December 31, 2010

Suggested Practice Techniques

By ms-ye

 

 

Please note:  The following material was taken from –  http://pianoeducation.org/pnotchld.html#Practice%20Techniques .

 

HOW OFTEN AND HOW LONG SHOULD I PRACTICE?

Practicing needs are different for each student, but a good starting goal is 30 minutes a day. You may wish to split the time up into 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon. As you advance, you may wish to set musical goals for yourself instead of a specific time limit. For example, you might decide to practice one day until you have learned the notes of a piece at a slow tempo. Make the most of your practice time by focusing on the hardest things to play.

You can learn faster and easier if you do a few simple things. These suggestions are not time-consuming and easily carried out if you schedule time for them in your day on a regular basis. The most important thing to remember about practice is that it’s not the amount of time you spend, but how well you use the time that counts. If you practice several hours a day and simply repeat the same mistakes each time through, you have not practiced effectively.

  • Take the time to read your assignment book. The specific assignments and practice suggestions are intended to assist in practice.
  • When practicing, make sure that the environment is free from distractions and noise. Turn off the TV, put the answering machine on, and give yourself a quiet environment to work.
  • Make sure the music is legible and well-lit.
  • Set aside a specific time each day for your work at the piano and stick to the schedule. If you are a morning person, practice in the morning. Avoiding or delaying getting to the piano will just make you run out of time.
  • Unlike studying for tests or exams, piano practice cannot be crammed in at the last minute or day before the lesson. Plan the time to do practice every day.
  • Don’t try to learn a piece all at once; take it in sections and practice a section until you can do it without mistakes three times through. Then move on to the next section.
  • Remember the value of taking a section slowly, making sure that you play all the notes correctly and that you count through difficult sections. Worry about playing to tempo when you have the notes and the rhythm right.
  • A very valuable way of knowing whether you’ve learned a piece is to learn it well enough that you can play either hand independently starting at any place in the music. When you can do that, you can begin to work on being musical with the piece.
  • Learning a new piece of music is hard work. Reward yourself after a good practice session by playing a familiar and favorite work just for the fun of it. Think of this as the dessert after meal.
  • Above all, don’t simply repeat mistakes. Use practice to work out mistakes, not to reinforce them by continually repeating them. When you repeat mistakes, they are just that much more difficult to get rid of later.
  • Take the suggestions from your teacher seriously. After long years of training and teaching experience, chances are your teacher’s suggestions will prove successful, if followed.
  • If possible, participate in concerts and recitals at your teacher’s studio, even if only to audit. So much can be learned by performing yourself and listening to others perform.
  • Attend as many recitals and concerts as possible. Given the large number of musical organizations sponsoring concerts there is ample opportunity to hear music. The more music that you hear, the more of an idea of the musical concepts you can get.
  • Read biographies of composers, performing artists and conductors. Also, rent movies that are related to the lives of musicians. There are so many wonderful movies and books readily available, that really no one has the excuse not to know more about the composers, their lives and music. If you can’t find the time to read books, classical CD’s and records usually have useful and interesting information about the composer, the musical structure and ideas expressed, and the performers in the recording.
  • Obtain a musical dictionary. The dictionary will give the meaning of the Italian terms (for example, Allegro vivace or Molto espressivo) which are used in the score to indicate how the piece of music should be played and how it should sound. You’ll find your playing of the music will improve faster if you understand how the composer meant the music to sound in the first place.

      

Article taken from:

–  http://pianoeducation.org/pnotchld.html#Practice%20Techniques

 

Leave a comment | posted in Adult Piano Learning, Frequently Asked Questions, How to Practise, Parental Roles in Music Learning, Piano Learning

December 31, 2010

How to Help Your Child Practice at Home

By ms-ye

 

Please note:  The following material was written by Martha Beth Lewis, Ph.D.

 

The most important part of music study takes place at home, not at the lesson. At home, the student tries out new ideas, plays his assignment as specified, and has fun experimenting.

Note: I am going to use practice here because it’s a more efficient way to write, but at home you’ll be very well served if you call it play piano. Practice is has such an ominous sound!

What Practice Is

Knowing what practice is and why it’s valuable will assist you in helping your child make the most of his time at the instrument. It also will guide you in dealing with the resistance that will happen on occasion, even with the most dedicated child.

Research shows that maximum retention occurs if repetition–that is, practice–takes place within 24 hours or less. The retention rate is approximately 90%. If repetition does not occur until 48 hours later (skip a day of practice), the retention drops off drastically, as the graph is a curve rather than a straight line. By 72 hours (skip two days), retention is virtually zero. (Material that is already learned is retained longer, of course. I speak here of new material, such as a new piece or a new section of piece begun previously.)

Your child will be very frustrated with his inability to carry out the lesson assignment at home the longer he waits between practice sessions. Therefore, daily practice will net your child the most progress for his effort and will keep frustration to a minimum.

Practicing seven days a week is not realistic for every student or every family, however. The student might like “a day off.” If he practices six days a week, his tasks will be well-reinforced and one 48-hour gap will not affect his overall retention significantly. (The day after or before the lesson is never a good choice for the vacation day.)

Home practice is also a time to experiment. After he completes his assignment, encourage your child to explore. Perhaps he can pick out a tune by ear, play a song he already knows but in a different way, or make up his own song. Playing an old song or two is fun; this is also a good way to reinforce your child’s progress and point out that his efforts are bearing fruit: “Do you remember back at Christmas when this song was so hard for you?” Looking ahead in his materials is another productive activity: your child can see how much of the upcoming material he already knows and can challenge himself to figure out some of the rest.

Finally, home practice is a time for the family to participate in the child’s music study. This can take the form of “family concerts” after dinner, playing duets with another family member, or participating in the games the teacher assigns (to drill on note-reading or counting).

Your child’s teacher will have recommendations to make home practice successful, so be sure to follow them. Here are some other ideas you might want to try.

The Secret Weapon

Important: The main reason children want to quit piano study is that the parent assumes the child can carry out the assignment by herself and she can’t. Frustration, confusion, and despair set in. Who’d want to prolong a situation like this? Certainly not a child! A child has virtually no inkling of what will happen a long time from now, much less deferred gratification! All he knows is that right this moment he’s unhappy!

Don’t expect the child to practice her own! (Learning how to practice is a different skill altogether from actually playing the instrument.) Be directly involved. On the bench, if the child is young.

You will never regret this investment of time you make. No parent ever sent his child off to college thinking, “I wish I had spent less time with my son.”

The secret weapon is you and your direct involvement in your child’s home practice!

Help with the Lesson Assignment

Your child’s teacher will let you know exactly what you need to do to assist actively in home practice. The teacher may ask you to watch the student’s hand position as he plays to make sure he maintains the correct one or he may ask you to count out loud for your child. A youngster may have card games or board games or other fun activities to carry out at home with a partner.

Children respond best to a lesson assignment that is very specific (“play lines 3 and 4, hands together, 4 times) rather than general (“work on this). Your child will then pay attention to carrying out the assignment rather than focusing on a specified number of minutes spent at the piano (“clock-watching”). This kind of practice plan allows you to divide home practice into several segments, if necessary. The child also sees precisely what he still has to accomplish and will know when he is finished.

With young children, you may have to be involved directly for the entire practice session at first. Even after some months of study, your help may be needed for most of the practice time. Do not expect your child to carry out his practice entirely by himself until he is about 10 years old. (Yes, piano study is a significant commitment for the family!) With children under that age, plan to sit in the room with the child, even if you are not on the bench with him.

Many children (up through pri 6) like to have a parent keep them company while they practice. Even if the child doesn’t need your sustained participation, he may crave your presence because he’s lonely in the piano room all by himself. Don’t imply by words or body language that you’d rather be (or “should be”) somewhere else. That attitude is an eloquent negative. Use your “keeping company time” to read for pleasure, catch up on professional reading, balance the checkbook, or simply relax and enjoy your child’s accomplishments. Keep suggestions or criticism to yourself, however, unless the child asks for your help. The teacher will work with your child to correct errors. After your child has left home, I promise you will look back on any time you invest in this way and feel that it was more than amply rewarded. Your child will have fond memories, too. And remember that parental involvement and commitment are vital to the child’s continued interest.

Note: At some point, your child will inform you that you are no longer needed. Ask if your daughter would like you to sit in the room while she practices. Even if she answers yes initially, soon she will inform you that she’d rather be by herself. This change is almost instantaeous when the child enters sec sch and finds that she childish ways are not cool – – peers are great agents of change – – and, as you know, sometimes not to the good – – but that’s another topic!

At any rate, the child will let you when you should scale back the amount of direct involvement in home study.

Divide Practice Time

With today’s busy families, it often works well to divide practice session into two or more segments, particularly with a young child who is still developing his attention span. Two 15-minute practices–or even three 10-minute sessions–can be more productive than one 30-minute sitting. Divide the material for variety, too. For example, if there are two songs, two games, and a technique exercise, work at one song the first time and the other song at the second practice time, playing a game each session and working on half the technical material.

At Home Immediately After the Lessons

If students (adults as well as children!) did the following after each lesson, they would find their progress really accelerating.

After you return home, sit down with your child and play through his lesson assignment one time. This should consume 10 minutes at most. For each part of the assignment, ask your child to describe what he is supposed to do and why and then have him play it for you. This will acquaint you with what you should be hearing and how you should be hearing it, and your child will know that you are aware of precisely what the teacher has requested Should there be questions, call the teacher right away for clarification rather than let the child ignore an element of his assignment all week (or worse: do it incorrectly and later have to un-learn!).

Your child reaps several things from this post-lesson review. It is a tangible reminder that you support his efforts and are vitally interested in the content of what he is doing. Another benefit is that the immediate repetition of the assigned material ensures almost 100% retention of what the teacher said at the lesson.

If you like, count this session as a day’s practice, so your child may have “a day off” another time later in the week.

Ideally, both Mother and Father sit down with the child to preview the upcoming week’s activities, but in the real world a consistent commitment from one parent is sufficient. It doesn’t have to be the same parent each time, either.

But remember: you need to be directly involved on the bench with your child. (Until the child tells you with no prompting that he prefers to do it himself.)

A Consistent Practice Time

Most students benefit from a consistent piano practice time. Adults find a routine helps them shoehorn in all they must do; children draw security from routine.

I tell all my students that schoolwork is first priority. If there is a large assignment that evening, there may be no time for practice because schoolwork is most important. After schoolwork comes piano playing, however. When that is complete, then there’s time to play outside, use the telephone, watch TV, or whatever else they’d like to do. It’s important that children know that piano study falls right under schoolwork in the day’s hierarchy. They should understand that some days their homework load and their piano time may preclude most or all of their playtime. Not every day, surely, but sometimes. They should understand and accept this before study begins.

Of course, children may “unwind” by having a snack or changing clothes, but right after that, it’s time to hit the books. No getting sidetracked with a magazine or playing with a friend.

Discuss with your child’s teacher whether this might be a useful philosophy for your family.

At-Home Quiet Zone

It goes without saying that other family members should not be in the piano room during practice time. Nor should they be causing a racket elsewhere in the house. Not only is the noise itself distracting, but your child’s curiosity will be piqued by the possibility that something interesting is going on elsewhere and he will be distracted and restless. Most families find that practice time for one child is a perfect homework time (or story time) for another.

Reminders

Occasionally you may have to remind your child to practice. No matter his level of interest in music study, he is only human and some days he will want to do something else first or skip practice altogether. A regular practice time and at-home quiet zone helps, as does an obvious interest and commitment from the parent(s). Remember that young children can’t be expected to practice on their own.

If you constantly experience trouble inducing your child to practice (tantrums, tears, shouting), something is wrong. Your child may not have thought out the time and effort necessary for learning to play a musical instrument. Or he may have changed his mind when he discovered it’s not like TV: with piano study he is a participant; with TV he is only a spectator. Another possibility is that he has some other problem which is preventing him from feeling his effort is producing a worthwhile result (a sibling is being a pest during practice time, the other parent is making disparaging remarks about piano study). Consult the teacher. If this does not ameliorate the problem, consider changing teachers, changing instruments, or looking to another of the fine arts (dance, theater, painting, etc.).

Piano study isn’t easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it. But it is so satisfying!

Everybody–including children–needs to practice efficiently. When you do this, you feel doubly proud of your effort expended.

First and foremost, -have a goal- for each piece of your assignment for each session. If you have a goal you can evaluate whether or not you reached it. If you don’t reach it, your goal was too large. Your goal wouldn’t be “play the Beethoven sonata better,” it would be “fix fingering in measure 18.”

Second, go to the piano -ready- to practice. Don’t go when you’ve just had a disagreement with your spouse/parents and are still physically/emotionally upset about the altercation. Go when you’re prepared to pay attention to what you’re doing. Don’t go when you’re absolutely brain-dead or physically exhausted. Bring some energy to the piano–or simply go and dabble with something not on your assignment list: something that relaxes you. Your goal for such a session is not meeting a goal!

Third, work in an organized fashion. The rocket scientist says, “Plan the work and work the plan.” Here’s the plan I often suggest to my students: devote 10% of the practice time to technique (Hanon, Czerny), 10% to keyboard harmony (scales, arpeggios), 10% to sight-reading, 60% to literature, and 10% to fun (playing by ear, playing old stuff, poking around for new stuff). Of course, this division is flexible. You may need to spend extra time learning a new scale or more time on literature if a performance is on the horizon. But don’t leave out the fun! That’s the main reason you’re doing this!!

Fourth, if you have an inefficient day, don’t sweat it. Re-focus and try again tomorrow!

 

( Article taken from:  http://www.serve.com/marbeth/helping_kids_practice.html )

 

Copyright 2011, Martha Beth Lewis, Ph.D.  Used with permission.   marthabeth.com  Please contact her for permission to reproduce this material for your students or your site.  This material is   her property and may not be used without permission.  Thank you for honoring copyright.

Leave a comment | posted in Frequently Asked Questions, How to Practise, Parental Roles in Music Learning, Piano Learning

December 31, 2010

How Parents Can Help the Teacher

By ms-ye

 

Please note:  The following material was written by Martha Beth Lewis, Ph.D.

 

When your child begins lessons, the child does the piano-playing, but -you- make a commitment of time, energy, and money. Here are some tips which will help you realize the greatest reward from your investment.

Find the Best Teacher You Can

Obviously, this is the first step!

Don’t forget the lesson!

Your child needs contact with and input from the teacher on a regular basis. Put the lesson on your calendar every week. If a holiday or something else intervenes that makes it “feel like today’s not Tuesday,” your calendar will remind you that it is. If your child has a calendar, help him enter lesson

Have a piano.

Unless the teacher says it’s perfectly ok for the child to have a digital piano or an electronic keyboard at home indefinitely, make a real piano available to your child as soon as possible. You want your child to play the piano, yes? A digital piano and an electronic keyboard are different animals. True, all have keyboards (accordions and carillons also have keyboards!), but the touch is very different and the ability to do certain pianists techniques is different on them all (and not possible on some!).

A digital piano is expensive, so it should -not- be considered a half-way stop. An electronic keyboard (usually with 66 keys instead of 88), also called a synthesizer or synth, is far less expensive, and most teachers will say it’s ok for starting lessons. (To my beginners, I say 6 months, maximum. The synth is great to take to the mountain cabin or to Grandma’s house, whether you go over the river and through the woods or not!)

If you aren’t ready to buy an instrument, rent one.

Maintain the piano.

Twice a year, your piano should be “given a tune up.” Literally. Your piano will need tuning twice a year. Actually it will need tuning more than that – – usually at each season change – – but most parents cannot afford piano service this often!

You may not think that your piano needs tuning, but it does. You’re just “used to” how it sounds.

Your piano may need other maintenance, too. You wouldn’t drive a car 100,000 miles without a tune-up, but some people think nothing of letting a piano go 5 years without service! The longer you let a piano go, the harder it is to get it “running correctly,” and thus the more expensive it is to bring it back to proper working order.

Likewise, you wouldn’t ignore it if your child’s computer produced a K every time she pressed the E key!

Don’t make your child “fight” the instrument in addition to learning how to play it!

Make practice a regular activity.

Your child will need your assistance with time management, especially a young child or a beginner (or both!). Help him make piano playing (I prefer this term to “piano practice,” which smacks of drudgery) a regular part of every day. Choose a time of day and make it a routine activity; select a time for weekend days, too. Split piano time in two part if needed (before school and after), which is particularly good for young ones (pre-school through pri 2).

Make sure the home is conducive to piano playing when the time comes. This is a great time for siblings to do homework. This way, the musician is assured that “something cool” isn’t going on elsewhere in the house and he is missing out while at the piano.

Carry out the assignment the teacher has given you.

This may be on-the-bench time with your child, or it may be playing music games, listening to weekly “recitals,” and so on. It also may be keeping-company time while your child plays; you read, balance the checkbook, etc. (Don’t offer suggestions or point out errors unless your child asks for your input. These activities are the teacher’s domain and why you hired him!)

Check in with your child after the lesson. What did the teacher say? What went well? What needs more work (rather than “did not go well”)? Celebrate successes with “family parties.” Did the lesson go especially well? Let the child choose the dinner menu for the next night or get two servings of dessert on lesson night.

Ask the teacher what else you can do.

Teachers will be delighted to know your interest in the child’s musical education extends so far that you want to know what else you can do to further it! There may be nothing, but if you ask there may be something more than you are currently doing.

Note: The teacher also may ask you to distance yourself, especially from a student of several years’ study. Be prepared for this, too. For example, as noted above, if you are calling out corrections from your home office as the child practices in the living room, this is probably detrimental, even though you mean it to be useful and are doing it out of love.

Note:  Lessons are at 45 min or an hr a week, parental roles are very important!!

 

( Article taken from:  http://www.serve.com/marbeth/help_teacher.html )

 

Copyright 2011, Martha Beth Lewis, Ph.D.  Used with permission.   marthabeth.com  Please contact her for permission to reproduce this material for your students or your site.  This material is   her property and may not be used without permission.  Thank you for honoring copyright.

Leave a comment | posted in Frequently Asked Questions, Parental Roles in Music Learning, Piano Learning

December 31, 2010

Parental Roles

By ms-ye

 

Please note:  The following material was taken from –      http://pianoeducation.org/pnotchld.html#Parent .

 

Many successful musicians regard their parents’ influence and inspiration as the most important in sparking their own interest in serious music. Whether or not your child makes a career of music, your efforts in bringing the world of music to your child will make his or her life fuller and happier. You can help your child learn faster and enjoy lessons more by doing a few simple things:

  • Become Involved With Your Child’s Piano Training. Discuss with your teacher the kind and degree of involvement which makes the best sense for your child. Should you attend lessons and, if so, how often? Should you supervise or coach practice sessions and, if so, how should you go about that? Communicate often with your child’s teacher to monitor progress and learn what you can do to be helpful to the learning process.
  • Encourage Your Child As Much As Possible. Be sure to praise effort as well as accomplishment. Even if your child does not learn as fast as another, in the long run, hard work will determine the final result. There is no better way to bring about the hard work than to reward the effort. Try to express interest in what your child is doing, even if you are getting tired of hearing “Chopsticks”. Encourage your child in every way possible to perform for family and friends in relaxed settings.
  • Avoid Negative Criticism. Most of us respond better to thoughtful, loving help than undirected criticism. If your child seems uncooperative, it may mean that they need more help, encouragement, and support. Punishment is usually not a long-term solution.
  • Make Sure Your Child Knows That You Consider Music a Serious Commitment. Schedule piano practice time for your child just as regularly as you do Little League or soccer practice. See to it that practice sessions are as free as possible from distractions. If the piano is in the living room, try to limit access to the living room during your child’s allotted practice time. If your child has not practiced for some reason, do not cancel lessons. If you find the child’s interest in lessons waning, the best thing to do it to discuss the problem with your child’s teacher; often, this can be solved with proper stimulation and supervision by you and the teacher working together.
  • Provide As Much Cultural Enrichment As Possible. The experience of listening to music without the pressure of having to play the notes correctly can add greatly to your child’s appreciation for music generally and lessons in particular. Go to concerts with your children whenever possible. Introduce your children to the works of the masters by playing the music in your home. These days, computer technology, especially the advent of CD-ROM disks, has made it possible to explore great music in a way that is fun for the entire family. If you have a CD-ROM drive equipped computer, try any of several different CD-ROM’s of this type.

Taking an Active Role in Your Child’s Piano Training

It is important to choose a teacher who can not only teach your child how to play the piano, but provide musical enrichment experiences like performance opportunities (home concerts, recitals, and competitions), encourage access to professional music concerts, and develop an overall appreciation of and interest in serious music. What may not be so apparent to parents and students is that these extra activities represent a major commitment of largely unreimbursed and uncompensated time and money for the teachers who make them possible. This fact of life is especially noteworthy in light of the fact that only a small fraction of teachers make them available at all, precisely because of the time and financial burdens required to bring them about. Thus, the task of bringing these activities into being falls disproportionately on a few active and committed teachers. Even if your child’s teacher doesn’t actively support such enrichment experiences, your child benefits from the efforts of other teachers and volunteers who do the extra work to put on a competition or recital.

You can have a major impact on the quality of the music education your child and other children receive by volunteering your time and/or contributing money or goods to support such enrichment activities. Volunteering can take only a few hours of your time a year, but can be of tremendous help to already overburdened teachers who run such events. Such volunteer service generally requires no special training, but can be critical in producing the best possible experience for your child. It can also be a lot of fun for you!

For example, by volunteering to provide and handle refreshments offered to students at competitions, you can not only make the competition more fun and enjoyable for your child and other children, but take some of the load from the teachers who must run the competition itself. You can also serve as a monitor, receptionist, or usher for the competition. When your or another teacher mounts a studio outing to the symphony or other performance, offer to drive and chaperone a car full of kids. You’ll get to see the glow in the kids’ eyes as they experience their first professional performance. If your teacher does recitals or home concerts, you can lift a major burden from the teacher by offering to organize refreshments or a bring-a-dish dinner after the recital. If your time is limited, we can say without fear of contradiction that monetary contributions to your local music teachers organization will be greatly appreciated and well-used to enrich your child’s musical training.

These are just a few of the ways you can help. Getting involved is easy. Just talk with your teacher about how you can help in the studio’s activities or call the local music teachers organization to volunteer. Your piano teacher should be able to give you the phone number of a contact person there, as well. If these kinds of activities aren’t readily available locally, talk with your teacher about the possibility of starting them with your help. If they are available and your teacher doesn’t participate in them, encourage the teacher to participate and to volunteer as well. We think you’ll find that you’ll enjoy helping to better music education for all the students in your area.

 

Article taken from:

–      http://pianoeducation.org/pnotchld.html#Parent         

 

Leave a comment | posted in Parental Roles in Music Learning, Piano Learning

December 31, 2010

Some Common Misconceptions About Piano Lessons

By ms-ye

 

Please note:  The following material was taken from  http://pianoeducation.org/pnolsmis.html .

 

Starting Lessons

“You only need lessons if you want to play the classics.”

Learning piano is a lot more than just being able to “plunk out” a few tunes. If you’re going to carry any skills over to other music, no matter the type, you’ll need to learn how to:  read music, adopt basic posture and technique, follow melodic and harmonic lines in each hand simultaneously, finger chords, practice properly and much, much more. Most people take lessons to help them learn to play most anything that might come along, not because they are interested in a particular genre. Would you be happy if, after taking lessons, you could only play a few tunes from a given type of music?

“I’m too old (young) to take lessons.”

While it is possible to start children on piano too young to gain maximum benefit from lessons, most children can benefit from lessons at early ages. On one of our Tips for Parents and Students pages, you’ll find some helpful hints about how to measure your child’s physical and mental development to determine if they are ready for lessons. The requirements are very easy to meet for most kids. Older students have some considerable advantages over children in terms of both focus and motivation, even if they have lost some of the flexibility that characterized their younger years. So long as an older student has the time and desire to learn, he can start at just about any age.

“It’s okay to start lessons without making a commitment to them.”

Many people don’t realize that lessons undertaken without commitment almost always lead to failure. Lessons take real time and involvement on the part of teachers, students and parents. A new student should assume that, to be successful, he will have to devote just as much time to practice and lessons as he would give to a school team sport. Just as with a sport, playing piano requires both knowledge and skill. You can get the knowledge by study, but can get the skill only by practice.

“Somehow my children will find time for lessons and practice, even though they are scheduled with activities every day of the week.”

Given the amount of time (not to mention psychological) commitment needed to be successful in learning to play the piano (see above), an overly scheduled child or adult student will find it difficult to be successful learning piano for sheer lack of time. Consider if you really have the time to commit at least an hour per day to effective practice.

Parental Role

“Paying for the lessons is all the piano parent must do.”

Just as parental involvement is important to a child’s success in school, his/her success in piano lessons will require support from the parents. The teacher will provide information, technique and encouragement. However, remember that the teacher only sees the student for 30 to 60 minutes per week, while the parents spend most of the non-school hours with him. If the parents don’t see to it that their children practice and attend lessons regularly, the teacher’s effort will likely be for naught, no matter what her skills as a teacher. Even more helpful to lesson success is regular interest and encouragement of their children from parents. For more specific tips about how you can help your child succeed in lessons, see our Being a Supportive Parent of a Piano Student section of our Tips for Parents and Students pages.

“The teacher must be failing if the child isn’t making progress at an acceptable rate.”

In rare cases, it may be the teacher’s “fault” if your child isn’t progressing. Before you conclude that you need to change teachers though, take a look at whether you and your child have been serious about lessons. Are you practicing correctly and frequently enough? Are you attending all scheduled lessons? Are you rewarding accomplishment at the piano with as much praise as you would accomplishment on the athletic field? Is learning piano a priority or just another part of a busy day?

Taking Lessons

“Playing piano is all about “talent”; you have it or you don’t.”

“Talent” at the piano is real, but, as in so many other areas of human endeavor, greatly overrated. If you are committed to learning piano and are willing to do the regular (i.e. daily) practice that building skill requires, you will learn to play to a considerable degree, irrespective of the level of your “native” talent. As with so many other skills, playing the piano requires hard work and inspiration in about a ten to one (or higher) ratio, respectively.

“My kid should have excellent piano skills in 6 months of lessons.”

Sometimes, parents come into a piano studio having heard the many “play in a day” claims out there. Some can’t understand why their child isn’t ready for a concert tour after 6 months of lessons. Unfortunately, you can’t really learn to play piano using any “play in a day” approach. Often, this approach does more harm than good. You might be able to master a single tune to a small degree, but you won’t have learned much to carry over to the next one.

“It’s my second lesson. I want to play the Maple Leaf Rag”

Many people take lessons because they would like to be able to play some particular work or genre of music. It’s not surprising that they might want to play works that are well beyond their level of training and capability. Keep in mind the fact that you are taking lessons from a teacher because he or she knows more about piano than you do. The teacher probably knows what’s best for your training, especially in the first year. It’s perfectly fine to tell your teacher that you have an interest in some work or works and ask if they could be worked into your lesson program, as feasible. In the end, though, you’re probably best served by following the teacher’s program of training and repertoire.

“I couldn’t come to the lesson (or practice the piano), because I had a (football, baseball, basketball, soccer, track, hockey, lacrosse, etc.) (practice, game)”

Piano teachers hear these statements so often that it’s practically impossible to list all the variations. In the end, they all come down to students and parents placing a higher priority on these alternative activities than on piano. All of us must make decisions everyday about how we will use our time. However, we can hardly hold a school teacher responsible for our failure to learn (and the resulting F grade) if we don’t attend class regularly or do any of the homework. The same is true for piano. The difference is that you’re wasting your own money, not just that of the taxpayers, if you take that view with regard to piano lessons.

“My child has a digital keyboard, so he doesn’t need an acoustic piano.”

Digital keyboards, especially top-of-the-line ones, have become remarkably good at reproducing much of the sound and some of the feel of the acoustic piano. Although individual teachers have their own, often strong, feelings on this subject, it’s fair to say that most feel that a good digital keyboard is fine to start lessons on. Indeed, digital keyboards now outsell acoustic pianos by a substantial margin worldwide and especially in the U.S. That said, no knowledgeable pianist would argue that a digital keyboard is the best way of learning to play the acoustic piano. Probably no later than the end of the first year of lessons, you should plan on getting an acoustic piano. As I have discussed numerous times all over The Piano Education Page, the digital keyboard is best seen as a separate instrument with different capabilities, which, by good fortune, can serve as a stand-in for a short period of time for an acoustic piano. Students should learn how to play both instruments for their own separate qualities and attributes.

Practicing

“”An hour of practice a day” is just a suggestion.”

You can either “practice” or you can practice. Too many people think that, if an hour of practice is required, that a half hour is almost as good and that half hour can be spent watching TV while “practicing.” Real practice requires both mental and physical devotion, in which you don’t simply repeat mistakes, but correct them before proceeding on. One expert pianist I know says that you should practice a problem area until you can do right ten times for every time you do it wrong. It’s not the amount of time you spend, but how well you use the time that counts. If you practice several hours a day and simply repeat the same mistakes each time through, you have not practiced effectively. For some good tips about how to practice effectively, see our article, Suggested Practice Techniques. In passing, allow me to note that failure of the student to practice properly and adequately is the single biggest item that piano teachers note as contributing to the failure of lessons.
 

“I’ll wait to practice until just before the next lesson.”

Piano teachers hear this one often. Imagine what a sports coach would say if his teams took this view. Playing piano is a skill and, as such, must be constantly refined and developed. You simply can’t learn by only practicing just before the lesson.


The Teacher

“Since lessons are paid for, the teacher should give any amount of unpaid time for free.”

Although they wouldn’t work for free themselves, many parents, in particular, think that extra time spent preparing a child for a contest or concert should be given free by the teacher. The average piano teacher probably has in excess of thirty students and each one deserves the best the teacher can give. If you need or want extra time from your teacher, expect to pay for the time.

“The teacher has plenty of free time to give me or my child.”

Some people feel it’s okay not to show up for a lesson and not to give notice, but expect immediate scheduling of a free makeup lesson. Others think that they can use their piano teacher as an unpaid baby sitter by leaving their child unsupervised at the piano studio for an hour or two after the scheduled end of the lesson. People should remember that the teacher teaches more students than just their children. If he/she has to watch over students left past lesson times or has to wait for a student who never arrives, he can’t give full attention to other students. In effect, those who leave their children at the studio past the scheduled end of the lesson are stealing the teacher’s time and attention from the next student.

“My piano teacher must be getting rich, because the hourly lesson rate is higher than my hourly rate.”

Most people don’t consider that they get benefits (health insurance, paid vacation, retirement plan, etc.) for “free” as a part of their compensation package, while most piano teachers must pay for those same benefits out of their hourly fee. Since typical company benefits run anywhere from half the nominal salary to equal the salary (or more), the real (“fully-loaded”) compensation is much higher than the amount people think of as salary. Considered in that light, most teacher’s fees are quite low, especially when you consider that the majority of teachers have degrees and/or other advanced training.
 

It’s Up to You!

I hope that understanding some of the common misconceptions about piano and lessons will help parents and students make the most of their lesson experience, without being burdened by misconceptions and misapprehensions which hold back their progress as pianists. This listing is not all-inclusive. You or your child can be a pianist, if you’re willing to devote time and work to it.

 

( Article taken from: http://pianoeducation.org/pnolsmis.html )

 

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December 31, 2010

Developments of the Modern Piano

By ms-ye

Interior of an upright piano, showing the felt-covered hammers. The tuning pins can be seen at upper left. In the treble range shown, each note has three strings.

In the period lasting from about 1790 to 1860, the Mozart-era piano underwent tremendous changes, which led to the modern form of the instrument. This revolution was in response to a consistent preference by composers and pianists for a more powerful, sustained piano sound. It was also a response to the ongoing Industrial Revolution, which made available technological resources like high-quality steel for strings (see piano wire) and precision casting for the production of iron frames.

Over time, piano playing became a more strenuous and muscle-taxing activity, as the force needed to depress the keys, as well as the length of key travel, was increased. The tonal range of the piano was also increased, from the five octaves of Mozart’s day to the 7⅓ (or even more) octaves found on modern pianos.

In the first part of this era, technological progress owed much to the English firm of Broadwood, which already had a strong reputation for the splendour and powerful tone of its harpsichords. Over time, the Broadwood instruments grew progressively larger, louder, and more robustly constructed. The Broadwood firm, which sent pianos to both Haydn and Beethoven, was the first to build pianos with a range of more than five octaves: five octaves and a fifth during the 1790s, six octaves by 1810 (in time for Beethoven to use the extra notes in his later works), and seven octaves by 1820. The Viennese makers followed these trends. The two schools, however, used different piano actions: the Broadwood one more robust, the Viennese more sensitive.

By the 1820s, the center of innovation had shifted to Paris, where the Érard firm manufactured pianos used by Chopin and Liszt. In 1821, Sébastien Érard invented the double escapement action, which permitted a note to be repeated even if the key had not yet risen to its maximum vertical position, a great benefit for rapid playing. When the invention became public, and as revised by Henri Herz, the double escapement action gradually became the standard action for grand pianos, and is used in all grand pianos currently produced.

Some other important technical innovations of this era include the following:

        Use of three strings rather than two for all but the lower notes

  • The iron frame, also called the “plate”, sits atop the soundboard, and serves as the primary bulwark against the force of string tension. The iron frame was the ultimate solution to the problem of structural integrity as the strings were gradually made thicker, tenser, and more numerous (in a modern grand the total string tension can approach 20 tons). The single piece cast iron frame was patented in 1825 in Boston by Alpheus Babcock, combining the metal hitch pin plate (1821, claimed by Broadwood on behalf of Samuel Hervé) and resisting bars (Thom and Allen, 1820, but also claimed by Broadwood and Érard). Babcock later worked for the Chickering & Mackays firm which patented the first full iron frame for grand pianos (1843). Composite forged metal frames were preferred by many European makers until the American system was fully adopted by the early 20th century.
    •  
      • Felt hammer coverings, first introduced by Henri Pape in 1826, gradually replaced skillfully layered leather hammers; the more consistent material permitted wider dynamic ranges as hammer weights and string tensions increased.
      • The sostenuto pedal invented in 1844 by Jean Louis Boisselot and improved by the Steinway firm in 1874.
      • The over strung scale, also called “cross-stringing”; the strings are placed in a vertically overlapping slanted arrangement, with two heights of bridges on the soundboard, rather than just one. This permits larger, but not necessarily longer, strings to fit within the case of the piano. Over stringing was invented by Jean-Henri Pape during the 1820s, and first patented for use in grand pianos in the United States by Henry Steinway Jr. in 1859.

Duplex scaling: Treble strings of a 182 cm. grand piano. From lower left to upper right: dampers, main sounding length of strings, treble bridge, duplex string length, duplex bridge (long bar perpendicular to strings), hitchpins.

  • Duplexes or aliquot scales; In 1872 Theodore Steinway patented a system to control different components of string vibrations by tuning their secondary parts in octave relationships with the sounding lengths. Similar systems developed by Blüthner (1872), as well as Taskin (1788), and Collard (1821) used more distinctly ringing undamped vibrations to modify tone.

Today’s upright, grand, and concert grand pianos attained their present forms by the end of the 19th century. Improvements have been made in manufacturing processes, and many individual details of the instrument continue to receive attention.

Some early pianos had shapes and designs that are no longer in use.

The square piano had horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side, it is variously attributed to Silbermann and Frederici and was improved by Petzold and Babcock. Built in quantity through the 1890s (in the United States), Steinway’s celebrated iron framed over strung squares were more than two and a half times the size of Zumpe’s wood framed instruments that were successful a century before, their overwhelming popularity was due to inexpensive construction and price, with performance and sonority frequently restricted by simple actions and closely spaced strings.

The tall vertically strung upright grand was arranged with the soundboard and bridges perpendicular to keys, and above them so that the strings did not extend to the floor. Diagonally strung Giraffe, pyramid and lyre pianos employed this principle in more evocatively shaped cases. The term was later revived by many manufacturers for advertising purposes.

The very tall cabinet piano introduced by Southwell in 1806 and built through the 1840s had strings arranged vertically on a continuous frame with bridges extended nearly to the floor, behind the keyboard and very large sticker action.

The short cottage upright or pianino with vertical stringing, credited to Robert Wornum about 1810 was built into the 20th century. They are informally called birdcage pianos because of their prominent damper mechanism. Pianinos were distinguished from the oblique, or diagonally strung upright made popular in France by Roller & Blanchet during the late 1820s.

The tiny spinet upright was manufactured from the mid 1930s until recent times. It saved space by using a “drop action” arranged below the level of the keys.

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December 31, 2010

Early history

By ms-ye

Although there were various crude earlier attempts to make stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings, it is widely considered that the piano was invented by a single individual: Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy. It is not known exactly when Cristofori first built a piano, but an inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates the existence of a piano by the year 1700. The three Cristofori pianos that survive today date from the 1720s.

 Like many other inventions, the piano was founded on earlier technological innovations. The mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well known. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are plucked by quills. Centuries of work on the mechanism of the harpsichord in particular had shown the most effective ways to construct the case, soundboard, bridge, and keyboard. Cristofori, himself an expert harpsichord maker, was well acquainted with this body of knowledge.

 Cristofori’s great success was in solving, without any prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammers must strike the string, but not remain in contact with the string (as a tangent remains in contact with a clavichord string) because this would damp the sound. Moreover, the hammers must return to their rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be possible to repeat a note rapidly. Cristofori’s piano action served as a model for the many different approaches to piano actions that followed. While Cristofori’s early instruments were made with thin strings and were much quieter than the modern piano, compared to the clavichord (the only previous keyboard instrument capable of minutely controlled dynamic nuance through the keyboard) they were considerably louder and had more sustaining power.

 Cristofori’s new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic article about it (1711), including a diagram of the mechanism. This article was widely distributed, and most of the next generation of piano builders started their work because of reading it. One of these builders was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. Silbermann’s pianos were virtually direct copies of Cristofori’s, with one important addition: Silbermann invented the forerunner of the modern damper pedal, which lifts all the dampers from the strings at once.

Silbermann showed Bach one of his early instruments in the 1730s, but Bach did not like it at that time, claiming that the higher notes were too soft to allow a full dynamic range. Although this earned him some animosity from Silbermann, the criticism was apparently heeded. Bach did approve of a later instrument he saw in 1747, and even served as an agent in selling Silbermann’s pianos.

 Piano-making flourished during the late 18th century in the Viennese school, which included Johann Andreas Stein (who worked in Augsburg, Germany) and the Viennese makers Nannette Stein (daughter of Johann Andreas) and Anton Walter. Viennese-style pianos were built with wood frames, two strings per note, and had leather-covered hammers. It was for such instruments that Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas, and replicas of them are built today for use in authentic-instrument performance of his music. The pianos of Mozart’s day had a softer, clearer tone than today’s pianos, with less sustaining power. The term fortepiano is nowadays often used to distinguish the 18th-century instrument from later pianos.

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December 31, 2010

Piano

By ms-ye

Piano is the general name given to a musical instrument classified as a keyboard, percussion, or string instrument, depending on the system of classification used. The piano produces sound by striking steel strings with felt hammers that immediately rebound allowing the string to continue vibrating at its resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through the bridges to the soundboard, which amplifies them.

The piano is widely used in western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment. It is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal. Although not portable and often expensive, the piano’s versatility and ubiquity has made it among the most familiar of musical instruments.

The word piano is a shortened form of the word pianoforte, which is seldom used except in formal language and derived from the original harpsichord with soft and loud). This refers to the ability of the piano to produce notes at different dynamic levels depending on the speed with which a key is depressed.

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December 29, 2010

Piano – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

By ms-ye

 

Please note:  The following material was taken from  http://pianoeducation.org/pnopnfaq.html#Basics .

 

Piano – Basics and History

Q: How and why was the piano invented?
A: The mechanical genius Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano around 1700. The name piano is actually a shortened version of the Italian term pianoforte, meaning soft-loud, and referring to the fact that the pianoforte could produce sound volume covering a much larger range than its predecessors, the harpsichord and clavichord. To get more of the story behind the invention and evolution of the piano, see our article The Why of the Piano.

Q: Is the piano a string instrument or a percussion instrument?
A: The piano is really a “hybrid”–a combination of two types. It’s a string instrument because the musical tones originate in the strings; and it’s also a percussion instrument, because the strings are set into vibration by being struck with hammers. To be historically correct, it’s classified as a “keyed zither” by musicologists.

Q: What types of piano are there?
A: There are two basic types: Grand pianos have their strings and soundboard parallel to the floor, and Verticals (or Uprights) have their strings and soundboard turned up perpendicular to the floor. Both kinds come in different sizes and styles. Grands can be anywhere from 4 and a half to 9 and a half feet long. Uprights can be 52 or more inches high; around 45 inches (“studio uprights”); about 40-42 inches (“consoles”); and as low as 36-38 inches (“spinets”).

Q: Why does the piano have 88 keys?
A: Well, the piano started out with only about 60 keys, same as the harpsichord–in fact it WAS a harpsichord, except that the harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori (try saying that 10 times fast!) got the bright idea of putting hammers on one (to HIT the strings) instead of plectra (to PLUCK the strings).  So the piano was invented–this was around 1700, or maybe a little before that. Anyway, as composers began to use the new instrument they started writing more and more complicated and brilliant music for it. Pretty soon, the keyboard had to expand in both directions.  By the middle of the 19th century, it had 85 notes–up to A–then finally they added the last three at the top. There’s even a piano made today–the Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand–which has 96 keys; the bass notes go all the way down to C.  It’s nine-and-a-half feet long and weighs almost a ton.

Q: How many strings does a piano have?
A: It depends on the piano. Each note has three strings in the treble, two strings in the tenor and part of the bass, and only one in the very low bass. One of ours has 65 trebles (X 3=195), 12 tenor/bass (X 2=24), and 11 single low bass, so it comes out to 230. But that’s a large grand, so you need to look in your piano and count them up.

How the Piano Works

Q: How does the piano create sound?
A: When you push down a key, the mechanism inside (the action) makes a hammer go up (in a grand) or forward (in an upright) to strike the strings. The hammer is a round stick with a head on it (it looks something like a real hammer), and the head is covered with very dense wool felt. When the string vibrates it makes a musical sound; the string is connected to a large soundboard that amplifies the sound much louder than the string could do by itself. When you let go of the key, a felt pad, called a damper, drops back onto the string and stops the sound again. When you press down the right pedal with your foot it raises all the dampers so that the strings can keep sounding.

Q: What do the pedals do and how do they work?
A: The left (soft) pedal works differently on grands and uprights.  On an upright or ‘vertical’ piano–this includes spinets, consoles, studio uprights and large uprights–the soft pedal operates a bar inside that pushes all the hammers closer to the strings, which makes it easier to play softer.  You can watch this by opening the top of the piano and looking down inside while you work the pedal. A grand is more complicated: the soft pedal slides the whole action–keys and all–over to the right a little bit so that the hammers only hit two of the three strings that are assigned to each note (only two in the bass, and if you go down far enough there’s only one).  This not only makes the sound softer, but changes the tone somewhat as well, because you’re striking those two (or one) strings with a different part of the hammer.  If you have a grand, work the soft pedal and watch how the whole keyboard shifts back and forth. 

The middle pedal was invented to be used (and named) as a sostenuto pedal on grands, which captures only those notes being held at the time with the fingers. On those uprights and consoles which employ a felt muting strip, it’s called the practice pedal. Some verticals have only two pedals, and a few (e.g., the Yamaha U3 and most Bösendorfers) have a true sostenuto mechanism. On older uprights and consoles the middle pedal is usually a bass sustain (acting like the right pedal but only on the bass register), or sometimes it’s simply hooked to the left pedal lever and works the device that moves the hammers closer to the strings.

The pedal on the right is the same on all pianos–it’s called the damper pedal, because it raises the dampers. Dampers are the wedges of felt that press on the strings to stop the sound–each key raises its own damper when you press it down, so the tone can keep sounding, but the pedal raises them all at once so that ALL the strings are free at the same time. Take a look inside your piano and watch the dampers move when you push the pedal.

Buying a Piano

Q: Is a “new” piano always better than a “used” piano?
A: Not necessarily. While several current manufacturers make fine new pianos (Yamaha and Steinway, for example), high labor costs and generally lesser quality of wood available today mean that an older piano, properly rebuilt or refurbished, may well be both a better piano and more valuable. Of course, various manufacturers’ pianos have subtly different sounds that may or may not appeal to you in the setting in which you intend to place a piano. Some pianos are “brighter” in tone and may not sound their best in a room with basic gypsum board walls. Others are more deeply resonant and might produce a more pleasing tone in that environment. It’s a matter not only of quality, but of personal taste as well.

For example, Yamaha maintains quality with the most sophisticated tooling and efficiency you could find anywhere; they sell more acoustical pianos than anybody in the world.  If you like the sound of a Yamaha, you’ve got one of the world’s top pianos; but if you don’t, there’s probably little point in trying others because they all sound and feel exactly alike. The action is perfect and the sound is brilliant, but it’s not as warm a sound as that produced by some other pianos. For more information on new vs. used pianos, please see our article on Piano Purchase Tips.

Q: Is a piano from a “good manufacturer” always good?
A: Again, not necessarily. In any given manufacturer’s legacy or current line there are some piano models that are more highly regarded than others in the line. Similarly, as companies change hands over time, the production quality may change. For example, Mason and Hamlin used to be one of the world’s great pianos, with a wonderful singing tone and an action similar to Steinway’s.  But after the Depression of the 1930s it was taken over (as were Knabe, Chickering and others) by another corporation, which turned out a much less highly regarded product with a great old name on it.  Later, M& H was revived by Falcone Co. of Haverhill, MA, and manufactured with integrity again, but they have gone out of business.  PianoDisc is now manufacturing M&H pianos again to the original designs and specifications. Most of the traditional piano names are the products of conglomerates rather than the original families, just as with so many other products. 

Q: Should I buy a spinet piano to save space?
A: If a spinet is the only choice for you due to space considerations, then go ahead. However, we tend to discourage buyers from choosing spinets for several reasons.  The so-called “drop action” is a major compromise from the normal vertical piano action in that it employs an additional lever system to ‘drop’ the entire mechanism down below and behind the keys instead of above them; this is done solely for marketing purposes, in that it enables the piano to be much lighter and lower.  But the keys are necessarily so short and the action parts so small that it tends to be temperamental and difficult to keep in regulation, as well as hard to control; also, the string lengths and soundboard area are so small that the tone is poor, especially in the bass where the low registers are extremely difficult to tune.  Finally, spinets tend to be of poorer overall quality because the products are aimed at that segment of the market in which buyers are often more concerned with styling and convenience than with music. A good alternative for many people is a console piano; they are small and relatively light, but have a direct blow action and–usually–a better sound.

Q: Can you tell me the current value of a used piano?
A: No! Many factors, including local market, model, date of manufacture, general condition, and reputation, among many others go into determining the true value of a piano. We simply don’t have all that information for any given piano. If you are contemplating buying a used piano, we strongly advise you to contact a local piano technician, preferably one who holds the “Registered Tuner/Technician” rating from The Piano Technicians Guild, for help in determining not only the current value in your market, but also what the cost of needed maintenance/repair/rebuilding might be. For definition and explanation of these terms, see our article Maintaining Your Piano Investment.

Q: Are there some good reference sources for information on pianos and piano value?
A: Yes, there are. We recommend that any piano owner or prospective owner acquire a copy of an excellent and relatively inexpensive book, The Piano Book by Larry Fine. Other good sources of information include the Pierce Piano Atlas or online at How Old Is My Piano? Piano World.

Q: Where should I locate my piano?
A: Generally, you want to locate the piano in a place which minimizes variations in temperature, humidity and lighting experienced by the piano. Do not place your piano against an outside wall. If however, that is the only room available, make sure there is at least 1 to 2 feet from the wall to the piano. Also, never let direct sunlight fall on the piano; keep all sunlight filtered or totally away from the piano. Exposure to direct sunlight can destroy the finish of the piano over time, and the heat from the sun can cause drastic changes in the soundboard, and pinblock, causing cracks and major problems. If you live at high altitude (over 5000 ft.), you must take special care with sunlight exposure, since the increased amount of UV in sunlight at high altitudes can be especially damaging.

Piano Maintenance and Tuning

Q: What can I do to determine the condition of my piano?
A: Untrained individuals should NOT attempt repairs or tuning of a piano themselves. The piano is simply too valuable to risk damage in such a misguided effort. However, you can safely do some basic examination of your piano to spot problems and help guide a trained repairer by following the procedures in our article, Diagnosing the General Condition of Your Piano.

Q: Why is a piano hard to tune?
A: A piano is hard to tune because it has more than 250 strings and they are held under very high tension, which means that the tuning pins they wrap around have to be set in a strong wooden block very tightly; and THAT means that you have to have a special wrench to turn them up or down.

The tuner starts with one string in the middle of the piano (where you can hear best) and gets the pitch for that from somewhere else, usually a tuning fork. Then he sets about 12 notes right in the same area (a chromatic scale). But if you’ve ever looked in your piano you’ve probably seen that each key has three strings (two or one in the bass)–so he has to block off the outside strings of each key with a strip of felt so only one string will sound at a time for each note. After he gets enough notes tuned in the middle he can work in both directions by listening to octaves that go with the notes already set. The final step is to pull out the strip of felt and tune the two outside strings of each note to the middle one. And that’s about it. For more information on tuning and how it is done, consult our article Piano Tuning – How It Is Done and Who Should Do It.

Oh, one more thing: DON’T TRY IT YOURSELF!

Q: What do I need to do to maintain my piano?
A: See our page, Purchasing and Caring For a Piano or Keyboard, for basic tips on piano maintenance and cleaning. You may also want to view our page, Piano Hygiene in the Teaching Studio, for information on methods for cleaning and disinfecting the keyboard of your piano.

Pianos and Lessons

Q: What kind of “starter piano” should I buy for my children to take lessons?
A: This involves many considerations, both financial and personal. For more information on some of the tradeoffs and considerations that may affect your decisions, see our article Buying a Starter Piano.

Q: Can my children start lessons using a digital keyboard?
A: Yes, though we think that most people will want to get an acoustic piano within a year after starting lessons, if not sooner. Even the best digital keyboards, which can run several thousand dollars in price, can’t duplicate the sound and “feel” of an acoustic piano, so they really can’t “replace” a piano. However, for the neophyte student, there are some “all in one” packages which provide a 3-4 octave keyboard along with learning software for under $200. In the long run, you’ll want to get an acoustic piano for your playing, though digital keyboards can be connected to your computer for composing and playing your own songs. For more information about digital keyboards and their use in lessons, please look at our articles, Digital Keyboards and Before You Start Lessons.

 

( Article taken from: http://pianoeducation.org/pnopnfaq.html#Basics )

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