Evaluating an Acoustic piano before purchase

I've often been asked about the nuts and bolts of assessing a piano, even before a technician lays his hands on it. (A Registered pro will explore facets of internal assembly while my journey of discovery is intuitively tactile and tonal, forged on behalf of students searching for an alternative to the digital universe.) The…

A week of digital and acoustic pianos!

Every so often, I find myself at the local piano outlet, tinkering with the latest digitals on and off the shelf. (portables and consoles) And as the weekend rolled in, I was invited to DC Piano by a new student who'd purchased a Kawai CA 58 console electronic without my input. No doubt, my prodding…

In Perfect Harmony: Steinway grand and Yamaha Arius digital

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDersM94DbE These two music-makers are currently close companions. I moved Arius out of isolation to a more socially and musically compatible locale well after Steinway Upright 1098 was sold. The space-saving that accrued was particularly beneficial. Now that both grand and electronic live in side-by-side harmony (A 440-wise), I can slip under my acoustic and…

Piano Technique: Picking up Arpeggio Speed with blocked and unblocked note groupings

I uploaded two videos today that focus on practicing strategies for playing brisk paced arpeggio (G Major). The first is an after hours tutorial that I recorded by FACETIME SCREEN RECORD. The screen, framed by Millennium technology art nouveau, features my Arius YDP 141 digital piano as its centerpiece. The second video sample is a…

Arius 141 gets a call back during a blinds and shade installation

http://youtu.be/21cZoT6K2bU If this were a chorus line, Arius would be happy to have been selected for the next audition round-- sharing the honor with a blinds and shade installer. He hammered away, and snapped the wood cap to the oak-looking blind, while Arius and her companion Steinway M, provided a Bach to basics backdrop. The…

Bringing home the Yamaha Arius YDP-141, my NO. 1 ranked digital (Video)

Over a year ago I surveyed digital pianos at Guitar Center and Best Buy, and drooled over Yamaha Arius. It was hands down my favorite electronic of the lot. So why was I investing in a plug-in, when I had three acoustics jammed into my living room? Main reason: I'm moving to the Bay area…

Practicing on a Digital Piano (Video) PROS and CONS

My Casio PX 110 sits on the second floor of my townhouse because there's no room for it anywhere else. Haddy Haddorff stole the space that Cassy formerly inhabited. In truth, the digital is not on the high priority activity list of instruments here but it has a role in technique-based toning and conditioning In…

Cato, his Killer Keyboard, and a round of piano lessons!

Ralph Cato had been scheduled to come for his first piano lesson soon after we had a chance meeting at the Guitar Center in Fresno a few years ago. At the time, he was combing the store in search of a “killer” digital keyboard, as he described it, for his 10 year old daughter. Christmas…