Learn like a Concert Pianist
... even if you're a complete beginner
Conservatory-quality online piano lessons from the City of Music, Vienna, Austria
An acoustic phenomenon that helps make a piano sound beautiful is sympathetic resonance. If we play a note on the piano, other, compatible notes vibrate in sympathy as long as there are no dampers to, well, put a damper on them. This video lesson demonstrates this phenomenon and two ways you can...
A properly crafted piano can be a magnificent instrument that will last for ages and produce the most beautiful sounds. Buying a used piano can therefore be an excellent decision economically as well as musically.
Be that as it may, pianos are quite complex and very delicate instruments and not...
Creating a Healthy Environment for Your Piano
If you have an acoustic piano you'll want to take the best possible care of it, and the most important factor is the room environment. Once you have your acoustic piano placed properly in your room, away from a heater and direct sunlight, the...
The Useful Tips You Need to Know
Learning how to clean a piano is a very important to enhance the durability and the functionality of your instrument. Regular cleaning will not only keep your piano clean and presentable, it will also save you time and money spent to call on a professional for...
For generations – centuries even – pianists have sought the secret to playing with a beautiful tone. Teachers have attributed a beautiful sound to a certain type of hand and shape of the fingers, to touching the key with the “fleshy” part of the finger, to playing with...
A piano keyboard may look confusing at first, but the layout of piano keys is actually very simple. While it would be nearly impossible to identify individual keys if all we had were the white keys, the pattern of black keys makes it easy to identify the keyboard layout. The black keys are...
History is full of famous piano players in all musical genres. This article focuses on the most famous and innovative piano players in classical music history. They are the “Big 5,” those who had the most significant impact on piano playing.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750):...
A Pianist’s Review of the AvantGrand
I recently had an opportunity to play the AvantGrand, the new Yamaha digital piano that represents the current state of the art, and wanted to share my experiences with it with key-notes readers.
First, as a classical pianist I must caution that no...
It was a harpsichord maker named Bartolomeo Cristofori who invented the piano in 1700. Cristofori (pronounced kris-TOFF-or-ee) (1655–1731) was from Padua, in the Republic of Venice in northern Italy. He primarily built harpsichords and experimented with new designs, as became customary for...
Question: I was wondering, what are the notes on a piano?
– Lily (Corpus Christi, Texas, USA)
Albert’s reply: I assume you’re talking about the names of the keys… but they don’t really have names!
The most important concept to grasp is that the keys are not the...
Question: I have a Concord upright cabinet grand piano, serial #22580. I want to sell it but am not sure what to charge. I’ve been researching for a while but can’t seem to get anywhere. Can you help?
Thanks.
– Tim (Youngstown, Ohio, USA)
Albert’s reply: Piano values are...
Question: What does u.c. mean?
Albert’s reply: u.c. stands for una corda and it refers to a piano’s leftmost of the three piano pedals. It is also called the soft pedal because it is primarily used to soften the sound.
On a grand piano, the left pedal shifts the keyboard...
