…is like making love to a beautiful woman. I couldn’t agree more. During my years in the States, I’ve been fortunate enough to have played on some wonderful concert grands (courtesy of the University of Arizona’s Music Department) such as a Steinway and a Baldwin (we had one signed by Liberace). When I play on a wonderful piano, I can get carried away and play on and on.
On the other hand, I’ve played on my share of crappy pianos too. Argh, these are the instruments of death and torture that make me wonder "Why am I doing this?" For non-musical people who think that if a piano is OK if it sounds, that could hardly be further from the truth. Not that I expect the best piano to be available before I can "get in the mood." But it wouldn’t be fair to expect a carpenter to produce beautiful furniture with mediocre tools, would it? Likewise with artists and musicians.
Fortunately, piano makers such as Yamaha have come to the rescue. With their wonderful range of Clavinova digital pianos, musicians don’t have to worry about playing on a sub-standard instrument, or one that is out of tune. And get this: the piano sounds are actual samples of Yamaha’s grand pianos, digitalized and stored in the Clavinova. With the Clavinovas costing a fraction of the price you’d have to pay for an actual Grand, I’d say that it’s definitely worth the money and the savings.
I’ve been using the Yamaha CVP-105 Clavinova for a few years now, and it sounds just as good as the day I bought it. No need for tunings, virtually maintenance-free, and having a host of other cool features like auto-accompaniment, MIDI, recording capabilities, etc. No regrets as far as I’m concerned.
My mother still has the (probably substandard) piano I learned to play on. It’s not been tuned in years and even I can hear how horribly it sounds! But that’s not why I was commenting – really! I was going to remark on how interesting it was that when we DID have it tuned regularly (back in the stone age of my youth), the gentleman who did it was BLIND.
It always amazed me how without the gift of sight he could still tune that piano perfectly, and watching him play was just amazing. The guy could play darn near anything – and perfectly. For those, less fortunate, of us who need to read music to play – it was an amazing sight (no pun intended).
But you’re right – when it’s out of tune – or worse – perhaps it’s time to retire those old pianos.
I dunno. It’s always fascinating that people who are robbed of their sight usually possess excellent aural abilities.
Thanks for the comment, D.
.., I don’t why but my eyes really turn wide every time I see someone playing that kind of piano in the picture..
learn piano fast