Musical Mixer: What's going on between you and your piano, today?

Musical Mixer is a dedicated community chat.

Welcome - there is a place for you here! 😇

What's up in your life? What's going on between you and your piano lately? And your musical life, outside of piano? You can also respond to livestreams and community events, either if you watch them live or as recordings. Ask each other or ask me questions, hang out, bring a snack, and chat about your latest musical obsession! There's no judgment here - we're all colleagues!

 

You likely know me by now as your forum moderator and a livestream host - but my primary identity is as a concert pianist. As an active member of the musical community in New York City, the Juilliard School, and online here at tonebase, I'm participating just like you are in our community challenges - I am keen to perform myself in our community concerts and share my own practice videos. My musical and non-musical friends and I often talk about concerts we've attended, recordings we enjoy, and talk shop.  I'm so excited to have you all as new colleagues - and in time, I will welcome you onto my livestreams via zoom. Having discourse with my colleagues is the biggest way of moving our work and field forward.

 

This March, since Bach is my area of expertise, I'm sharing our community challenge with my friends in piano studios from the United States to Indonesia! In your practice, find the opportunity to listen to recordings, and read about the history of the pieces and the lives of their composers. Take the initiative to ask each other questions - I know I'm also so gratified when someone asks to get to know me and my playing better! As it turns out, I got my piano tuned earlier today and my piano tuner is a member of our tonebase community too. Hey, Andrew! If you're in the NYC area, couldn't recommend him more - my piano is very happy today :)

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    • Anthony Miyake
    • Work with numbers and statistics, but music is my true passion. Piano hobbyist.
    • Anthony_Miyake
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Hilda, thanks for creating this forum as it's good to have a place where we can post on more general piano (or musical) related topics.  Recently I've been thinking about upgrading my piano.  I've held on to my old Yamaha P22 for sentimental reasons, but my piano tuner also came over yesterday (what a coincidence) and delivered some bad news on the cause of the squeaking sounds coming from the keys.  He said it would require replacing the felt all throughout the piano which would entail quite a bit of work.  So I've been searching online and doing some research and have narrowed down my search to either a Yamaha U1 or Kawai K300.  I would also consider a model higher for the two, but there doesn't seem to be any used inventory for sale in my local area (New Jersey).  I've found a Kawai K300 being sold at a nearby piano dealer that I plan to take a look at later today as well as a Yamaha U1 being sold by a private owner in the next town from me, but I'll need to schedule that together with my piano tuner.  I'm excited about the upgrade, but also a bit saddened to part with my current piano.  It almost feels like losing a family pet as it's given me so much over the years.

     

    March 5, 2022 update:  I took a look at the Yamaha U1 along with my tuner and loved it.  My tuner thought it was a steal at the price (it is a 2013 model year) they were asking so recommended I leave a deposit or pay for it in full.  The piano was also conveniently located in the next town from me (less than a 10 min drive away).  The 2 other Yamaha U1's for sale were both located in Georgia (the US state), but still almost 1000 miles away.  

     

    I did also go to the Kawai dealer yesterday, but the Kawai K300 I had my eye on had already been sold.  I tried out a new Kawai K300 & K400 in their showroom and they sounded very nice.  But I do notice the feel of playing a Kawai isn't as familiar to me as the feel of playing a Yamaha.  I think it's just more what I've grown accustomed to.  The dealer did show me a Yamaha U3 they had just acquired, but it hadn't been tuned yet so I only played it a little.  And it was an older model 1984, so I planned that as my back-up if the U1 didn't work out.

     

    So now I'm reaching out to piano movers for quotes, but am very excited with my new purchase.

    Like 1
      • Will Green
      • Mystic/Musician
      • Will_Green
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Anthony Miyake Awesome!! I'm looking forward to the piano you choose!

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      • Hilda Huang
      • Concert Pianist and tonebase Piano Community Lead
      • Hilda
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Anthony Miyake Nice nice!! It is exciting! Do you need piano mover recommendations??

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      • Anthony Miyake
      • Work with numbers and statistics, but music is my true passion. Piano hobbyist.
      • Anthony_Miyake
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Brother Will Green , yes, I'm getting the U1.  Can't believe how well it all worked out.  The seller bought a baby grand so listed it just 2 days before I searched for pianos for sale in the area.  I'm having it moved this coming Monday.

      Like 2
      • Anthony Miyake
      • Work with numbers and statistics, but music is my true passion. Piano hobbyist.
      • Anthony_Miyake
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Hilda Huang , Hi Hilda, thanks but my tuner recommended 3 movers to me and I was able to contact the first on the list.  They only move pianos and came highly recommended, so I think I'm set.  They are moving the piano this coming Monday so I'm excited.

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      • Anthony Miyake
      • Work with numbers and statistics, but music is my true passion. Piano hobbyist.
      • Anthony_Miyake
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Here's an update for March 14, 2022:

       

      The movers brought over the piano this morning and all went well, although the movers suggested that any larger piano would have a hard time getting up the stairs which means if I upgrade again, the piano will likely need to be moved to a room on the first floor.

       

      I've noticed that especially the notes in the lower register are quite a bit louder and more resonant.  I love it, but it will take some getting used to.

       

      I hope to upload some practice videos on my new piano soon.

    • Will Green
    • Mystic/Musician
    • Will_Green
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    What a great thread for all of us!! I can't wait to hear about everyone's life and their relationship to their music and their beloved piano - our pet, as Anthony Miyake says!!

     

    I'm preparing music for an upcoming concert. The next concert I give I want to play the Bach that I'm learning this month. It just does not fit in with my concept, which is Russians: Favorite and Forgotten, where I'm playing music by unjustly forgotten composers Medtner (who's having a comeback!!) and Blumenfeld, and our favorite - Rachmaninoff! 

     

    I'm reading up on their lives and the situation in Russia when they were writing music and learning a lot about the way Russians think.... extremely apropos now, given the current situation. I look forward to sharing my progress with each of you and hearing your constructive feedback. It means SO MUCH to be to be here on this community with you all. Please know that I pray for all of you and hold you very close to my heart. I feel we are one family, and we will be successful together, in everything that we do!! 

     

    Thanks for reading this post and I look forward to reading your posts and hearing all of your music this next month! Be safe and well, dear piano family. XOXOX

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      • Anthony Miyake
      • Work with numbers and statistics, but music is my true passion. Piano hobbyist.
      • Anthony_Miyake
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Brother Will Green , thanks for the call-out, although it gave me a chuckle that i actually wrote that.  😄 Maybe another way to think of it is that our pianos have a "living" spirit (despite being inanimate objects).  I think this is a rather Japanese way of thinking.  If you've seen the anime movie, "Spirited Away", it depicts all sorts of "living" spirits of rivers, radishes, and even things like ash soot.  So I think in a similar way that our pianos have a "living" spirit.

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      • Peter Golemme
      • Piano Player with Day Job (for now)
      • Peter_G
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Brother Will Green Hey Brother Will, can't wait to hear some samples from your concert prep. i've greatly admired your playing as demonstrated in prior posts.  Are you thinking of including any Rachmaninoff Preludes in this round of pieces?  I've studied them all very closely for many years (which is not to say I've been able to play them competently) and would be happy to compare thoughts & notes on any particular ones.  good luck with your prep & I can't wait to hear your Bach

      Like 1
      • Will Green
      • Mystic/Musician
      • Will_Green
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Peter Golemme Hi Peter! I would love to talk with you about the Rachmaninoff Preludes :) 

      This concert in the spring will not have the Preludes. I am opening with the Etude Tableaux op. 33 no. 7 and closing with a transcription for solo piano of the Piano Concerto no. 3. Would love to hear your thoughts on those pieces as well! Thanks for your kind words. I hope you are well. xx

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  • Hilda Huang thank you for starting this discussion. I feel sorely in need of a reality check of some kind with my piano playing. As I mentioned in other threads elsewhere, I have a lot of training and experience as a cellist, but though I do enjoy playing the cello (and not to be bragging about it at all, but in fact I'm a pretty good cellist), there are limited opportunities for me that are satisfying enough to spend my time on. So I've been moving toward putting more of my musical efforts into playing the piano, but it's frustrating because I'm not as good a pianist as I am a cellist. Over the past few years I've had some discouraging experiences, and I've kind of lost my nerve about playing the piano in front of people. And there's the memorizing issue - memorizing is something I CAN do, with a lot of effort, but it's increasingly hard for me as I age, and I don't want that to be the stumbling block that pushes me into giving up the whole thing. I would just like to be able to play fluently and musically and stop worrying so much about what other people think.

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      • Anthony Miyake
      • Work with numbers and statistics, but music is my true passion. Piano hobbyist.
      • Anthony_Miyake
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Harriet Kaplan , I wish I could play the cello.  The Brahms Cello-Sonatas are some of my favorite pieces of the classical music repertoire.  I used to also play another instrument, the French Horn, which I played in junior high and in high school.  And in high school, I learned to play the mellophone for marching band as we didn't march with French Horns.  Not sure why, but likely as it would be too difficult to empty the spit from the instrument while marching. 😂.  Anyway, when I watched Claire Huangci's livestream about playing transcriptions on the piano, I could relate to her description of the way certain instruments sound because of the breathing involved.  Since you also play a string instrument in addition to the piano, I think that would give you an advantage in terns of phrasing of some of the voicings in piano pieces.

      Like 3
      • Xiao
      • xiao
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Harriet Kaplan  
      In my extremely limited experiences I found that in a set of repertoire performed, memory issues almost always happened in sections I don't feel difficulties when practicing. On the contrary, technically demanding or musically complicated sections rarely involve with memory issues. Also, I found that's probably a universal issue in all stages of life, as I read that quite a lot of professional musicians also suffered. 
      Lately I watched one of the videos dealing with memorization here in tonebase, and those tips are helpful for me. 
      I definitely will encounter new memorization problems as I try learning bigger pieces (for me, maybe a complete sonata or a whole opus). In a recently learned sonata, I found it's quite confusing when there are similar paragraphs in a movement. However that wasn't a problem in the moment of practicing, problem rose when the piece finally can be run through or performed as a whole. I expect I would try to isolate them from the whole movement and practice them in a comparative manner, or maybe try to differentiate them with relating different emotions or anticipating subtle nuances. For me those means a lot work and inner clarity since I was neither a structural person nor a trained student.

      Imagining I was the piece itself, I might feel happy when the performer discover new corners.
      When I heard about cellists or sopranos whose graduation repertoire was Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto or 48 Bach preludes and fugues, and some pianists can transpose any WTK piece into any keys. I feel that's beyond my imagination or frustration.

      Like
    • khoi
    • khoi
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Hilda,

     

    I am practicing the sarabande of the first Partita. Any resource that I can read that could be helpful for interpreting that piece? Looking forward to upload my play here soon

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      • Hilda Huang
      • Concert Pianist and tonebase Piano Community Lead
      • Hilda
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      khoi There's so many good options! It's hard to recommend just one text because Bach-interpretation is so multifaceted, but Paul Badura Skoda's "Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard" is a fantastic resource. I also find recordings especially helpful for interpretation -  Personally I love Andreas Staier's recording on the harpsichord, and Andras Schiff and Glenn Gould's on the piano.

      Like 2
    • Qingzhi
    • Qingzhi
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Anthony Miyake  congrats on your new piano. I recall Bruce Liu in one of his interview said going to concert and playing on different pianos is like having different girlfriends, and then he said "but don't worry I'm a good boy" I laughed hard but I understand the analogy because of the intimate relationship between the pianos and pianists. For me, home is wherever my cat and my piano is. I do not want to move or to travel that much, because neither my piano or my cat likes moving or away from me. 

    Like 1
      • Anthony Miyake
      • Work with numbers and statistics, but music is my true passion. Piano hobbyist.
      • Anthony_Miyake
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Qingzhi , thanks, Qingzhi.  I'm very much looking forward to Monday when the new piano arrives.  But I do think of my piano quite differently.  I distinctly remember my parents taking me to the Yamaha store and picking out my current piano.  Think I was 10 years old at the time.  I'm the youngest of 6, but was the only one in the family who had any interest in the piano, or in playing any sort of musical instrument (other than as a passing hobby).  My father was an engineer by profession, but painted as his creative outlet and two of my older sisters married men who also paint as side hobbies.  But I have zero artistic abilities, so am sort of the odd-ball in the family.  So my current piano has more sentimental value as I sometimes think about my parents when I play.

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    • Will
    • Will.1
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hilda Huang  - I too appreciate you starting this discussion. I didn't realize how badly I needed my piano tuned until I heard someone else play it and listened to it. So, it's getting tuned Tueday morning (I love my piano tuner Jeff- he's phenomonal). And like Harriet, I'm not always comfortable playing in front of others as well, even though I'm playing on my primary instrument. Hopefully, one day that will become easier with time. I welcome any thoughts on the subject. 

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