9 May 2014 Upright Piano Restoration: Is It Time?

Upright Piano Restoration: Is It Time?

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Do you have an old upright piano you are considering restoring? No matter how long its been since you played it, you can bring it to its original condition once again.

If you have have been contemplating a restoration for your upright piano, but have been holding back because you weren’t sure of the process, here are a few guidelines to show you what is possible during the restoration process, and how your piano will look when the work is complete.

For most pianos that come in for restoration, they have specific problems that either make the piano unplayable, or simply an eye sore because of missing or broken parts.

The most important part of restoration is keeping the piano at historically correct specifications while maintaining as much of the original parts as possible.Upright Piano Restoration: Is It Time?

If a piano is old, worn, and materials have deteriorated over time, certain parts will most likely be replaced: felts, leather, strings – these will be replaced to make the mechanics of the piano top quality.

If the cabinet is still in good shape, as much of it as possible will be maintained. A great restorer will focus in on keeping the wood as original as possible, while focusing in on adding molding, carvings, and other details to match what still exists. When completed, it will receive a high quality lacquer finish to give it beauty and shine.

If ivory is present, we will attempt to restore whenever possible. Ivory is now outlawed from purchase due to the Endangered Species Act, but if it exists in your piano and it is fixable, every attempt will be made to use it. If not, faux ivory will be used in its place.

In all piano restorations, the soundboard is repaired and refinished to guarantee you a quality sound. New action pieces are used whenever appropriate, such as shanks and hammers, strings and turning pins. Upright piano pinblocks are plugged and re-drilled as needed to increase the integrity of the final instrument.

Above all, care is given to the entire instrument throughout the process. And when you see the final piano in your home, moved and tuned with care, you’ll once again be proud of the piano that has been a big part of your life up until this moment, and has years of life left to give.

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3 May 2014 Piano Restoration: What If My Piano Has Ivory Keys?

Piano Restoration: What If My Piano Has Ivory Keys?

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I’ve been contemplating piano restoration for a long time now. I have an antique piano dating back to my grandmother. The problem is I know it has ivory keys. If I bring it in for restoration, what will happen to the ivory? I know ivory isn’t used anymore, but I would like my piano to remain as original as possible.

We get questions like this all the time. And the topic of ivory keys is a hot topic when it comes to pianos.

First of all, lets talk about ivory and how you can tell if its real.

As a part of the endangered species act, buying or selling ivory is illegal. Ivory comes from the tusks of elephants or in some cases walrus, and is taken in illegal, and often brutal ways.

Most pianos made up until 1956 used a thin covering ivory veneer over the top of the wooden key. Keys are not solid ivory.

Pianos built after this time will not have ivory on them.

To tell if your keys are made from real ivory, you can perform a simple test. Heat a needle with a flame from a lighter or candle. Stick the heated end into the key. If it melts into the key, its plastic; if it doesn’t go in, its ivory.piano-restoration-what-if-my-piano-has-ivory-keys

Ivory keys are almost always made up of the front, the head and the tail. If you shine a light at an angle across the keys, you will see a thin parting seam between the head and the tail with a wood-like grain to it. Ivory becomes rough when soiled, which suits many pianists because they don’t like to play on slippery keys.

If you have ivory keys, they really don’t have much value because of the legality issues. If your piano has ivory keys, it is important that you have CITES paperwork that proves what type of animal and scientific name of the animal used, as well as age, what date and what manufacturer was used in production. You can request a permit directly from the US Fish and Game Department if you plan on selling, or will be moving across state lines. If you can’t prove it, your piano could face a fine or confiscation by the US Fish and Game Department.

If you are debating about the best way to approach restoration, you have two options. If your keys are in good shape and you have the proper paperwork, they can remain intact. If they need to be replaced, we can replace them with simulated ivory or plastic key covers that provide you with a new look and feel to your treasured piano.

Have more questions? We would be happy to answer all of them, and show you how your antique piano can become a beautiful addition to your home once more.

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30 April 2014 Antique Piano Restoration

Antique Piano Restoration

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Antique Piano RestorationIf you have an older piano in need of repair, there are many things you can search for when looking for information on how to go about it. Antique piano restoration, piano refinishing, piano repairs, or even piano refurbishing are all common terms in the piano industry.

But no matter what you call it, it all leads to the same outcome. It’s the process of bringing a piano back to a playable and serviceable condition.

Before you begin, start by asking yourself one question. Is the piano worth the cost of the rebuild? In most cases, the answer is yes because not only does it take into account the condition the piano will be in after the restoration, it may also have sentimental value as well.

What are the benefits of piano restoration?

  • In many cases, the cost or repairs and/or restoration will be far less than what you would pay for a brand new piano of equal quality.
  • If your piano is antique, the piano casing and style is probably no longer available. In many cases the wood is far superior to wood used today, and in order to maintain the old look and feel, which may match your home’s décor, restoration may be the best option.
  • If you own an antique piano, chances are it has some sentimental value to it. Yet no matter how much sentiment it carries, if it isn’t playable, it doesn’t have much value. Restoration will increase its intrinsic value all around.
  • If you are trying to live green and be friendlier on the environment, restoration is the way to go. To care for something that’s already in our homes rather than sending it to the landfill will always be a savings overall.
  • Many older pianos have been hand crafted, and therefore have details that only can come from being made individually by hand. Those loving details can be saved and highlighted during a restoration process.

Each piano restoration is unique to the individual piano that is being restored. It may contain a component of rebuilding, reconditioning, or even just general repair, depending on the extent of damage.

To get a better understanding of what we could do with your antique piano restoration process, give us a call today. We’re happy to answer all of your questions as you consider this highly detailed process.

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26 April 2014 Guide To Piano Brands

Guide To Piano Brands

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Ready to buy a piano for your home? Like many consumer products, its not as easy as choosing the first one you see. There are many brands on the market, each offering its own quality and innovation.

But if you are new to the piano world, how do you know which brand to choose? Is there a noticeable difference? Is there a difference that you or the person who will be playing the piano will notice?

Many people dream of owning a Steinway piano. They sit in some of the greatest concert halls across the world. But in no way is that the only piano manufacturer out there.Guide To Piano Brands

  • Wm. Knabe & Co.
  • Baldwin
  • Chickering
  • Samick
  • Kohler & Campbell
  • Kimball
  • Pramberger
  • Remington
  • Wurlitzer
  • Seiler
  • Conover Cable
  • Niemeyer

Before you get caught up in the brand, ask yourself what type of piano you would most use first. You can choose a digital piano or an acoustic piano. With acoustic pianos, you can have an upright or a grand.

With all piano choices, your two most important factors will be sound and space.

Grand pianos take up the most space, and will need a fairly large square footage for its final resting spot. Uprights are meant to be placed by a wall and will take much less square footage than its grand counterpart.

If you have even less space, a digital piano gives you flexibility of being able to move your piano in an easier fashion.

Sound will ultimately depend on the style of piano chosen, and the quality of the manufacturing process.

Each of the brands provides its own quality and can provide you with years of enjoyment. By choosing a reputable dealer with many different styles, brands and selections, you can quickly learn what the difference is, and narrow your choices to select the perfect piano for you and your family. We welcome you to our store today.

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22 April 2014 How To Motivate Your Child To Practice Piano Over Summer Break

How To Motivate Your Child To Practice Piano Over Summer Break

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Once again, summer break from school is a few short weeks ahead of us. Longer days, warm breezes, family vacations, freedom from the work that fills our schedules all year long.

While its important to take breaks now and again, should you take a break from everything? In some cases, the answer may be no.

Freedom is a good thing. But an idle mind is not. While pushing math problems several hours a day might make them beg to go back to school, something fun like piano can actually make them enjoy music that much more.How To Motivate Your Child To Practice Piano Over Summer Break

To start, find a piano teacher that has a slightly different approach in the summer months. Because there may be weeks without lessons while you enjoy a family vacation, make the music about fun as well. See if your child can choose fun, modern day music rather than sticking with the classics.

In some cases, having a new selection may be all that it takes to motivate your child to sit down at the piano every day. If they enjoy it, they may play it without asking. If you find that two days turn into four, and your child is soon returning to piano lessons without practicing at all, it may be time to add a little structure to the day.

When is your child most likely to appreciate time at the piano? Every child is different. Some have a lot of energy first thing in the morning; some prefer around dinner time. Whatever works for your child and your schedule,

Rather than instilling a time limit, try and work your summer schedule around achievements.

  • Play this song three times every day.
  • Practice these scales four times each.
  • Play this section until you feel comfortable with it.

The problem with time limits is they are something to be endured. If a child knows she has to put in 30 minutes before she can go out and play, she’ll become a clock watcher. But if she can work on feeling comfortable with a certain selection of the song, she can adjust her time around her comfort level, and may wind up practicing longer because of her appreciation for what she is doing.

Above all, realize that she probably won’t accomplish as much in the summer as she does the rest of the year. And that’s okay. As long as she continues her appreciation for the art of piano, it will be instilled in her for the long term.

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19 April 2014 What Piano Lessons Do For Your Children

What Piano Lessons Do For Your Children

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Looking for an extracurricular activity for your child? Want one that can help your child both now and many years into the future?

How about piano lessons?

Piano lessons can help children:

  • Become more centered as human beingsWhat Piano Lessons Do For Your Children
  • Become more focused and content within themselves
  • Become more self disciplined
  • Increase their concentration levels
  • Increase their self worth
  • Increase their self confidence
  • Provide more self esteem
  • Increase their ability to learn
  • Increase their scores and results in classes and on tests
  • Increase their find motor skills
  • Give them a lifelong skill
  • Bring them years of joy and fun

All great reasons to nudge your children into playing the piano.

But overall, nothing is fun if they don’t see a purpose to it.

One of the best ways to start your child down the path and the love for music is to introduce them to it from early on.

Dancing, singing and even making music with toys, pots and pans and other “musical” instruments in your home will show them early on the value of music. Point out your favorite songs on the radio. Attend concerts in your community – you can find almost any level of musical concert close by, from school activities to professional performances from the best names in the business.

You can even watch American Idol, America’s Got Talent, The Voice, or other musical reality television show to show your child how music can be a part of our lives at all ages.

Kids need to see the connection in order to bring it into their own lives. Once they see the value of music, integrating piano into their lives is something they want to do, not have to do. And that’s a big distinction at an early age.

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16 April 2014 What Is The Best Age For Piano Lessons?

What Is The Best Age For Piano Lessons?

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From the time your child is a baby, you’re always looking for ways to help her grow and mature. And for many parents, that path includes the gift of music.

Piano enriches their lives in many ways. Piano has been shown to increase intelligence, build up self esteem, increase hand eye coordination, and bring out the performer in your child. Its also been shown to increase brain activity, develop fine motor skills, and even increase subject comprehension and overall test scores as your child ages.What Is The Best Age For Piano Lessons?

With all that going for it, why not start piano lessons as soon as possible? While it is true you can find child prodigy videos on YouTube depicting 3 year old maestros, there may be such a thing as introducing lessons too early.

Most three year olds won’t respond well to an adult imposed learning structure. They like to sing and dance and play. Which is where the love of music should begin. A great preschool or music class that allows a child to discover their musicality will make the thought of producing music that much more enticing in the coming years.

The best time to start piano lessons will be different for every child, yet overall we find the best time often lies between the ages of 5 and 8. Here are a few things to watch for.

How large is the child’s hand? A child should be able to comfortably be able to place five fingers on five adjacent white keys. That may be a big stretch for some petite 5 year olds. If they can’t comfortably play a song and reach the notes required for a song, frustration sets in and the desire to play decreases.

Do they have finger coordination? Piano playing and piano lessons involve a child playing individual notes together with each finger moving separately from one another. If they still play using the hunt and peck method instead of wanting to use the hand to create a multidimensional sound, its best to wait.

Will they be learning by the Suzuki method, or an ear based method of piano playing? Five or six may be a good age since its based on listening and imitating. If they will be diving into the world of reading notes and music, waiting until they are seven or eight and have a better understanding of reading may help eliminate frustration at trying to learn two major tasks at once.

Is it ever too late? No! People take up the piano at every age. As long as you have a desire and willingness to learn, you can learn to play the piano from the comfort of your home. Studying music is good for the body, mind and spirit at any age; its something you’ll enjoy for a lifetime.

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12 April 2014 The Ultimate Guide To Digital Pianos

The Ultimate Guide To Digital Pianos

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Sometimes an acoustic piano simply won’t work.

Maybe your child is just as interested in football as he is in becoming the next famous rock star. Do you really want a serious investment in something that he might drop in a year? Or maybe your child is off to college soon, and there is no way he can practice his new-found skill by bringing an upright or grand piano with him.

What matters most is size, portability and space – and the best sound possible that goes with it.The Ultimate Guide To Digital Pianos

That’s why digital pianos are a welcome addition to the piano world.

Digital pianos aren’t like their electric keyboard counterparts – remember the 44 key Casio keyboards from yesteryear? Though they may have had some resemblance to a piano, they sounded or acted nothing like it.

Today’s digital pianos feature fully weighted keys to mimic the functionality of an acoustic piano, have life-like reverb effects, and have sound that compares to some of the most beautiful grand pianos in the world.

What should you look for in your in the market for a digital piano?

Always stick with the standard 88 key setup. You will find cheaper, lower quality pianos with lower key counts, but they may limit your playing of some songs. And while there are pianos with more keys, outside of a true professional that understands how to use them, you’ll probably never use the additional keys anyway.

In our world, more is always better, right? Hundreds of instruments. Thousands of unique sounds. It sounds like a dream; something you just have to have. Its important to note that more sounds don’t lead to higher quality. And for most players, they simply will never use even a fraction of those sounds anyway. Focus on quality. Does it have a rich sound? Sound is what is important, not how many bells and whistles it has.

Polyphony is the number of individual notes a digital piano can produce at one time. If you’ve ever played a small child’s keyboard toy, when you hit multiple notes at once, you’ll only hear one sound coming out – not a smooth chord with multiple rich notes at one time. This keyboard would have a polyphony of one. To have an efficient digital piano, anything less than 32 note simply won’t give you the tone to make music with. 64 is considered acceptable; 128 is typically best.

Touch is also an important feature, and one that easily tricks parents who don’t play the piano themselves when it comes time to buy one for their kids. Its easy to be swayed by lights and dials, and ratings based on marketing rather than performance. To truly learn how to play the piano, the piano must act like a piano to transfer the skills from one type to the next. Touch response comes from being able to press down on a key and feeling a building resistance as the hammer strikes the piano’s strings to make a sound. When keys are weighted correctly, it imitates the feel of an acoustic piano, meaning your skills are easily transferred from one to the next, and the proper performance can be achieved by playing by feel.

Still have questions? Come in today. We would love to help you experience all a digital piano can provide.

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10 April 2014 The Difference Between Acoustic Pianos, Digital Pianos and Electric Pianos

The Difference Between Acoustic Pianos, Digital Pianos and Electric Pianos

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When someone mentions the word piano, where does your mind go? Chances are its to the stage of a concert hall, grand piano center stage, with one of the best pianists in the world sitting at the keys.

In reality, pianos come in many styles, shapes, sizes and formats.The Difference Between Acoustic Pianos, Digital Pianos and Electric Pianos

The concert grand piano falls into the first category, the acoustic piano. The most common type of acoustic piano is called an upright piano, or sometimes a vertical or box piano. In general you will find uprights in homes or commercial locations where space is limited. The second type is the grand piano. Grand pianos are typically on display where performances will be made, or in some cases in larger, upper class homes where more space is available.

All types of acoustic pianos share several characteristics. All have 88 keys, 52 while and 36 black. They are made with a string/hammer technique in which the harder you strike the key, the harder the hammer hits the string, the louder the sound. Most will also have 3 pedals used to control sound in various ways.

Digital pianos are a recent invention designed to replicate the sound of an acoustic piano. They are electronically driven and use computer chips to detect input and replicate the sounds of the piano and other instruments. Their sound comes from a speaker system as opposed to the string/hammer construction used in an acoustic piano.

One of the big benefits of digital pianos is a headphone jack that allows a person to practice without making noise. This is perfect in a location where there are many people doing different things, and practicing may be disturbed because of the commotion. Digital pianos are lightweight and portable, meaning its easy to bring to a performance and set up anywhere.

Electric keyboards resemble digital pianos; yet there are distinct differences. Electric keyboards lack the weighted key feel. Piano keys are usually just plastic molded to fit the shape, without the “feel” that goes along with it – a big problem for people wanting to transfer their skills from one type of piano to the next. For that reason, electric keyboards are often thought of and used more for toys than actually piano playing. They typically have less than the standards 88 keys, and you’ll find them at much lower prices than either the acoustic or digital pianos sell for.

What’s the right choice for you?

  • Are you looking for a piece of furniture; something that will stand out in a room?
  • Are you looking at a practice instrument for someone trying to learn?
  • Do you want a toy for a child, or something for them to learn a lifelong skill?
  • Do you want something you can perform on?
  • Do you need to move it frequently?

Come on in and talk to us about your answers. We can help you make the right selection for your needs.

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5 April 2014 The Sound Of Your Piano

The Sound Of Your Piano

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When it comes to playing piano, sound is everything. With the help of sound, you can feel the music and understand what the composer was trying to get across when he composed each note. Music expresses thoughts, feelings, ideas, harmony, beauty, happiness and emotions. Within a few seconds, you instantly understand what each song is trying to convey.

Likewise you can tell the era each song comes from. Can you pick out a Chopin or Mozart piece? How about a Rachmaninoff?

The more you come to understand music, the more you’ll understand it comes down to the control of the sound being made through the piano itself. If a piano is old and out of tune, you can still play the appropriate notes to a song. But without the musicality, it won’t be as enjoyable for the people around you. (Yourself included.)The Sound Of Your Piano

Piano playing is not a sport. Your goal isn’t to give yourself a vigorous workout over the course of a practice session. You won’t develop the muscles in your fingers over time, nor will you work up endurance in your hands and wrists.

The purpose isn’t velocity and technical results. Instead, playing the piano should always be about expression, meaning and the art of making music in the first place.

Your piano isn’t a percussion instrument. It isn’t made to pound out the notes to get the loudest sound. Instead, its all about quality. Work on the sound and the technique will come.

Mastering piano is about training yourself to influence the sound, depth, openness and softness of the sounds you are producing. Its how you position your hands to get the most expression from every note you touch.

When you touch each key, keep your wrists relaxed and your fingertips controlled. Use the entire weight of your hand to put soft pressure on each note you touch. Focus in on the sound you create – does it match the music you are trying to produce? Does it convey your message?

And while your technique is what you learn and grow over time, always remember that you have to start with the best tool in the first place.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is buying a “starter” piano without thought as to the purpose. If you want to develop a love for music, you can’t do it with an out of tune piano that won’t allow you to play a full range of notes. If cost is of concern, don’t buy at the lowest price from someone on Craigslist. Instead, start with a reputable dealer that can fit you into a quality piano at your budgeted price.

Investing in the right piano now will help you achieve a love for music overall as you learn to play and get better every day. And isn’t that the true goal anyway?

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