Kids and Pianos

[Z! Reinhardt]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2001 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: Kids and Pianos [was Re: Scaling problem]


Oh, great Z (or anyone else)! Teach me about pianos!

I guess what I am asking is what makes a piano "beneath her playing skills"?
How do we determine what her needs are? How do we explain to a client these
concepts?

+ + + + +

First, a few things to keep in mind.  a]  I am hardly a pianist, let alone a
teacher, but b]  I do consider myself a good listener.  c]  I like to
"eavesdrop" by looking at the sheet music lying around the piano, to
determine the level of difficulty and/or expression being attempted on this
particular instrument.

The real acid test of course is to have the house pianist play the
instrument while you pack up your tools, write up the bill or whatever.  In
the case of the daughter who should have a better piano, I listened to her
trying to play a particularly passionate piece by Debussy.  The passion was
all there in her playing, but the piano was incapable of delivering it.

It would have been very different if this daughter were simply playing the
notes as if playing a typewriter.  Then I'd wonder about her teacher or her
understanding of the music.  The piano would have been fine for that kind of
playing, as long as it wasn't particularly fast and/or energetic.

Sometimes you can't explain this stuff to a client and have your advice
taken seriously, especially if the people with the money (parents in this
case) have only a very limited understanding of music.  That's when I would
urge the pianist to go and play whatever piano she comes across just for the
fun of it, be this at school, at friends houses, or even a showroom, just so
she could have a sense of the differences between pianos, and what each one
is capable of when it comes to responding to her playing.  Then (I would
hope) it would be easier to present the case for a better piano, especially
since she could demonstrate the differences to her parents.

Another story out of my own archives ... a mother and her 10-year-old
daughter were in the sheet music department of a piano dealer.  The mother
was looking for something for herself so the daughter wandered off to play
this particularly attractive grand.  "Hey Mom!  I can do stuff on this piano
that I can't do on the piano at home!"  Upon getting home, the girl went to
great lengths to explain what she wanted to do and to demonstrate just how
the action on the upright at home just wasn't "cutting it."  The next day
her parents bought that grand (and they weren't even in the market for a new
piano).  The girl (now 14) has since been doing very well in local
competitions.

The upright (of excellent quality) has since found a new home with friends
of this family where the kids are just starting out and enjoying practicing.
Every time I go to service that piano, the kids ask, "what's wrong with the
piano?  It wasn't doing anything bad."  Doesn't sound like they are too
frustrated with what this piano could deliver.

Next?  Someone else have some better insights?

Z! Reinhardt  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net