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On Terra Firma
Feb 12, 2008

megalodong posted:

Where's a good place to start with Brahms? I want to get into some of his music.

As far as level of skill goes, I'm learning/polishing up Beethoven's opus 111 sonata.

I don't know but I am so in love with this piece my god.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEgsV6DdW2o

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opus111
Jul 6, 2014

Mega: For real? That's incredible :)

Brhams 116 seems nice.

IT BURNS
Nov 19, 2012

megalodong posted:

Where's a good place to start with Brahms? I want to get into some of his music.

As far as level of skill goes, I'm learning/polishing up Beethoven's opus 111 sonata.

If you're doing op. 111, I'd say that the First Sonata, the Handel Variations, or the First Piano Concerto would be right up your alley. If you're in for the long-haul, take a look at the Second Piano Concerto. It took me about two years and ten or so performances for it too feel comfortable, but goddamn it's worth the struggle.

For sheer punishment, try Book II of the Paganini Variations (the first book, aside from the last variation, isn't as horrible as it looks).

megalodong
Mar 11, 2008

His first sonata looks pretty nice from what I just saw on youtube - very hammerklavier-like.

Romantic era stuff's always been my weak point, so it'll be good to get him and some chopin stuff learnt.

Thanks for the recommendations :)

404notfound
Mar 5, 2006

stop staring at me

I took three years of piano lessons way, way back in high school, have been playing a tiny bit of guitar since then, and on a whim just picked up an 88-key weighted keyboard. My piano lessons were very traditional, memorizing a bunch of baroque, classical, and romantic pieces, but I've been entirely self-taught with guitar. For some reason, it wasn't until I started learning guitar that I realized that a lot of songs can mostly be broken down into a few basic chord progressions (C-G-Am-F will get you through half of the music on the radio), and now I'd like to translate that knowledge and experience back to piano so I can play more contemporary stuff.

I know the general shapes of different chords on the guitar (major, minor, 7, sus4, etc.), but what's a good place to see the piano chord shapes all laid out? And how do I know which inversions to use? My old piano books are all stashed away in my parents' home, unfortunately. And I suppose I need some practice playing melodies with the right hand. Overall, though, I'm surprised how much came right back to me after eight years. Can still sight read, albeit rather slowly, and I ran through all the major scales without any real trouble. So far I've just reprinted some of the sheet music I saved over the years (mostly songs from anime or video games--it was high school, okay? :blush:) and have been running through some of them.

Elephunk
Dec 6, 2007



404notfound posted:

I took three years of piano lessons way, way back in high school, have been playing a tiny bit of guitar since then, and on a whim just picked up an 88-key weighted keyboard. My piano lessons were very traditional, memorizing a bunch of baroque, classical, and romantic pieces, but I've been entirely self-taught with guitar. For some reason, it wasn't until I started learning guitar that I realized that a lot of songs can mostly be broken down into a few basic chord progressions (C-G-Am-F will get you through half of the music on the radio), and now I'd like to translate that knowledge and experience back to piano so I can play more contemporary stuff.

I know the general shapes of different chords on the guitar (major, minor, 7, sus4, etc.), but what's a good place to see the piano chord shapes all laid out? And how do I know which inversions to use? My old piano books are all stashed away in my parents' home, unfortunately. And I suppose I need some practice playing melodies with the right hand. Overall, though, I'm surprised how much came right back to me after eight years. Can still sight read, albeit rather slowly, and I ran through all the major scales without any real trouble. So far I've just reprinted some of the sheet music I saved over the years (mostly songs from anime or video games--it was high school, okay? :blush:) and have been running through some of them.

You might want to find a Left-Hand Jazz Voicings book. Although, a lot of that stuff will be way fancier than what you'd use to play radio music.

Really, if you remember the fundamentals, you can make your own smooth voicings for pop songs,

ie: C-E-G = E-G-C = G-C-E

If you got that down, just sit with a pencil and figure out smooth chords...

ie: D major -> G major isn't that bad, because I can play D-F#-A, and then move the top two notes to D-G-B

If you can do stuff like that second example on your own, you probably don't really need a new book.

Tetramin
Apr 1, 2006

I'ma buck you up.
I've got a question about digital keyboards, I've got this lovely piece of poo poo for jamming with friends, I've already got a sustain pedal for it but I'd like to pick up an expression pedal, but i'm not really familiar with how those work. Can you just run an expr pedal through the sustain port or anything? or is there a dedicated port for those(aka do i need to find a new pos cheapo keyboard to modulate any settings through a footpedal)

edit: also, anybody got alternative cheapo keyboard recommendations

Tetramin fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Oct 21, 2014

Incredulous Dylan
Oct 22, 2004

Fun Shoe
I'm wondering that, myself. I just bought a line in so that I could record stuff I come up with and not forget. Having trouble with dynamics when using this since I only have a sustain pedal (example).

Subyng
May 4, 2013

Incredulous Dylan posted:

I'm wondering that, myself. I just bought a line in so that I could record stuff I come up with and not forget. Having trouble with dynamics when using this since I only have a sustain pedal (example).

Does your keyboard have velocity sensitive keys? If so, then you shouldn't need any other pedals if you're just playing (or trying to emulate) an acoustic piano. Literally the only two things that can be varied on a piano are note duration and note volume (and I suppose timing when striking multiple keys). If you can already do that then working on dynamics is just a matter of practicing until you have a fine enough touch, which might require something with weighted keys.

Subyng fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Oct 22, 2014

dakana
Aug 28, 2006
So I packed up my Salvador Dali print of two blindfolded dental hygienists trying to make a circle on an Etch-a-Sketch and headed for California.
I'm at a fairly odd place in terms of piano skill. From electives in music theory and years of guitar playing I've picked up a good bit of basic theory. Also through messing around with pianos and keyboards I have a good grasp on the notes on the piano and can read and play pop notation (chord names above the staves) decently. I can figure out somewhat complex chords (F#m7add9, for example) fairly quickly. My way of playing most vocal music is chords with the right hand and octaved bass notes with the left and I can fake through most songs. I can add in color with inversions, sustains, etc, but that's about the most of my ability.

I'd like to be able to, you know, actually read music and reasonably quickly learn pieces and phrases. I realize that a lot of that will be straight up repetition until I can identify notes on the staff quickly. Right now I do a whole lot of "face" and "every good boy" stuff and ledger lines just have me done. I'm pretty OK at reading rhythm.

I guess my question is what book(s) I should be looking at to really beef up my basic music reading skills. That and fingering work. I don't really have a good grasp on how to finger melodies.

dakana fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Oct 27, 2014

Subyng
May 4, 2013
Just continue to read sheet music. It's just a matter of remembering which lines and spaces are which notes which means you just need to practice more until you do remember. For fingering, generally you want to use a fingering pattern that allows you to play legato, ie, going from one note smoothly to the next, as much as possible.

Colonel J
Jan 3, 2008

dakana posted:

I'm at a fairly odd place in terms of piano skill. From electives in music theory and years of guitar playing I've picked up a good bit of basic theory. Also through messing around with pianos and keyboards I have a good grasp on the notes on the piano and can read and play pop notation (chord names above the staves) decently. I can figure out somewhat complex chords (F#m7add9, for example) fairly quickly. My way of playing most vocal music is chords with the right hand and octaved bass notes with the left and I can fake through most songs. I can add in color with inversions, sustains, etc, but that's about the most of my ability.

I'd like to be able to, you know, actually read music and reasonably quickly learn pieces and phrases. I realize that a lot of that will be straight up repetition until I can identify notes on the staff quickly. Right now I do a whole lot of "face" and "every good boy" stuff and ledger lines just have me done. I'm pretty OK at reading rhythm.

I guess my question is what book(s) I should be looking at to really beef up my basic music reading skills. That and fingering work. I don't really have a good grasp on how to finger melodies.

It's funny, I'd say we seem to be exactly in the same place. Two things have been helping me out:

1) I play songs with chords like you do, but these days I've been doing the song's melody with my right hand and running through the chord with my left. Helps with independance a whole lot, your ears get better and you get used to playing in different scales.

2) this site: https://www.learnpianofreesheetmusic.com just trudge through it, following the difficulty ratings. It's gonna be long and painful, but it's the only way (other sites / materials are of course fine but you just gotta put the time and start at step 0).

Otis Reddit
Nov 14, 2006
A chord can't be a 7 and an add9. I suggest reviewing you theory until you have a firm grasp of both 9 chords and add9 chords.

Hoshi
Jan 20, 2013

:wrongcity:
For remembering notes on the staves, I used flash cards to get to 2 ledger lines on either side of both staves. The rest will come from playing.

dakana
Aug 28, 2006
So I packed up my Salvador Dali print of two blindfolded dental hygienists trying to make a circle on an Etch-a-Sketch and headed for California.

juche mane posted:

A chord can't be a 7 and an add9. I suggest reviewing you theory until you have a firm grasp of both 9 chords and add9 chords.

You know, you're right. I just quickly pulled out an example to try and illustrate a point. My theory knowledge is, as I said, basic, but I am usually able to reasonably follow notation for chords beyond simple triads.

Hoshi posted:

For remembering notes on the staves, I used flash cards to get to 2 ledger lines on either side of both staves. The rest will come from playing.

Flash cards are a good idea as well. That's something I can practice when I'm not at my piano. Right on.

Colonel J posted:

It's funny, I'd say we seem to be exactly in the same place. Two things have been helping me out:

1) I play songs with chords like you do, but these days I've been doing the song's melody with my right hand and running through the chord with my left. Helps with independance a whole lot, your ears get better and you get used to playing in different scales.

2) this site: https://www.learnpianofreesheetmusic.com just trudge through it, following the difficulty ratings. It's gonna be long and painful, but it's the only way (other sites / materials are of course fine but you just gotta put the time and start at step 0).

Thanks for the link. I also realized yesterday that my ability to play chords with my left hand is abysmal. I can usually arpeggiate fifths somewhat well but desperately need to practice chords. I will definitely start going through that site and just trudging through. It does seem like that's really the only way to get proficient.

Colonel J
Jan 3, 2008
For left hand chords, rather than hammering them out, try playing the root on the first beat and the third/fifth on the third beat (assuming 4/4). Learn to fit the melody through that rather than play the whole chord on the first beat, its much nicer this way and you can fake anything if you get that right. There has to be even better ways but I'm not a pianist, maybe others can chime in.

If you have any idea how to run Python programs, this program will print out random chords at a steady pace with a custom probability distribution. I try and follow a bit of it every day and my hands are def picking up the pace for chord shapes and inversions. Also, sometimes it sounds good, and by focusing you could probably use some of the results for very original music.

For the sheet music thing... It's gonna take on the order of months of constant practice. It really sucks, and usually people do it when they're kids so they don't even realize whats going on.

Colonel J fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Oct 27, 2014

Colonel J
Jan 3, 2008
Edit not quote

dakana
Aug 28, 2006
So I packed up my Salvador Dali print of two blindfolded dental hygienists trying to make a circle on an Etch-a-Sketch and headed for California.

Colonel J posted:

For left hand chords, rather than hammering them out, try playing the root on the first beat and the third/fifth on the third beat (assuming 4/4). Learn to fit the melody through that rather than play the whole chord on the first beat, its much nicer this way and you can fake anything if you get that right. There has to be even better ways but I'm not a pianist, maybe others can chime in.

If you have any idea how to run Python programs, this program will print out random chords at a steady pace with a custom probability distribution. I try and follow a bit of it every day and my hands are def picking up the pace for chord shapes and inversions. Also, sometimes it sounds good, and by focusing you could probably use some of the results for very original music.

For the sheet music thing... It's gonna take on the order of months of constant practice. It really sucks, and usually people do it when they're kids so they don't even realize whats going on.

Good stuff, thank you. It also sucks that at one point when I was in 4th/5th grade I could pretty confidently sight read simple melodies for cello and I've utterly and completely lost that skill.

megalodong
Mar 11, 2008

Play Bach all day every day. Even if you're not interested in classical music, it'll do wonders for every technical aspect of your playing.

Hoshi
Jan 20, 2013

:wrongcity:
I decided to record what I've learned so far this semester and put it up here, to see how close to performance ready parts of my rep are. It went well on the whole.

https://soundcloud.com/user333542159/sets/fall-semester-sophomore-year

Bach Two Part Invention in C - Mostly good. I need to take an hour or two to play it really slowly and get it all nice and even.

Mozart Sonata in C part 1: Allegro - I need to practice the runs more, especially the F major ones, but not too bad for two really busy months.

Mozart Sonata in C part 2: Andante - Definitely the worst thing so far, but I only started working on it last week. Still piecing together the third section, obviously.

I'll start the Rondo once I feel more comfortable in the Andante.

Schubert Waltz in A minor - Good work me. I should still play it slowly to make the whole thing as even as possible.

Palmgren May Night - Not the best I've done, and I know the big problem spot. I love this song, it's beautiful.

On Terra Firma
Feb 12, 2008

Hoshi posted:

I decided to record what I've learned so far this semester and put it up here, to see how close to performance ready parts of my rep are. It went well on the whole.

https://soundcloud.com/user333542159/sets/fall-semester-sophomore-year

Bach Two Part Invention in C - Mostly good. I need to take an hour or two to play it really slowly and get it all nice and even.

Mozart Sonata in C part 1: Allegro - I need to practice the runs more, especially the F major ones, but not too bad for two really busy months.

Mozart Sonata in C part 2: Andante - Definitely the worst thing so far, but I only started working on it last week. Still piecing together the third section, obviously.

I'll start the Rondo once I feel more comfortable in the Andante.

Schubert Waltz in A minor - Good work me. I should still play it slowly to make the whole thing as even as possible.

Palmgren May Night - Not the best I've done, and I know the big problem spot. I love this song, it's beautiful.

This is cool, but hot drat I wish it wasn't so distorted for me. It really makes me want to gently caress around with Mozart though so that's a good thing.

Hoshi
Jan 20, 2013

:wrongcity:

On Terra Firma posted:

This is cool, but hot drat I wish it wasn't so distorted for me. It really makes me want to gently caress around with Mozart though so that's a good thing.

Oh yeah, I was stupid and decided to have the lid of the baby grand fully open in the 6'x8' practice room, so if you listen to it on a phone or similar device it'll sound awful. Even on my computer it sounds clunkier than it should - I think I'm going to record them again with the lid closed. Also with the recording app I used on regular sensitivity instead of really high. I don't know what I was thinking.

On Terra Firma
Feb 12, 2008

Hoshi posted:

Oh yeah, I was stupid and decided to have the lid of the baby grand fully open in the 6'x8' practice room, so if you listen to it on a phone or similar device it'll sound awful. Even on my computer it sounds clunkier than it should - I think I'm going to record them again with the lid closed. Also with the recording app I used on regular sensitivity instead of really high. I don't know what I was thinking.

Just turn the levels down on the device. I recorded something a while ago in the same environment and it turned out alright.

baw
Nov 5, 2008

RESIDENT: LAISSEZ FAIR-SNEZHNEVSKY INSTITUTE FOR FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY
Found a Kawai in Kuwait, definitely made the days at Arifjan fly by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_5VlRuBIs4

I'm done deploying for a bit now so I will really be able to commit to piano for the first time. It's been a productive year and a half but now I can finally get serious with it.

I'm also very happy that my expeditionary piano made it back to the US.



It had some problems though. I took it apart and found out it was just a matter of some things being knocked loose inside and I was able to fix it pretty easily (hardest part was all the goddamn screws.)

After a year and a half of being dragged around Afghanistan, sitting on airfields for three days in a triwall, sitting in a conex for three months, being put in a box made from other boxes to ship out of country (with old pillows as padding) and getting battered and broken on the way out, it has finally made its way to a safe, stable location in my parents' basement. Never thought I could develop affection for a piece of mass-produced plastic and electronics, but here I am.

I managed to take it with me everywhere while I got transferred from base to base:





Since I shared a room with six other dudes who had various sleeping schedules, many practice sessions looked like this:



Thankfully it now has a peaceful home and hopefully my sister will be able to find the time to play a thing or two. A well-deserved retirement:



I love my Arius (and I'm casually checking prices for baby grands) but this P35 will always have a place in my heart.

baw fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Nov 13, 2014

Incredulous Dylan
Oct 22, 2004

Fun Shoe
I have a stuck Eb at the top end of me ES 100 and I'm thinking about taking a crack at it myself. You said the process was easy but did you feel like it was also easy to break everything inside doing it? I believe mine just became stuck while I was carrying it somewhere due to things jostling around inside and don't feel like paying to ship it in etc for one key.

baw
Nov 5, 2008

RESIDENT: LAISSEZ FAIR-SNEZHNEVSKY INSTITUTE FOR FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY
I looked up a few YouTube videos of other digital pianos and of course mine didn't look like any of them when I cracked it open. But poking around for a few minutes I found the problem (basically the metal levers that go inside of each key came off of the plastic hook that they pivot on and I just had to pull on the metal levers to click them back into place.) It was mostly empty inside, just two circuit board things and then the keys. Nothing that could break easily.

Search around on YouTube and see if you can find any videos for your specific model. Either way, you should definitely open it up and take a look because I was surprised at how simple the fix was.

Star
Jul 15, 2005

Guerilla war struggle is a new entertainment.
Fallen Rib
I bought a cheap keyboard with weighted keys back in March, mostly because I wasn't sure I would stick with my plan to learn piano. Surprisingly, I have and I love it! I've learnt the basics of theory, chords and scales, some slow sight reading and currently am working my way through an easy jazz fake book. I have no problems learning how to play the easier jazz standards such as it never entered my mind or my funny valentine but since it's mostly one chord and one or two notes at a time the songs sound quite bare and flat. How would you go about trying to make them fuller and more lively while still being a beginner?

The Joe Man
Apr 7, 2007

Flirting With Apathetic Waitresses Since 1984

Star posted:

I bought a cheap keyboard with weighted keys back in March, mostly because I wasn't sure I would stick with my plan to learn piano. Surprisingly, I have and I love it! I've learnt the basics of theory, chords and scales, some slow sight reading and currently am working my way through an easy jazz fake book. I have no problems learning how to play the easier jazz standards such as it never entered my mind or my funny valentine but since it's mostly one chord and one or two notes at a time the songs sound quite bare and flat. How would you go about trying to make them fuller and more lively while still being a beginner?

The simplest way is to experiment with the sustain pedal, changing the timing on some notes, and play some notes in staccato where you feel it's appropriate.

I'm not advanced enough to go into music theory or changing the key but if you have longer fingers, you can effectively bulk those chords up too. It's a good stretching exercise regardless.

On Terra Firma
Feb 12, 2008

The Joe Man posted:

I'm not advanced enough to go into music theory or changing the key but if you have longer fingers, you can effectively bulk those chords up too. It's a good stretching exercise regardless.

Another thing you can do, which often sounds better, is if you're playing a note in the left hand, just drop down roughly an octave and find a note that compliments the main note you're playing. You don't need to bulk up a lot with the left hand to really put together a rich sound, but you sometimes might do that with the right. Just don't go overboard or else it might sound muddled.

I wish I knew more about theory to better explain it, but all I can go on is by feel so :shrug:

Incredulous Dylan
Oct 22, 2004

Fun Shoe

Star posted:

I bought a cheap keyboard with weighted keys back in March, mostly because I wasn't sure I would stick with my plan to learn piano. Surprisingly, I have and I love it! I've learnt the basics of theory, chords and scales, some slow sight reading and currently am working my way through an easy jazz fake book. I have no problems learning how to play the easier jazz standards such as it never entered my mind or my funny valentine but since it's mostly one chord and one or two notes at a time the songs sound quite bare and flat. How would you go about trying to make them fuller and more lively while still being a beginner?

Are you familiar with chord extensions? If you are playing out of a jazz fake book you no doubt are encountering 7 chords every measure. A trick that can make the "same" chords sound much livelier is to extend that chord out depending on the coloration you want. Much like how the 3rd helps set the tone of a triad (three note chord), you can extend your chord all the way out to a 13 and whether or not the 7th is flat will heavily influence the sound of the new chord. Try forming extended chord shapes using both hands and keeping things inverted so that the melody is on top. You may often prefer to leave the 5th out of the left hand unless you are playing an 11 extension/add chord, in which case you will usually use the 5th and leave out the 3rd (unless you are looking for some added dissonance). Being familiar with how the different extensions sound is important for your ear, gives a fuller sound to what you play (if called for) and will make it easy for you to add in the little details during your chord changes that make a song more interesting. Another quick note on forming chords is that if you are going below A3 (right below middle C) you will generally want to restrict yourself to one note (usually the root) in the lower octaves, or to space multiple notes out. Chords become extremely muddy down there due to the way that piano strings carry sound, so it is better to use one note on the low end as the root and have the rest of the action going on above A3. This is true even on my digital piano, but on more synthy sounds from a keyboard you will be able to feel out your limits there. Hopefully that makes sense - not sure where you are at in your theory.

Incredulous Dylan fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Nov 18, 2014

Star
Jul 15, 2005

Guerilla war struggle is a new entertainment.
Fallen Rib
It makes a lot of sense so thank you both! Gonna try it out and see how it sounds.

lime rind
Jul 10, 2014
Can I get some advice on speakers/monitors/amps for my digital piano? I have a traditional upright-style piano, so the built-in speakers are hidden behind boards and facing a wall. The sound gets muffled, and I'd like a better setup. I don't need anything powerful because I'm only playing in a small room, but I don't know if I should get two speakers for stereo sound or a single amp. I think my preferable setup is having something setup on top of the piano facing me.

Tetramin
Apr 1, 2006

I'ma buck you up.
If you have a bass amp sitting around I've found that to sound pretty good, can't comment on using a stereo pair of monitors but I'd assume it's a little bit better than a bass amp.

lime rind
Jul 10, 2014
I actually have a guitar amp, but it didn't seem to work.

Cast_No_Shadow
Jun 8, 2010

The Republic of Luna Equestria is a huge, socially progressive nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, cynical population of 714m are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich.

Grab a pair of monitors they dont cost much and give you the best reflection of your playing.

Unperson_47
Oct 14, 2007



Since there's lots of Cyber Monday deals floating around, could anyone suggest a kinda sorta decent (translation: cheap) electronic keyboard that has PC connectivity for someone has never touched a keyboard but has always wanted to learn?

I've looked at Amazon but there are so many choices. I wish there were a Newegg-like Power Search where you can drill down through all the results by ticking features that you want.

E: Is something like this acceptable for a beginner?

Unperson_47 fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Nov 30, 2014

Fermented Tinal
Aug 25, 2005

by Pragmatica
I used to play piano years ago; took lessons for 13 years up until around 2004 and more or less stopped playing aside from little diddies from time to time. Never thought I'd seriously play again but recently I was given the old family piano and it has motivated me to pick up playing again. I used to get straight superiors at festival and now my fingers have forgotten how to play. :smith: I've got a few of the books from when I had lessons and it feels like I'm 5 again fumbling around with anything but scales (some things I guess you just don't forget). Are there any reccomended methods for a person who simply doesn't have the time to start regular lessons again for getting back into it? I'm sure I can get my mother (who taught piano for over 30 years) to help with technique-related things when I get to that point again but for now she's basically just said "start playing again and it'll all come back." I'm not interested in playing professionally or even doing public performances, basically I want to play again for personal enjoyment.

A bit more about the instrument:
Was built in New York by George Steck and Co. sometime in the 1920s at (serial is 22607).
Mahogany box in the muted style of the era it was built in, glossy dark brown finish.
Ivory keys, some are a little yellowed now but none are cracked and all are original.
Spent its early years as a practice piano for the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.
Purchased by either my great-grandmother or grandmother sometime in the 40s or 50s and moved to Stratford.
Moved to Kitchener at some point and spent the next several decades dominating the livingroom of a tiny house where many a student taught by my grandmother learned how to play.
Was given to my mother sometime in the 80s, around the time she married my father I think. She taught students with it there.
Moved to Allentown, PA in '89, which is around the time I started lessons and when my mother wasn't teaching, my brother and I used it for practice.
Moved to Orlando, FL in '94 (this is where the sun did most of the damage to the finish though it's mostly superficial). At this point the only people playing it were my mother, my brother, and myself as mom had stopped teaching.
Fully restrung in 1998/1999, though it needed several retunings over the course of 6 months, probably due more to the strings than the piano. I think this is the first and only time it had more than a few strings replaced at any one time.
Moved back to Toronto in 2004, and by this point the only person who played it was my mother as my brother and I had both stoppped.
Moved back to Kitchener in 2005 and was little more than a decor piece because my mother had gotten a newer Yamaha (which is a nice piano I suppose, but it doesn't sound as good as this one did) and shifted her focus more to violin and voice. It probably got tuned only once or twice between then and 2011 though it held its tune well during that time.
It was placed in a poorly-insulated shipping container in 2011 and braved 3 Canadian winters and summers on its side, I'm honestly surprised it survived this with very little damage.
Moved from storage to my house yesterday, where after it acclimated and was assembled it was played seriously (well, as seriously as I can play now anyways) for the first time in at least 10 years.

Hundreds of people have played and learned on this piano, it is a treasured heirloom of the family and I am happy to have it now and hope if I ever have children of my own that they too will cherish it. Getting it has also done something I never had before: motivation to play, when I was a child and teenager I loathed the hours I spent sitting at it and for the first time I'm eager to play again. I'm trying to get a professional tuner to begin a regimen of bringing it back into line but I was wondering if there were any good guides out there for fixing the action since several (about 10) keys are stuck. At least one hammer drops down too low and the softening pedal shifts the keyboard when depressed but the keyboard doesn't return to the correct position when the pedal is released. I've tried looking for something online but the best I've come up with are repair shops that want me to ship it to them, diagrams, and ads for toolkits. It could be awhile before my schedule permits a time when I can have a tuner come in and while I don't mind the kind of honky-tonk quality of the notes being out of tune I do mind having stuck keys in the middle octaves. I think most of the damage is from the sheer amount of time it spent on its side and that things have just settled and need to get moved back into place.

Sorry about the textwall, I just haven't been this excited about playing piano before and tend to ramble.

Fermented Tinal fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Nov 30, 2014

Pinky Artichoke
Apr 10, 2011

Dinner has blossomed.
Your mom is basically right, the challenge (at least for me) was finding material at the right level that you can play now. All the sheet music I had at home was appropriate to my peak skill level back in the day. I got the book "I Used to Play Piano", found the level within the book that was appropriate for me, and worked through 2-3 units of that. I don't think that book is necessary at all, but it was a convenient package to get easier music that progresses in difficulty. Anyway, I'm not back where I was at my best -- better in some ways, since I'm now working on scales and exercises and my teacher never taught any of that -- but I'm good enough now to work on the music of my choice for the most part.

megalodong
Mar 11, 2008


Pretty much in the same situation as me! I learnt for 10 years when I was a kid, burnt out due to depression at 17 and didn't touch the piano again for 14 years, and picked it up again in may this year.

It all comes back pretty quickly I found. When I started up again I couldn't do trills properly, my fingers were uneven as all hell, had no mental map of the keyboard any more - now I'm learning the Goldberg Variations, and have just finished off Beethoven's opus 111 sonata.

I have found I love Bach now that I'm older. I never had the patience for him when I was younger, but now he's quickly becoming my favourite to play.

Id really recommend just getting a proper tuner for your piano - can't imagine much worse than screwing it up by following some random poo poo off the internet, especially with the history it has with your family.

Play Bach! Seriously, it did absolute wonders for getting my technique back up to where it used to be and better.

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Fermented Tinal
Aug 25, 2005

by Pragmatica

megalodong posted:

Play Bach! Seriously, it did absolute wonders for getting my technique back up to where it used to be and better.

Not quite at that level yet! I only just started playing again 2 days ago.

As for mucking about with the action, I'm mechnically inclined and really just want to get F# below middle-c working again while waiting for my schedule to match up with a tuner as it's highly annoying that it won't even depress.

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