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Why a Steinway Grand Piano is the Only Real Choice Today

by Fat Chords

February 26th, 2011

Why a Steinway Grand Piano is the Only Real Choice Today

Used steinway pianos?

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There are many criteria that are involved in any purchase of a piano, particularly a Steinway grand piano, and for each individual some criteria will be take priority. Below are some of the most important criteria that need to be evaluated. This article will guide you to select a Steinway Grand Piano or a used piano.

American Steinway Grand Piano

The first criteria are the size of the room that the piano is going to go into. If the room isn’t large enough for the piano plus at least three times the size of the piano for a small audience, then the piano might be too large for this room. One exception to this would be for a practice room. In this case, a grand piano is still the better choice, if possible because the action and sound of the piano is different than in an upright piano, and gives the player a much more realistic feel for when the pianist plays on most other pianos outside of that room. The Steinway grand pianos range in size from as small as 5′ 1″ to the concert grand at just short of 9 feet, so there should be no problem finding the best size piano.

- The second criteria, often overlooked, are the color and finish of the piano. Of course for concert venues, ebony black is the piano color of choice, but many pianos in homes look better with other types of woods and finishes. For the wood types other than black ebony, there is a huge range: mahogany (figured, flamed, fiddle-back and simple-grained), walnut (burled, circassion, American and French), cherry, oak, and ivory (white, cream, gold-leaf), and rosewood (Brazilian and Indonesian). The finish of these Steinway grand pianos range from satin to satin luster, glossy to high polish. The glossy finish tends to be more “showy” and therefore more appropriate for certain types of rooms. Choosing the correct finish for the room can greatly add to the décor.

Steinway Grand Piano

The third criteria are the style of the piano you desire. Most people are used to only thinking of a traditional black ebony piano, and never stop to look at all of the variety of pianos available. Steinway pianos have a huge range of styles over the years other than traditional, including Rococo, Victorian, Louis XV, Queen Anne, and of course, many custom designs. The pianos range from the very old (around 1857) to the present day. Most of these “styled” pianos are sought after by artists as well as collectors so they are quite valuable.

Steinway pianos have a huge range of styles

The fourth criteria are the age of the piano you need. Most people do not consider the older pianos, greatly overlooking the value, savings and more importantly, the sound and feel of these older Steinway pianos. First, the new pianos are quite expensive compared to the older pianos, but more than that, many of the older pianos have a sound and action that has been restored to play and sound better than some of the newer pianos. This is because the casing of the piano has “aged” and never loses its original quality of sound. A genuine rebuilt Steinway Piano can feel and sound as good as if not better than the newest pianos being produced today, and so their value is unparalleled. Not only is one purchasing a Steinway piano that is appreciating in value, but also, an instrument that has a beautiful sound and touch.

What is the cost of used Steinway piano?

finally, the cost of the piano must be a criterion. Sometimes in the interest of saving money, some piano buyers leave the Steinway Piano behind only to purchase an instrument that is inferior in quality and name, and more importantly depreciating in value. As an investment, this does not make sense. Anyone can save money today at the price of tomorrow, but the wise person will stretch to make the soundest investment by choosing a Steinway Piano that sounds, looks, feels the best, and finally and very importantly, maintains its value over many years.

The widest selection anywhere in the world of used Steinway Pianos can be found at http://www.American-Steinway.com.

More information

- American-Steinway piano

Mr. Robert Friedman is a professional trader of rebuilt and needing to be restored Steinway & Sons brand pianos for over 35 years. His experience and straightforward approach to pianos has helped thousands of buyers make sound investments over the years. He resides in the greater New York City area, where he can work with the world’s best rebuilders, refinishers of Steinway Pianos.
American-Steinway piano

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Guide to online piano chord learning

by Fat Chords

February 20th, 2011

by eleda 1

Guide to online piano chord learning

Piano is a musical instrument which is mostly used for solo performance by an individual performer. It is a kind of keyboard that is used especially in western music. Chords are symbols that are used to play songs. This means that the piano chords are a most important for learning the instrument piano. There are numerous online piano chord sites that help people to use piano chords. To record these piano chords, fake books are used which are a collection of numerous tones and online piano chords. You can either manually purchase these piano chords sheets or you can download them from the internet that is from the online piano chord learning sites. You can even learn by just following the instructions of piano chords. The technique used in piano chords can be easily understood if you have correct knowledge and understanding of piano chords. It becomes easier to play written music if you have corrected and thorough knowledge of using and understanding the piano chords symbols. It would be surprising to know that many high professionals don’t know how to play written piano chords symbols and music. They just play the piano as they feel like. The correct way to learn a piano is through piano chords. The piano chords symbols are a form of note that is widely used in dances like jazz and also where western music is liked by all.

Learning piano chords is very easy even if you are learning through online piano chord symbols. There are numerous of online piano chords courses that are available for the students of any age. You just need an internet connection to learn online piano chord. Learning piano chords offline is not that much interesting and precise as that of online piano chord courses. It is necessary that you have to be dedicated and have ample of free time to practice these online piano chords. The old methods of private instructors of piano chords are now outdated and of waste when online piano chords lesson are available. These are really cost effective. These lessons of learning piano chord are very interesting. An expert only knows that how interesting is to learn piano chords even if it is online piano chords. Several online piano chords soft wares are available in the market which will help you a great deal in learning and make you a piano chords perfectionist. Piano chords have more structured as they are thought of. Learning online piano chord involve first the learning of 88 keys in piano.

Online piano chords are designed so that they are easy to understand, helpful and time saving. One lesson lasts for almost 20 minutes a day. This means that by spending 20 minutes a day you can easily learn a lot from these online piano chords sites. In these piano chords lies the perfect music composition. When learning online piano chords you are given certain online exercises unlike piano chords when it is learned offline from the private instructors.

You would like to learn to play piano, but you don’t know how to play piano chords? Here is the solution – online piano chords!

Article from articlesbase.com

Yamaha P155 – a grand piano that travels with you

by Fat Chords

February 19th, 2011

by Kibondo

Yamaha P155 – a grand piano that travels with you

You play the piano or you want to learn. But… No room for a grand? Price tag too steep? Yamaha P155 is the option to play or learn to play the piano without the price tag and the maintenance required by a “real” grand or upright piano.
Don’t be fooled by the looks of the keyboard as it looks somewhat simplistic but it does have a lot of features under the hood.
The Yamaha P155 is a feature-rich keyboard with the latest technology under the hood featuring 128 notes of polyphony and graded hammer action to give you the feel of an acoustic piano. This keyboard is pretty light to boot at only 37 pounds which makes it an ideal keyboard for the travelling gig artist.
Your children will be able to learn to play with the “touch and feel” of a real piano wherever you live.
In order to capture the different touch responses and to simulate as best the velocities of an acoustic piano, the P155 re-creates these with four different levels of touch responses. It uses a layered response with each velocity corresponding to a unique sample. The piano sample is so well done you can actually hear the hammer striking the string during the note off portion of the note sound.
The keys are weighted-heavier in the lower registers and lighter in the upper notes-just like an acoustic piano. And, the P155 sounds like a real piano. The natural-sounding four-layer piano sample is a breakthrough at this price range. Depending on how hard a note is struck, one of four recordings will play, offering an unprecedented level of dynamic range and tonal expression for a digital piano. A new Damper Resonance effect emulates the real harmonic overtones of each individual note, taking acoustic realism to the next level.
Because it takes up so little space, the P155 is ideal for customers who live in apartments. When it’s time to turn up the volume, the P155 relies on built-in speakers powered by a high-efficiency stereo amplifier, but it can also be connected to an external amplifier through 1/4-in. line-level outputs with variable volume control. If volume is an issue, just plug in headphones.
Geared toward the gigging musician, who requires quality piano touch and tone, the Yamaha P155 digital piano is also ideal for home use as a practice piano. Features include quality sound and a Graded Hammer Effect key action capable of building proper finger technique.

One can say that the Yamaha P155 represents 4 rolled in one. You can check this in my article The Yamaha P155 Digital Piano 4 Pianos Rolled Into One or get more details about this extraordinary digital piano at Yamaha P155 web site.

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Learning How to Play on the Piano

by Fat Chords

February 18th, 2011

by Dan Strange

Learning How to Play on the Piano

The Benefits of Learning How to Play on the Piano

If you wish to learn how to play on the piano, it is possible to do it from your home now. Several websites offer online piano lessons. These lessons include special steps for beginner piano lessons, as well as useful tips for trained piano players. These piano lessons are normally interactive, self-paced, and come with videos that allow you to learn how to play on the piano at your leisure.

Initially, you would have to learn rhythm and note identification. For this, you should possess either a piano or at least a keyboard. You would also need a computer with an Internet connection, if you wish to have online piano lessons. The beginner piano lessons start with understanding several notes. First among them are the 61 note and 88 notes. Then you should learn to play the groups of two black keys with the left hand and with the right hand. After that, you should learn to play the groups of three black keys with the left hand and with the right hand.

The next piano lessons would cover the E note, the D note, the C note, and the G note on the keyboard. Learning the reading of notes and remembering them is important in beginner piano lessons. This requires repeated and persistent hard work and practice. Rhythm lessons would include familiarization with grand staff, meter, 4/4 meter, quarter notes in treble clef and bass clef, and note head, as well as note stem. Then you should understand everything about rests, determining quarter notes and half notes with beats, and playing beats with whole note and mixed note values.

These lessons form the basic of beginner piano lessons. When you had mastered them, you would be able to start playing songs. You should be able to increase your repertoire of music knowledge with rock tunes, gospel music, songs of the Beatles, and even the concerts of masters like Mozart and Beethoven. Benefits of playing piano are quite numerous. Research studies reveal that learning how to play on the piano is far superior to any computer instruction. The studies confirm that the abstract reasoning skills and concentration powers of people learning piano are highly enhanced. Children that were imparted piano lessons showed an increase of 46% in their level of spatial IQ, leading to better and easier understanding of mathematics, science, etc.

Here, it would be interesting to note that majority of mathematicians, scientists, and doctors had been amateur musicians. Since learning how to play on the piano requires understanding calculations, using your imagination, applying advances aesthetics, and attaining a peaceful mind. Creative thinking is fundamental to learning piano lessons and mastering them. It had been scientifically proved that piano playing activates and sharpens several key parts of the brain and the body. Piano playing increases body and mind coordination. Hearing awareness is greatly enhanced. Reading the musical notes at a fast pace strengthens eye muscles. Your social standing grows and people are able to relate more to you through your music. When such huge benefits are obvious, learning how to play on the piano and undertaking piano lessons in right earnest is definitely necessary for everyone.

Live To Jam is an excellent resource of fully-guaranteed instructional materials created by multi-platinum recording artists and acclaimed studio session musicians. Visit http://www.livetojam.com to learn how to play piano.

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Learn to Play Piano With Goals

by Fat Chords

February 16th, 2011

by Dr. RawheaD

Learn to Play Piano With Goals

To learn to play piano is similar to many other human activities. There are principles involved that will help you feel confident and also make you feel happy as you travel the road to become the pianist you want to become! How can you learn to play piano by observing the activities in your daily life! Here are a few tips!

Where are you going?

Usually when we are out walking we have a goal with our activity. Even if it is not written down or even conscious we have somehow decided that this is what we want to do for some reason. Depending on what we do we can be certain that we will reap results of what we are doing. If we have the goal to relax and enjoy the environments we will walk in another way than if we want to develop our cardiovascular system.

This principle can be applied on piano playing as well. The reason for playing will affect the accomplished results. You will not learn to play piano well if you do not have this wish and goal in your mind. Let us take an example from your piano sheet music endeavors. If you only want to play for fun you will probably not become a professional piano performer but you will most likely succeed in accomplishing the goal to have fun with the piano.

The art of taking the right bus

If you are waiting for a bus you have probably already decided where to go. This will help you to buy the right ticket and also to know when you have arrived at your destination.

Waiting and taking a bus can symbolise the actual work of practicing piano playing. The wish to go somewhere with a bus is your actual desire to learn something on the piano. The wish to take a bus to a place is founded in a belief that this place has something for you. By knowing what you want with your piano playing you will get the power or motivation to do something about it.
Finding the right bus starts with knowing where you are going. When you have decided what type of pianist you want to become it will be much easier to set goals and to choose the right type of exercises.

The time of arrival

Before you can definitely decide which bus to take you will have to figure out when you want to arrive at you destination. In piano playing this means that your goals will be much more effective if you set a deadline when you goal is to be accomplished. The goal will be much more meaningful and exciting if you have set a reasonable deadline. It would be a nightmare to travel on a bus without knowing if the ride will take three hours or three days or a week! I would not think that you would ever consider taking such a bus!

The art of buying a ticket

When you know where you are and want to go and the date of arrival you can dare to buy a ticket. In piano playing this means the time when your wish goes from a decision to a commitment. You gain momentum when you dare to make this commitment to yourself and maybe other people. The most important investment in becoming a good pianist is your motivation.

Relax and go to work

When you have decided where you want to go, when you want to arrive, have chosen the right bus and actually have found your seat you can relax and just enjoy your ride and wait. When you learn to play piano you will experience that it is much easier to progress when you have decided what you really want to do. This means that you know where you are now, where to start your progress as a pianist and you do not need to waste energy on wondering what to do!

Click here on how to learn to play piano fast. Get free lessons on rocket piano here!

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Learn how to play right hand comping patterns for soul funk piano with jazz piano concepts and techniques. Learn this and more in this free online piano lesson taught by professional composer and pianist Jonathan Wilson. Expert: chilkari Bio: Jonathon Wilson has been a professional composer and pianist for over twenty years. His work spans a number of genres, from jazz to new age to trance. Filmmaker: Jonathon Wilson
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Archive for Piano – Page 2

Why a Steinway Grand Piano is the Only Real Choice Today

Guide to online piano chord learning

Yamaha P155 – a grand piano that travels with you

Learning How to Play on the Piano

Learn to Play Piano With Goals