Gratuitous piano pr0n

[Wowbagger]

[Torslanda]

Pure filth . . .

 . . . more!

[clarion]

Didn't Beckstein write 'Of Mice & Men'?

[ed_o_brain]

It's no use seeing the pictures without hearing how it sounds.
This thread is useless without .mp3 files!
 

[Wowbagger]

Pure filth . . .

 . . . more!

Oh all right then. I'm an encore whore.











Blimey! Cobwebs!



We bought this piano in 1978 immediately after it had been restored. Sadly, the inlaid mother-of-pearl design was ruined by the lacquering process so the restorer removed those panels and turned then round, so the mother of pearl is now on the inside.

Ed, I'll have to practise a bit and then I'll get Dez to record me playing something.

[Wowbagger]

One problem which is happening more and more is that the ivory veneer is lifting off the keys, which I assume is a combination of age, central heating and a dehumidifier. Each time it happens I get a splodge of glue and stick them back again but it's a tedious process.

I recall this happening on an ancient grand piano I used to practise on at school, but there, no one was around to stick the ivories back on, so a lot of the time you were pressing the bare wood when you played.

[Rhys W]

That's just grand.

[Woofage]

That's just grand.

Wowbagger is a very upright citizen.

[Oaky]

That's just grand.

Wowbagger is a very upright citizen.

Don't mention the tuner or this could degenerate into one of those fishy cascades.

[LEE]

Hello Honky Tonks!

[Wowbagger]

That's just grand.

Wowbagger is a very upright citizen.

I've occasionally played the upright organ.

[Panoramix]

One problem which is happening more and more is that the ivory veneer is lifting off the keys, which I assume is a combination of age, central heating and a dehumidifier. Each time it happens I get a splodge of glue and stick them back again but it's a tedious process.

I recall this happening on an ancient grand piano I used to practise on at school, but there, no one was around to stick the ivories back on, so a lot of the time you were pressing the bare wood when you played.

My parents' piano is suffering from the same disease.

[Torslanda]

Gelatine FTW!

[PaulR]

OOH lashings of turquoise felt!  My parents have just had their Bechstein fettled again and I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing it again. 

Sadly the Beethoven Sonatas in our household get taken out for a spin on a more modest Rogers upright but it's still a splendid sound.  And next to this laptop rests a 200 yr old square piano by Astors of Cornhill, in remarkably good nick after all those years and still baffling many visitors who are not so familiar with these beasts.

Gratuitous pics to follow...

[chris]

And next to this laptop rests a 200 yr old square piano by Astors of Cornhill, in remarkably good nick after all those years and still baffling many visitors who are not so familiar with these beasts.

Gratuitous pics to follow...

Time to start a YACF special interest group? I have in the study an 1806 Broadwood square piano in lovely mahogany. It doesn't get played very often these days as I store it with the strings loosened off to relieve the strain on the wooden frame and it takes me a couple of hours to tune it back up. For day to day use I have a Barratt and Robinson upright which is very nice to play when you consider it's at the budget end of the piano spectrum.

Wows picture with the music for the first movement of the Pathetique prompted me to dig out my copy and have a play this morning. The first page wasnt too bad, but lack of serious practice over the last thirty years proved a bit of a disaster when it came to the more complex fast passages later on. My brain knew what it wanted to do, but by the time its signals had reached my fingers they had become a bit muddled up. Part of me is tempted to put the music away for another thirty years, but the other part of me is wanting to find some time to put in some practice and get my playing back up to standard.

[Wowbagger]

I go through phases with practice. I do none for months at a time and then, for some unknown reason, I start practising again. LMM's posts about her old Bechstein have prompted me to start again. I'll probably keep it up for a few weeks and then forget about it.

Sadly, although I have shelves full of wonderful music, I always seem to gravitate towards the same pieces. I played the rondo from the Pathetique for my Grade 7 in 1971, played the whole sonata from memory for my LGSM in 1981 and I don't think I've learned another sonata since. Of the 32 that old Ludwig wrote, I think I've only ever learned 4 or 5.

I'm actually surprised how quickly I can get up to a reasonable standard on pieces I used to know well - unless my ear is now more easily satisfied with a throughly mediocre performance than it used to be! A couple of hours' practise and my hands are finding the notes again, although as you say, the agility takes longer to come back.

[RW]

And next to this laptop rests a 200 yr old square piano by Astors of Cornhill, in remarkably good nick after all those years and still baffling many visitors who are not so familiar with these beasts.

Gratuitous pics to follow...

Time to start a YACF special interest group? I have in the study an 1806 Broadwood square piano in lovely mahogany.

Just waiting for the pictures now!

[Wowbagger]

Dez has been wielding his recording equipment.

Beethoven, Pathétique sonata, slow movement

That was done in one take using a microphone which is apparently designed to record the human voice. It doesn't do justice to some of the higher and lower notes, perhaps, but it gives the piano a richness in the middle of the keyboard that you don't notice live. I've made a few slips just to let Paul Lewis know that there's no pressure coming from this quarter.

[FatBloke]

I'm less concerned with the piano than the electrical horrors to the left of it!!! 

[Wowbagger]

I'm less concerned with the piano than the electrical horrors to the left of it!!! 

It's all right. The piano isn't plugged in.

[Panoramix]

I'm less concerned with the piano than the electrical horrors to the left of it!!! 

It's all right. The piano isn't plugged in.

 

You are a very fine pianist!

[PaulR]

And next to this laptop rests a 200 yr old square piano by Astors of Cornhill, in remarkably good nick after all those years and still baffling many visitors who are not so familiar with these beasts.

Gratuitous pics to follow...

Time to start a YACF special interest group? I have in the study an 1806 Broadwood square piano in lovely mahogany.

Just waiting for the pictures now!

Oops, forgot about this.  I will see what I can rustle up.

[PaulR]

here we go, at last