seriously impressed.