Posts from — April 2009

Starting with this entry, we’re going to break away from describing piano history, makers and construction, and talk a little bit about piano lessons. Assuming you got a lot of valuable information from our last 6 months of posts, including the entries on buying a new or used piano, you now have one in your home, and may need help learning to play it well.

How many people adore the sound of the piano?  And yet, how many shy away from the thought of ever learning to play the piano themselves. Much of their reticence comes from an unneccessary concern about being perfect, and a certainty that, without that “born-with-it” gift of talent, they could never approach the level of fluidity they hear so often on their favorite recordings. “I’ll never play like that,” they conclude, and give up before starting.

I’m well aware of this attitude. I have been a victim myself of this addiction to perfection, this paralysis by analysis. Even as a naturally gifted player from childhood, I always compared my playing to those even better (there’s always someone better, no matter what your field,) and consequently, I never felt I was good enough. Depending on your temperament, this neurotic, constant comparison to your “competition” either makes you practice harder than ever, or just give up. Many times I fell victim to the latter attitude, and said, “The hell with it.” Bad idea, and really silly.

You see, the piano produces such lovely tones that even a beginner level student playing a very elementary piece can pour out something quite beautiful and touching. Many times, the simplest pieces I’ve played brought much more adoration from my audiences than those highly-accomplished expositions featuring a complex flurry of notes.

But perhaps the even more important lesson I learned – and believe me, it’s taken me most of my life to learn it – is that the joy of playing the piano isn’t just about being able to play a piece perfectly. It’s about the process. The learning and discovery of all the little nuances of the piece. The rewarding growth in your skills and abilities that each piece demands of you, just so you can play it. It’s as much about the journey as the journey’s end.

If your left-hand fluidity, and coordination between your two hands, is still somewhat stiff, and you decide you are so in love with Chopin’s “Revolutionary” etude that you just have to able to play it yourself, you’re either in for a descent into hell, or the treat of your lifetime…depending on your attitude. That piece requires the fingers of your left hand to be quite nimble, flying like the wind up and down the scale, and precise unison of both hands in the fiery intro.

But set aside any concerns of time or worries about perfection, and with no pressure or agenda, just work at a small portion of the piece at a time. You’ll unfold an entire world of discovery about how to best finger each run, as well as which finger exercises (those of your own invention or the perfected studies of Hanon and Czerny) grant you the fluidity you need.

Take a year or two just to master one beautiful piece – there really is no hurry, and you’ll discover just how satisfying the learning and practicing parts of your piano playing journey can be. There’s a great book that perfectly portrays this no-push attitude to your growth as a pianist. It’s called, “Piano Lessons,” a true chronicle written by the soft-voiced All Things Considered radio announcer, Noah Adams. He beautifully describes his choice of an upright Steinway for his New York townhome, and his timeless but pleasing blossoming from a beginner to a very fair interpreter of one piece for his wife, Debussy’s “Claire De Lune.”  If you ever catch yourself stuck in pefectionism, give-up-ism, or frustration with your piano-playing journey, reading this book will turn you around.

In future posts, we’ll look at some of the best current methods out there for learning piano at any age. There really is a method for anybody, and “pre-born talent” is not a requirement.

After you’ve found where to look in your area for used pianos (newpaper and online classifieds, piano stores, etc,) and gotten a general idea of which brands you’ll be sampling, here’s what you must consider next:

Age & Quality:
Rule # 1 – buy the newest, most reputable used piano you can afford. When you start your search, you’ll see advertised pianos as old as 120 years, with obscure brand names on the fallboard and very questionable condition. You’ll also see pianos from well-reputed manufacturers that are less than 40 years old, and everything in between. Try to hone in on the newer better quality instruments, and skip over any old clunker built prior to WWII (even if the wood-carving is ornate & gorgeous…I know it’s tempting!)

The simple fact is, while the structure of a piano (the cabinet and plate) may still be intact after 60 years, the inner parts won’t be. They have a given “shelf-life.” Even if not played that much, most of the critical inner parts – the hammers, dampers, bass strings, and various key & action felts – will certainly be worn out and need replacing. So even if they’re selling a 1915 upright from a reputable manufacturer for just a couple hundred bucks, or even giving it away, you’ll be into it for $1200 to $2000 once you replace all the defunct & decrepit components.

Better to stick with one that’s used, but not that used. Say, a Baldwin or Yamaha or other well-known brand, built no earlier than 1960. Any piano this young will, most likely, have hammers, dampers and strings that are still intact, a soundboard that hasn’t started to flatten out yet (see our earlier posts, "The All-Important Soundboard" and "Soundboard Racks & Cracks") and most important, a tight pin-block.

WIll It Hold A Tune?
A piano is useless if it can’t hold a tune. The tremendous tension on each string is held in place by a tuning pin driven into a multi-laminated wooden block called the pin-block or pin-plank. If the tuning pins have worked loose in the wood, or worse, if the pin-block, due to age and dryness, has started to form cracks running through the tuning pin holes, that piano is toast. Well not entirely toast; you could restring the entire instrument with a fresh new wooden pin-block, but that’s a major undertaking, and usually cost-prohibitive for any used instrument except finer old grands that will be worth tens of thousands once rebuilt.

Unless it was left outdoors or subject to huge abuse, it’s rare to find any piano only 50-years-old or less, with seriously worn out parts or a loose or cracked pin-block. So play it safe…find a “newer” used piano built by a well-known company. The seller may ask as much as $700 to $1500 for, say, a well-cared-for Baldwin or Yamaha built in 1973, but you’ll save tons of money and aggravation in the end, over that bargain-basement $150 old clunker at the thrift store. Just say pia-”no”

Of course, sometimes people see some beautiful hand-carved full upright built in 1901, and, in spite of the warnings about pianos this old, they just gotta have it. Which brings us to the single most important rule in purchasing ANY used piano. Take a fine piano technician with you to appraise it’s condition and value. I cannot stress this too much. There are too many critical factors you won’t know to look for, and won’t have the proper tools to test even if you did find them, and, just to save the technician’s small service fee, you’ll end up buying trouble. I can’t tell you the number of sad clients calling me AFTER they bought a used piano, to say it’s full of problems, sometimes thousands of dollars worth, when they should have called me BEFORE buying. Pay a tech to come with you and check it out, period.

As previously noted, this is a piano fanatics site, and those of us who know and love the pure, glorious sound produced by the fine, larger grand pianos tend to think everybody needs to have one of those. Obviously, not everyone can afford a $25K+ piano, and some, who can afford anything they like, should perhaps not have one either.

I have one piano service client who purchased a $125,000 Bosendorfer, with cash. We’ll call him Mr. Johnson. When I made the appointment to do the initial in-home tuning, I found, not surprisingly, that he lived in one of the most opulent ranch-land areas of Southern California, a hidden valley filled with posh mansions overlooking acres of gorgeous horse country. I was let in by his housekeeper, and spent almost 2 hours nursing that Bosendorfer to perfection. When I was done, I asked the housekeeper where was Mr. Johnson, so he could come play it and approve my work. She said he was in his office at the other end of the house (which was practically a bus-ride away!) She called him and handed me the phone, and I said, “Hello Mr. Johnson, I’ve just completed work on your new Bosendorfer. Would you like to come up and check it out, make sure you’re happy with my tuning, etc?” He replied, “Oh, I don’t play.” I said, “Oh, well then who’s the player in the family?” He said “No one, none of us play.” My jaw dropped and I went white, but I said no more, just thanked him and left. I knew from experience that if I had asked the obvious question of, “Then why the hell did you by a $125K piano?’ his answer would have been, “Because I can!” Sheesh! What a waste of a perfect instrument.

But I digress. The point is, as much as we piano purists would like to match up every player with a truly superb new instrument, there’s always going to be lots of piano buyers purchasing inexepensive old and used instruments, because that’s all they can afford or all they want to invest in a piano at this time. Some used pianos are in such bad condition, or were of such poor quality to start with, that they virtually guarantee the fledgling player will lose all interest in piano playing shortly after commencing. Still, it can be argued that even an old clunker with poor sound and cumbersome touch is better than no piano at all.

So how should a person of limited means, who really wants a piano, find the right one? Where should they look, what brands should they covet or avoid, and how should they test the beast to see if it’s worthy to bring home? Let’s list a few basic factors:

Where to look: Most used pianos in your general vicinity will be advertised in your newspaper’s classified section, and online on Craig’s List. There are other online sources for used pianos, like PianoWorld.com and even eBay, but then you’re looking at pianos that may be a country away, or at least several states. And you can purchase a used instrument from a reputable local piano store – indeed I recommend it, because they will guarantee it and take it back if it’s defective -  but you’ll pay a premium over what you’d pay if you bought it directly from the past owner.

As far as brands, it would be optimal if you could only search through the well-established, highly-reputed names like Steinway, Baldwin, Yamaha, Chickering, Knabe, Mason & Hamlin, etc. However, a good used version of one of those can be hard to find, and certianly more money if you do find one. It’s more likely, as you skim the classifieds, that you’ll be browsing off-brand pianos with names you may never have heard of. At one point in the early twentieth century there were over 300 piano manufacturers – it seemed like everybody and his brother said, “Let’s go build some pianos.” Much of what you’ll be seeing in the used market could be one of these more obscure makes.

But that doesn’t mean you cannot still find a good serviceable used instrument. In the next post , we’ll go through a checklist of what you must look for to insure a decent used piano.