This is how a pianist controls the tonal colours when playing. This means that as you increase the volume of your playing, as well as getting louder, the actual tone of the piano changes, the felt in the hammer stiffens and this produces more higher partials in the string. A piano hammer is know as a non linear spring, this means unlike a normal spring, the harder you hit it, the less springy it becomes. The way the strings of real piano, sing sympathetically: giving a glorious celestial backing to the notes actually played, is arguably one of the most magical sounds one can have the pleasure of experiencing, leaving the dead plonk of a digital chord sounding very pale in comparison.Īlso, very importantly, the way a real hammer interacts with a real string and soundboard can not be reproduced electronically. There are some genuine technical reasons why the digital piano just does not compare to an acoustic instrument. Feedback from customers is that they just don't feel and sound the same and for composition, they are inert and uninspiring. However, what we have found is that if you want to learn to play the piano, you need a real piano, many customers who have tried to learn on a digital keyboard have been left somewhat disappointed, with the digital piano left gathering dust in the bedroom. It is true that these features are appealing and can make a boring old wooden box seem rather basic in comparison. Digital pianos are cheaper, they don't need tuning, they are mobile and have other fancy features as well as a headphone socket. In short, playing the piano is good for you.īut what about digital pianos, surely they have destroyed the sales of traditional acoustic pianos. Hand eye coordination, language skills, mathematics, social interaction, even physiological changes in the actual structure of the brain have been recorded. In whatever physiological parameter you choose to measure, learning the piano improves children's performance. There are many good reasons why parents should encourage their kids to learn the piano. Decent piano teachers are working flat out in most cities and in some areas it's hard to find a good one at all. The piano and knowing how to play it, is still regarded by most middle class families as the very height of good taste and culture. Also the piano is unique in being a piece of domestic furniture, no one buys a Cello that has to fit in with the colour scheme or the interior design of a customers living room.The old saying that a piano makes a house a home still seems relevant to this day. The iconography of the piano is deeply embedded in modern culture. Well in my opinion, the piano is still more that just a musical instrument. However interest in learning and playing the piano, is still as popular as ever. Manufacturing in Europe has declined dramatically in the last 20 years. It's just that now they are mostly made in China or other Far Eastern countries. ![]() There are in fact more new pianos being manufactured today than at any other time in history. The good news is, that as musical instruments go, the good old acoustic piano has held its own and is just as popular now as it was 50 years ago. The piano has gone from being a ubiquitous feature of normal home life: literally nearly every home had a piano, much like a TV today, to being just another musical instrument. It is true that the heyday of the piano is long passed. So the question is, is it worth it, or just a waste of time ? I also teach privately for anyone who is interested in a career working in the piano trade. We have successfully trained 18 students to date, who are now qualified and working as tuners, technicians and restorers all across India. Recently I have been working as Director of the Furtados Institute of Piano Technology in Mumbai India. Not only teaching our own trainees, but also offering work placements to students on the degree course at the London College of Furniture at Guildhall University, a course that I later went on to teach myself, as Lecturer, until the course finally closed down a few years ago. My first experience was whilst running my own small business in London. ![]() I have been involved in training piano technicians, in one way or another for many years now.
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