Tales about pianos.
Jan 29, 2023 15:06:34 GMT
Post by keff on Jan 29, 2023 15:06:34 GMT
It is forty years ago since I acquired my first piano to embark on a musical journey as an adult learner. It was a Bentley EP6 electronic piano and chosen because it was about half the price a similar sized Bentley acoustic. I was being careful not to overspend because of the risk of piano being a passing interest. Pictures of them can still be found in Goggle Images but for all intents and purposes they looked like normal small acoustics and were built into a small piano like wooden cabinets, probably veneered chipboard. Inside was mounted a ten or twelve inch circular speaker and the sound was generated by a circuit board probably no larger than six inches square. It would not have been a digital sound generator.
The EP6 served me for eleven or so years and during the first six of these I played from a book of simplified classical pieces, mostly arranged orchestral pieces, before deciding to go to a teacher living close by. The teacher dropped me in at the deep end and looking back it would have been better if we had restarted right at the beginning of learning piano. There was almost everything wrong with my technique but that is another story but the EP6 didn't help in some respects because it wasn't possible to accent one note against another. When I realised this the only viable alternative was to look for an acoustic replacement.
The year had progressed to 1994 and Korean pianos seemed to be all the rage and reasonably priced. Local piano shops at time, as far as I remember, didn't carry many Japanese models either Kawai or Yamaha. We were having our dining room slightly altered and I thought I had arranged for a space to be created in a preferred corner of the room to accommodate a 88 note upright acoustic piano. This plan failed and I wasn't left with sufficient room but I could fit in a 85 note British made model even if it was 25% more expensive.
The piano was delivered in Dec 94 and the Bentley EP6 was donated to our son's secondary school. Playing an acoustic was hard work at first because the action seemed so much heavier but eventually I became accustomed to it. Over the intervening years I would occasionally ponder about upgrading to a baby grand but never felt like finding the money for one or thinking that we had the room.
It was during the covid lockdowns that I really got it into my head that I needed a grand and other half said 'if you want one, go and get one'. I couldn't get one because shops weren't open and all the stocks had been bought because people discovered piano whilst having to be at home. Last year I was able to sample some baby grands but failed to find one that fired me up. This was OK for two reasons; firstly the technical reason for thinking only a grand action would do disappeared because it was my playing technique at fault and not the piano. Secondly I would be immensely sad to trade in my British upright which is now thought of as a well respected model with a top of the range British action. How I now rejoice in the fact that I couldn't fit the Korean models and had to pay more for buying British.The other thing at the back of my mind were perceived difficulties of getting it tuned should all our local tuners decide to retire. This brings me onto contingencies in case the upright suddenly falls apart or if there are no local tuners.
In my opinion digital pianos have come on leaps and bounds in the last decade. They are cheaper and more convenient to keep in modern homes at least from the point of weight and being able to move them around.They don't need tuning and are not fussy about environmental conditions such as humidity (or at least not to the same degree as acoustics). Hybrid digitals use the same actions as fitted in acoustic uprights and grands and can simulate the playing experience even down to feeling vibrations through the key. Thus if my beloved upright bites the dust (emphasise not something that is expected) I will take a close look at a hybrid digital grand.
Apologies for the length of this thread. If you have a tale to tell of your piano or pianos or if you would like to comment on what I have written please share.
The EP6 served me for eleven or so years and during the first six of these I played from a book of simplified classical pieces, mostly arranged orchestral pieces, before deciding to go to a teacher living close by. The teacher dropped me in at the deep end and looking back it would have been better if we had restarted right at the beginning of learning piano. There was almost everything wrong with my technique but that is another story but the EP6 didn't help in some respects because it wasn't possible to accent one note against another. When I realised this the only viable alternative was to look for an acoustic replacement.
The year had progressed to 1994 and Korean pianos seemed to be all the rage and reasonably priced. Local piano shops at time, as far as I remember, didn't carry many Japanese models either Kawai or Yamaha. We were having our dining room slightly altered and I thought I had arranged for a space to be created in a preferred corner of the room to accommodate a 88 note upright acoustic piano. This plan failed and I wasn't left with sufficient room but I could fit in a 85 note British made model even if it was 25% more expensive.
The piano was delivered in Dec 94 and the Bentley EP6 was donated to our son's secondary school. Playing an acoustic was hard work at first because the action seemed so much heavier but eventually I became accustomed to it. Over the intervening years I would occasionally ponder about upgrading to a baby grand but never felt like finding the money for one or thinking that we had the room.
It was during the covid lockdowns that I really got it into my head that I needed a grand and other half said 'if you want one, go and get one'. I couldn't get one because shops weren't open and all the stocks had been bought because people discovered piano whilst having to be at home. Last year I was able to sample some baby grands but failed to find one that fired me up. This was OK for two reasons; firstly the technical reason for thinking only a grand action would do disappeared because it was my playing technique at fault and not the piano. Secondly I would be immensely sad to trade in my British upright which is now thought of as a well respected model with a top of the range British action. How I now rejoice in the fact that I couldn't fit the Korean models and had to pay more for buying British.The other thing at the back of my mind were perceived difficulties of getting it tuned should all our local tuners decide to retire. This brings me onto contingencies in case the upright suddenly falls apart or if there are no local tuners.
In my opinion digital pianos have come on leaps and bounds in the last decade. They are cheaper and more convenient to keep in modern homes at least from the point of weight and being able to move them around.They don't need tuning and are not fussy about environmental conditions such as humidity (or at least not to the same degree as acoustics). Hybrid digitals use the same actions as fitted in acoustic uprights and grands and can simulate the playing experience even down to feeling vibrations through the key. Thus if my beloved upright bites the dust (emphasise not something that is expected) I will take a close look at a hybrid digital grand.
Apologies for the length of this thread. If you have a tale to tell of your piano or pianos or if you would like to comment on what I have written please share.
