Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
If you're wondering what I do with all that gear, here's my most recent work - a 'synthy' remix of a friend's (orgianlly guitar-based) song.
Linky to Soundcloud
Linky to Soundcloud
A thread for the pianists, keyboard and synth players on PFM.
- Thread starter Andrew C!
- Start date
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
Do you have his albums with Ruud Heij?
k90tour
pfm Member
I struggle with the piano. Which is a shame as the repertoire is fantastic. I never know what to learn next. My wife reckons I could take Grade 8 (she took it, with cello as well, when she was 12). I don't know. Today I decided to learn one of the Brahms Op 10 Ballades, No 4. I'll probably decide on something else next week. Maybe Mozart K488 Concerto or Schubert Bb Sonata. So I'm not getting anywhere. The piano is hopelessly out of tune but there's no way anyone is coming g in to tune it. It's a Yamaha upright. We have an iBach grand elsewhere, which is lovely.
My wife has bought a guitar. It hasn't arrived yet but in the meantime she's encouraging me to give it a go. It's a lot more portable than a piano.
I'm not using the pedals at the moment. Don't want to use the sustain as a legato crutch. It's difficult to play Brahms without a sustain pedal but you do learn how to move your hands smoothly.
My wife has bought a guitar. It hasn't arrived yet but in the meantime she's encouraging me to give it a go. It's a lot more portable than a piano.
I'm not using the pedals at the moment. Don't want to use the sustain as a legato crutch. It's difficult to play Brahms without a sustain pedal but you do learn how to move your hands smoothly.
Andrew C!
Been around a while....
Playing does not come to me naturally, if you get what I mean? Probably why my sight reading isn’t as good as it could be, either. However, what I do have is patience and drive. So learning a piece to a good standard doesn’t bother me, as such. Probably why the exam syllabus appeals. My teacher is also very good at explaining techniques being looked for in a piece, and linking it across to other modern pieces I’m learning for gigging, for example.
This weeks lesson gave me some very good pointers regarding sight reading theory, and I started yesterday to practice that. It will take time, but that’s ok. The exam isn’t until July.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
IMG_3250For some reason I imagine Zimmermann pianos will have an awful, grating tone and never be in tune.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
We have a Bosendorfer 170 in our front room. It's a model from the 1920s, so has square legs and the music stand is plain compared to many of the ornate options that were available. We've had it 10 years or so, and it had had little restoration work when we got it.
XD6K7252 by Cesare Ferrari, on Flickr
Doesn't the piano join in when you crank up the Shahinians? (Not to mention, the harp!)
Alvarado
pfm Member
I play by seeing the notes, reading them, and pressing the keys. My son (14, and also a trumpeter) has a different style. For him it's all about improvising and playing by ear, he practically never looks at the music. He's learning Kate Bush's 'Babooshka' (in e flat minor for God's sake - the key signature alone is enough to put me off). He's never even seen the sheet music. While he's got talent, I'm just a plodder.
Despite our different approaches, it's nice to occasionally play together, but it's a squeeze, as we only have a (fixed height) single stool. A double, adjustable height stool has been on my wish-list for a while. I figure I could probably get a more robust, better designed and better quality one by buying used. Could any keyboard/piano playing fishy recommend a good type, and/or brand, to go for? Budget perhaps £150 ish, but as with hifi, where there's a will, there's somehow a way.
Despite our different approaches, it's nice to occasionally play together, but it's a squeeze, as we only have a (fixed height) single stool. A double, adjustable height stool has been on my wish-list for a while. I figure I could probably get a more robust, better designed and better quality one by buying used. Could any keyboard/piano playing fishy recommend a good type, and/or brand, to go for? Budget perhaps £150 ish, but as with hifi, where there's a will, there's somehow a way.
Andrew C!
Been around a while....
No offence meant, hopefully?
Why do you imagine that? Interested to know.
I did my research, on piano forums and with retailers. Mine needs to cope with tri-fold doors being open in the summer, and a warm house in the winter. Ben, the piano tuner I use, rates mine as one of the most stable of the uprights he services for staying in tune, and not being affected by the humidity. He also loves the bell-like tone it produces. I reckon I got a good one, but I do look after it. Careful eye on humidity, and gets tuned/checked during October every year. And its a Bechstein board
The Yamaha upright my teacher uses is much brighter. I prefer the more even, rich sound mine produces. But I would do, wouldn't I?
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
It’s just a joke, Andrew. Bob Dylan’s real surname is Zimmerman.
boneman
pfm Member
Played from 7 along with the 'bone and ended up majoring on the 'bone in Uni. Kept up the piano till my early 20's but it had been awhile. Have a Yami P250 and lockdown has given me the time to finally finish learning a Beethoven Sonata I never fully got round to (Pathatique). Bought a massive box set of Rubinstein recently and will maybe pick something from one of those CDs to learn next perhaps some Chopin. It's been immensely helpful in getting me through lockdown!
It was certainly a concern I had when we put the piano in that room, but no, not to any noticeable degree. Pianos have the strings damped, so really when music is playing it's just the soundboard that could set up some vibration, and without the strings it's likely if anything to damp down stuff rather than start ringing.
The harp doesn't seem to ring either. Probably because it's a harp and so is almost always out of tune (ha ha). I guess I could put a contact mic on it and see if it picks up music being played in the room, might be fun.
My son is also a keen trumpet/cornet player, and his sight reading is terrible - he reads the first bar or so then just improvises from there. Great for jazz, not so great for passing music exams. Also, you have to ask what e flat minor looks like in a transposing instrument like a trumpet (so b flat is written as C), i'm not sure my brain can work that out so i'll leave it to others.
stephen bennett
Mr Enigma
I have a Minimoog and the prog industry-approved stand.
I have the same but my stand is black.
Stephen
Alvarado
pfm Member
I think the advantage of the piano is that all the notes are set out in front of you on the keyboard, you just bang them in the right order. You hit middle C, you get middle C, there's no funny business about it. In that sense, it's much easier than a brass instrument, reed instrument or violin/stringed instrument, where as well as pressing the right valve/key/string/whatever, you also have to do something mysterious and clever with your lips/tongue/bow to get the right note to come out (God knows what it is, I can't play any of them).
The drawback of the piano as my son (and perhaps yours) has found, is that for musicians who can already read the treble line from their other instruments, there is a new level of complexity brought in by the existence of a whole new line of music that wasn't there before - the bass clef, where the notes aren't even the bloody same. I do have some sympathy for the 'bollocks to sheet music' school of thought here, and luckily for my son (who plays expertly - just don't ask him to show you a G on the bass clef sheet music) there are no music grade exams in our house
stephen bennett
Mr Enigma
It's a brilliant time to be a keyboard player.
New from Korg.
Sequential
And Arturia
And, from Behringer (maybe!)
Stephen
New from Korg.
Sequential
And Arturia
And, from Behringer (maybe!)
Stephen
hifinutt
hifinutt
yes most of them , just got forgotten tracks and saving up for outland 2 [ just gert ]
Andrew C!
Been around a while....
When I took my grade 5 theory, my teacher at the time said as much. I’d learned the treble and bass clefs, just needed to suss the alto one out. I have a what I think a good anecdote for when I took that exam. I’ll type it up after my piano practice, later.