28 March 2022 Give Your Child The Gift of Music – Start With Learning Piano

Give Your Child The Gift of Music – Start With Learning Piano

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You want what’s best for your child. You want to give them tools they can use for a happy, healthy life. 

That’s why many parents place their kids in a variety of extracurricular activities, looking for things that stick. Will your child be the next athlete? Scholar? Musician? Each activity can add to their character and help develop a strong personality. 

The gift of music is one thing they will take for life. 

Music often starts at a very young age. You can help kids develop a sense of rhythm with simple instruments. A drum. A xylophone. Even simple hand-clapping and singing easy songs. 

As a child grows, their curiosity grows right along with it. This is a perfect time to introduce an instrument. Learning the piano is a natural progression because piano brings melodies to life. If they have a favorite song, the piano allows them to create the music they love. 

The gift of music comes from both listening and playing. Listening helps you develop culture, gives you a sense of community. Playing offers a variety of benefits, from promoting creativity to enhancing brain development. Studies from all around the world show that playing an instrument helps with:

  • Hand-eye coordination
  • Increasing test scores
  • Fine motor skills
  • Memory skills
  • Listening
  • Foreign language retention
  • Concentration

Learning the piano is a foundational instrument, which can help build music skills that can be transferred to other instruments. Because you learn both melody and harmony, it often retains interest longer, and pushes kids into wanting more. 

Looking to give your child a gift they can enjoy throughout their lives? Consider the gift of music. 

It’s the perfect skill to help them develop stronger personalities, for life. 

Filed Under: Piano Playing Tagged With:
21 June 2020 Is Learning on a Digital Piano Different Than an Acoustic Piano?

Is Learning on a Digital Piano Different Than an Acoustic Piano?

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Has staying in place made you rethink everything? 

Instead of being out and active 24/7, many of us are learning to appreciate what happens right inside our own homes. We’re more patient. We’re learning to appreciate the little things. 

We’re even taking up things we might have overlooked in the past. Like playing the piano. 

Maybe you’ve had an old acoustic piano sitting in your corner for years. 

Maybe you’ve pulled out that digital piano from under the bed. 

In either case, you have renewed interest in making music. 

Is there a difference between learning on an acoustic piano or a digital piano? 

Differences between acoustic and digital

Just looking at the two different types of pianos will tell you many things separate them. 

The most obvious is sound. When you press down on the key of an acoustic piano, it requires action to move the hammer inside to connect with a string. The sound depends on which strings it connects with, and how hard you press down on the key. 

For a digital, it relies on producing sound based on the key you touch. Each note is played and recorded from an acoustic piano. How well the sound is replicated depends on the quality of the piano. For this reason, it’s important to understand that all digital pianos are not created equally. If you truly desire to learn to play the piano, you will have to invest in purchasing a digital piano that replicates both the sound and the action of creating music on an acoustic piano. 

Size is also a consideration. Acoustic pianos take up quite a bit of space in your home. That’s fine if you live in suburbia, but if you’re trying to save space in a small urban condo, or even wish to bring your piano with you as you travel, digital might be a better way to go. 

Do digital and acoustic pianos play differently?

The sound may be the biggest difference between the two pianos, depending on the quality of the instruments. But there is something else that may be of concern. 

Some digital pianos are created to be a toy, not an instrument. They aren’t created to stand equally with an acoustic piano. The keys aren’t properly weighted, meaning when you press down on them, they don’t provide the same resistance as an acoustic piano. That means you can’t transfer your skills from one to another. If you hope to move forward with your musical skill, you’ll start over and have to learn how it feels. 

Which is right for you? 

If you truly wish to add piano into your life, quality is your most important goal. 

There are a range of factors for you to consider if you’re purchasing a piano to learn to play. 

If you already a digital piano, but aren’t satisfied with the sound, it may be time to upgrade to an acoustic piano. Give us a call today. 

Filed Under: Piano Lessons Tagged With:
18 February 2020 The Benefit To Learning Piano With Headphones

The Benefit To Learning Piano With Headphones

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When people pick up an instrument for the first time, it can be a precarious thing. We’ve all witnessed a child blowing into a trumpet, or banging on a drum until we’re ready to take the set away. 

But a piano is different. We all have an innate skill to hunt and peck out a basic tune. Tap a few keys and it doesn’t sound all that bad. Of course, that all changes when you sit down with a piece of music and attempt to play a longer song. Suddenly, the hunt and peck method shines through. You play a few notes over and over and over … Let’s just say your family is ready to push the piano into a closet and not let you near it for a while. 

Thanks to today’s technology, you can sit in the middle of family living space and play without others having to listen to your hunt-and-peck practice methods, until you’re ready to play the tune for an audience. By learning piano with headphones, you can actually improve the way you practice and play. 

Listen better

Sometimes playing the piano can be a bit distracting. It’s hard to hear yourself play because of the ambient noise. Use headphones will allow you to hear every note, every tone. You can also use them for playback and carefully listen to where you can improve. 

Avoid distractions

Even when you’re sitting in your home, distractions are everywhere. Family members ask questions. You remember something else to do in another room. By putting on headphones, they can act as a blocker against what’s happening around you, allowing you to focus on practice and the music. 

Play on your schedule

A lot of busy families have trouble finding the time to practice. With headphones, you won’t make a sound, so you can practice whenever you choose. Practice while others are doing homework. Practice early before everyone wakes up. Or practice before you head to bed. Just plug in and you can practice as much as you want to. 

Listen to the greats

Sometimes motivation can help you become a better player. If you’re trying to learn Mozart or Beethoven, use your headphones to listen to every note. You can concentrate on certain passages, and then use that as motivation to create your own music. 

Of course, you’ll have to invest in high quality headphones. In this case, price does matter. Be sure they are full-sized, over the ear headphones to ensure they block out all ambient noise, and allow you to focus on only what’s important – you’re playing. 

Have you ever tried learning piano with headphones? Has it made you a better player?

Filed Under: Piano Lessons, Piano Playing Tagged With:
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?

Filed Under: Owning a Piano, Piano Playing Tagged With: , ,