Features article index

This section has longer articles on various aspects of the piano and synth, including playing technique, improvisation, composition, theory, practice, and preparing for performances.

Synth Basics: What is polyphony?

Whenever you buy a new digital piano, keyboard or synthesiser, one of its key specifications is the amount of polyphony.

But what exactly is polyphony?

In pure musical terms, polyphony is used to describe two or more independent melodic voices. This is in contrast to monophony (a single voice) or homophony (a single melody with chords).

However, when it comes to electronic musical instruments, we’re simply concerned with how many tones can be sounded at any one time.

These sounds don’t have to be melodic — in fact they don’t even necessarily have to be audible to the human ear!

Polyphony is the number of sounds an instrument can generate simultaneously.

That’s the theory, and in principle it’s pretty simple. In practice, however, things get a bit more complicated.

Let’s take a look at a digital piano. It may say that it has 64 note polyphony. That sounds rather a lot, right? After all, you only have ten fingers so you can’t play more than ten notes at any one time.

Correct — in part.

However, consider how most pianists play the piano, with judicious use of the sustain (damper) pedal.

Now consider that, in a digital piano (as opposed to an acoustic one, which effectively has unlimited polyphony) every single note counts towards the total polyphony from the moment it is first played, when a key is struck, to the moment its sound finally decays.

Long passages of music with heavy use of sustain could have tens or even hundreds of notes sounding at any one time, which is why a high polyphony count is generally considered a good thing.

If any instrument “runs out of sounds”, then generally new sounds take priority and currently playing sounds are abruptly cut off. This can produce an unnatural, clipped sound.

Now let’s look at a synthesiser instrument.

You may assume that every note you play is a single sound, but your selected sound might be a composite of several sounds. That eats into polyphony.

As a further complication, some manufacturers “bank” polyphony into two or more groups. So, an instrument that claims 128 notes of polyphony may in fact offer two distinct groups of 64 notes. Some sounds may be available in one group but not the other, so, depending on which sounds you select, you may not always get full polyphony.

Now consider the use of rhythm and other accompaniments on home keyboards.

Every auto-accompaniment you play could be using multiple sounds at any one time, reducing the amount of polyphony remaining for the sounds you wish to play over the top.

And finally, it’s fairly obvious that if you are using either an on-board sequencer, or one on your computer that uses the keyboard’s own sounds, then you’ll need more polyphony in order to play two or more tracks of sounds simultaneously.

So, when purchasing a keyboard instrument or synth unit, consider its polyphony and whether it will be sufficient for your needs.

Generally, the higher polyphony the better, though you will pay more for the privilege.

Image by Horla Varlen

Popularity: 3% [?]

Quick Tip: Try a new voice and stir up your keyboard playing

I’ve got a Yamaha P140S digital piano at home, and for the most part I use the three main piano voices, depending upon what mood I’m in, but I tend not to use the other voices much.

Then the other day I decided to play around with the three electric piano voices, and in fact found that I loved them.

Not only did I love them, but it forced me to play in a different style.

Things that sound great on an acoustic piano don’t always work on an electric piano.

Similarly, things that a normal piano sound can’t give you (ringing echoes or shiny vibrato, for example) are natural on some electric piano sounds.

Of course, if you’ve got a synth you can choose pretty much any sound imaginable, but the beauty of picking other keyboard sounds is that the method of playing them is still natural.

That being said, there’s a big technique and performance difference between playing a piano, an EP, a harpsichord, or any other keyed instrument.

That’s not to say you can’t extend the concept and play a whole range of different sounds, but if you’ve got a digital piano with a few additional sounds, why not crack them open a bit more often than you usually do?

This is an especially good technique if you improvise a lot but have got stuck in a rut. Even if you end up playing the same chord structures, I bet you’ll find new ways of playing to suit the sound.

Experiment and have fun!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Mastering Christmas Carols on the Piano and Keyboard: We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Click on any of the music scores to view/print higher resolution versions

View a range of Christmas Carols Music Books at Amazon.

Moving along on our series on mastering Christmas Carols on Piano and Keyboard, we come to “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. Purists might say this isn’t a carol, but we won’t worry too much about that at the moment.

Introduction

Like Silent Night, We Wish You A Merry Christmas is in 3/4 (waltz time).

The version presented here is played in G Major. This is a fairly easy key to play in (one sharp – F# – though there are some occasional accidentals along the way) and, importantly, to sing in.

Main Melody

You’ll notice that the main “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” line is repeated three times, rising in pitch but with the same basic melodic shape.

For each phrase, the first and second notes are a perfect fourth apart (find out more about songs to help you learn note intervals).

The run of notes are fairly easy to play, but it’s worth noting that, in this key, the third phrase begins on the black note of F#.

Here’s the complete melody written out:

Those notes are:

D : G G A G F# : E C E : A A B A G :

F# D F# : B B C B A : G E D D : E A F# :

G D : G G G : F# F# : G F# E : D A :

B A A G G : D(high) D D D : E A F# : G

And here’s what it sounds like:

Single Note Bass Line

Below is a simple bass line for the carol using just one note. Most of the time, you only need to play one note (a dotted minim (half note)) per bar, except in four bars that have a minim (half note) followed by a crotchet (quarter note).

And here’s what it sounds like:

Adding harmony and fullness with additional notes

In the third version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas,, I’ve created some depth by adding some extra notes for the right hand to play, always with the melody note as the highest note. The bass line remains the same, and you never have to play more than three notes in total — one or two with the right hand and one with the bass — at any one time.

And here’s what is sounds like:

Alternative version: walking bass

This final version of We Wish You A Merry Christmas uses a walking bass style for the left hand, adding a little more movement.

Here’s how it sounds:

Chord Sheet

Finally, here’s a chord sheet and lyrics for those who prefer it.

That’s it for now. Happy playing!

View a range of Christmas Carols Music Books at Amazon.

Series Index: Mastering Christmas Carols on the Piano and Keyboard

Popularity: 12% [?]

10 books to help your child learn to play piano and keyboard

Here are my recommendations for books that will help your child learn how to play the piano and keyboard, including identifying and playing notes and reading sheet music, plus some simple collections of children’s songs that you or your child can learn to play.

1. Usborne’s First Book of the Piano (with CD)

Featuring cute cartoons, large easy to use pages and diagrams, and plenty of well-known pieces of music to learn with, the Usborne First Book of the Piano is a great introduction to the piano for youngsters.

Buy The First Book of the Piano with CD

---

2. Usborne’s First Book of the Keyboard

Has similarities to the “First Book of the Piano” but is great if you’ve just bought a child’s first electronic keyboard because it also covers the basic features found on most music keyboards.

Buy First Book of the Keyboard

---

3. The Fantastic Big Book of Childrens Songs

A huge collection (67) of songs including some modern favourites: The Addams Family Theme, Blue’s Clues Theme, Bob the Builder, Linus and Lucy, SpongeBob SquarePants theme song, Thomas the Tank Engine and Welcome to the Blue House.

Buy The Fantastic Big Book of Childrens Songs

---

4. Really Big Book of Children’s Songs

Another “big book” from the same publisher as above.

Buy the Really Big Book of Children’s Songs

---

5. Very Easy Piano Tunes

A lovely book in the same style as Usborne’s First Book of the Piano, featuring a lot of easy to play traditional songs including Merrily We Roll Along, The Grand Old Duke of York, London Bridge is Falling Down, Home on the Range, Lavender’s Blue, Scarborough Fair and Auld Lang Syne.

Buy Very Easy Piano Tunes

---

6. Disney’s My First Songbook for Easy Piano: 1

The first in a series of books that will help you to play Disney favourites, including Cruella De Vil, A Whole New World, The Bear Necessities, Under the Sea, Beauty and the Beast and more.

Very simple arrangements and delightfully presented.

Buy Disney’s My First Song Book for Piano

---

7. The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes & Children’s Songs: 169 Classic Songs Arranged for Piano, Voice and Guitar

Also useful for those wanting to play the guitar, this is a huge collection of more traditional songs for you and your child to play and sing together.

Buy The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes & Children’s Songs

---

8. Kid Songs: Easy Play for All Keyboards

Book can be used with piano and keyboard instruments and comes complete with coloured stickers for labelling the notes. It’s also well illustrated.

Buy Kid Songs: Easy Play for All Keyboards

---

9. Progressive Electronic Keyboard for Young Beginners: Book 1 / CD Pack

The first in another series of electronic keyboard learning books. This one comes with an audio CD and features graded lessons using 20 well-known children’s songs as examples.

Buy Progressive Electronic Keyboard for Young Beginners: Book 1

---

10. The Music People

Quite an old book (1980) and one that I grew up with. Cute cartoon notes and rests explain basic musical theory and example using the piano among other instruments.

The Music People

Popularity: 8% [?]

31 Brilliant Piano Photographs

Here are thirty-one really cool photos of upright and grand pianos, their innards and their surroundings, arty and close-ups.

Click on any of the photos to go to the original Flickr photostream and to view them in larger sizes — many benefit from being seen in much greater detail, particularly those of the insides of pianos.

Enjoy.

1. Grand Piano by Spojení

I love the perspective and colours on this grand piano. Spojení describes it as a “lousy picture” but I really like it.

2. Grand Piano by Kentfield

Yes, really is made out of LEGO. Ironic that this Grand Piano is in fact a tiny model.

3. Grand Piano by crabchick

Another grand piano’s inside here, again with lovely colouring. I love the patterns formed by the strings and how plush everything looks.

4. Grand Piano by unforth

A lovely ornate 19th grand piano, so decorative.

5. Miro Grand Piano by codepo8

Just love the colours and sense of fun of this Schimmel grand piano. Definitely one for the kids… of all ages.

6. Grand Piano by pajp

OK, it’s a really blurry and grainy shot but I still see something artistic in this piano.

7. Under the Hood by warrenski

Yes, another grand piano’s innards. More subtle colours to the previous photos.

8. The Piano by Arjun01

The interior of a baby grand piano, in black and white. Definitely click through to the full size image as the lines of the hammers and strings is pretty special.

9. Ivories by Jono Rotten

Photo of a weathered piano, dirtied keys, fading and bronzing of the ebony.

10. The Piano’s Been Drinking by Hryck.

A close up of damaged keys, this piano’s not in a happy state at all but it’s definitely artistic even if it would be uncomfortable to play.

11. Torley on Piano – awesomelicious art by Wynter Bracken

Just love the colouring on this art composition.

12. Piano Tombstone by NatalieMaynor

Definitely an original gravestone, this.

13. Piano Keys by mararie

These types of shots are very common, but I love the light falling on these keys and the texturing that comes out from them.

14. Piano by MaltaGirl

Lovely black and white shot of an upright piano.

15. Fats Domino’s Piano, Post Katrina by delgaudm

“In the Cabildo in Jackson SQuare, there is a small room with artifacts that will be included in a Katrina Exhibit. One of the items on display is Fats Domino’s piano. This was a practice piano of his, and is pictured on one of his album covers.”

16. Piano Keys by Gog Llundain

Another close-up of piano keys — F, F# and G — with texturing.

17. Dirty Piano Keys by eflon

Shouldn’t let a piano get into this state, but it’s a great shot nonetheless.

18. Piano Strings by easement

More lovely colours and geometry.

19. Chickering piano by ktylerconk

Close-up of the logo of this Chickering piano.

20. Hammer of Piano by Hoder Slanger

Close-up of a piano hammer mechanism.

21. 2 Remaining Pianos by Luiza

Graffiti on these pianos which have been placed outside. Very interesting shot.

22. Moo Piano by Frostey

Definitely decorated as a cow, this upright piano in the meeting house of Friends Camp, South China, Maine.

23. Piano by t.spang

Another piano in house surroundings, with great reflections coming from the polished body and lovely shadow effects.

24. Piano Keys by isaac bowen

A really clean shot of this keys close-up.

25. 2.16.09: ivory by Team Dalog

I really love the colouring, out of focus photo. “A set of keys that haven’t been tickled in a while, I must say. You can see middle C is a little lower than the rest of ‘em, and the reason for this is that it gets stuck all the damn time.”

26. My Love Affair With the Piano by cristina.m

Piano keys trailing into the distance. Lovely perspective and colouring here. The structure of the foreground keys is great.

27. Abandoned by eflon

This is probably the piano that yielded its dirty piano keys. Definitely abandoned. Great shot though.

28. A better class of busker? (mono) by Mrs Logic

This amazing photo definitely needs a closer look. Wonderful composition, bizarre setting.

29. Hammers and Brass by chelseagirl

Another really cool piano innards shot, golds and oranges.

30. The Pink Octave by active metabolite

Just love how this photo has been composed. Great colour.

31. Chords by sanbeiji

Superb close up of the piano strings.

Popularity: 10% [?]

How to label and write notes on the piano keyboard: a basic guide

Introduction

I created this “How to label notes on the piano keyboard” article based on a reader’s question.

Karen writes:

My 10 year old daughter has a 54 key keyboard and is teaching herself to play it. She is already mastering the songs from Mary Poppins along with some current chart music using her own ear.

My problem is that she wants me to be able to label the keys for her with the letters and numbers, but I know nothing about this and from what I have found on the internet it just confuses me further. I have spent a long time reading stuff on the notes and octaves but got no further.

This guide will hopefully make it easy to create a system that not only works now but can be used as a stepping stone to reading and writing standard musical notation.

Basic Keyboard Layout

Before embarking on labelling the notes of the keyboard, it’s important to understand how the keyboard is laid out — its structure.

If you look at any keyboard you will see that it is made up of a repeating series of 12 keys. How many times that series repeats depends on how many keys the keyboard has overall.

Here’s one section of a keyboard, starting with the white key immediately to the left of the pair of black keys, and finishing with the white key immediately to the right of the group of three black keys.

This set of 11 keys – seven white notes and five black notes – repeats across the whole keyboard. The pattern may well be cut off at the left and right ends of the keyboard, but this is the pattern of keys you’ll see repeated on any keyboard instrument.

Basic Labelling Techniques

The highlighted key in the diagram above is often called C (as in the third letter of the alphabet). It’s also known as “do” (from the do-re-mi scale that you’ve no doubt heard of from The Sound of Music).

The next white note to the right is labelled D (or “re”) followed by E (“mi”), F (“fa”), G (“sol”), A (“la”) and B (“ti”), before returning to C (“do”).

Only seven letters or sounds are used to describe the white notes on a keyboard, and they form a run of notes known as a scale.

The black notes are labelled in relation to the white notes they sit in between.

Each black key immediately to the right of a white note are said to be “sharp” and each black key immediately to the left of a white note are said to be “flat”.

You can probably see that, when using letters of the alphabet to name the notes, each black note can have two names.

To the immediate right of C is C sharp (C#), though it is also known as D flat (Db) because it’s also to the immediate left of D.

The complete run of notes in the diagram above — both black and white notes — is:

C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B

Twelve distinct notes.

If using the “do-re-mi” scale then each black note only has one name. The complete run of notes is:

do – di – re – ri – mi – fa – fi – sol – si – la – li – ti

But if this set of eleven notes repeats across the keyboard, how can you tell one “C” from another “C”, or an “A” from another “A”, or an “F#” from another “F#”?

This is where I’m going to recommend working only with the alphabetic names of notes. I personally find it easier, and shorter, to write down notes this way.

Firstly, it’s important to find out where “Middle C” is. On a full-sized piano, that’s generally the “C” closest to the middle of the instrument, but on a smaller keyboard with less notes, that might not be the case.

To help you find it, play all the “C” notes on your keyboard until you find the one that sounds the closest to the following note:

Middle C [MIDI file. Most modern PCs should play this automatically when you click on it]

It’s worth starting to learn what that particular C – Middle C – sounds like so that you can find it easily on any other keyboard or piano you might want to play.

We’re now going to introduce some numbers so that it’s possible to identify all the different notes on the keyboard.

“Middle C” will be known as “C4″. Why C4? Well, on a large piano it’s likely to be the fourth “C” counting up from the left hand side of the keyboard.

This is a fairly standard naming convention. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have that many notes on your keyboard.

This means that the first C to the left of “Middle C” will be “C3″, and the one to the left of that is “C2″, and the one to the left of that is “C1″. And so on (you’ll probably have run out of notes by now).

And, unsurprisingly, the first C to the right of “Middle C” will be “C5″, followed by “C6″, then “C7″.

Finally, all the other notes slot into place just as before, but with the correct number after them. Always ensure you have a complete run from A through to G using the same number before starting with a new number.

What about the black notes? Well, for now you can either call them “sharp” or “flat”, or if you really want to you can label them as both.

Here’s a fully labelled diagram that you can use to help you label your keyboard. Click on it to see the full sized version.

Practically, it’s probably worth using lightly coloured sticky labels that you can write the name of each note on and then stick either directly on each key, or above it on the casing of the instrument.

Writing Down Notes

Now that you’ve labelled the keyboard, how do you go about writing down the notes that you’ve played so that you can go back in the future and play them again?

It could be as simple as writing down the letter and number combination for every note that you play, but this doesn’t take into account the length of each note, or if there are any gaps/pauses in the music (often known as “rests”).

If you play mainly “by ear” and are writing the notes down mainly to jog your memory, this might not matter.

The first two lines of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” might simply look like this:

C4 C4 G4 G4 A5 A5 G4 F4 F4 E4 E4 D4 D4 C4

And if you know the tune well, you’ll automatically play each note with the correct length.

If you are interested in recording the length of each note, you could put the names of each note into a grid. To do this, you’ll need to count each “beat” in the music. The beat is a steady rhythm.

For “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” it’s easiest to count in groups of four. Here’s how the first two lines would look.

1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4
C4	C4	G4	G4	A5	A5	G4	—	F4	F4	E4	E4	D4	D4	C4	—

You’ll see that I’ve used a dash where a note needs to be held on for more than one beat.

If there are any sections of music where nothing should be played, you could simply write an “X” or a “/” to indicate that nothing should be played (not even a held on note).

You might find in more complicated music that sometimes there’s more than one note in a beat. Then you’ll have to squeeze more notes into each space on the grid.

For example, here’s the first two lines of “Castle on a Cloud” from Les Miserables:

1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4
A4	B4 C4	B4	A4	A4	G#3	A4	—	A4	B4 C4	B4	A4	G3	F3	E3	—

Do you get the idea?

That’s just one method for writing down music in a fairly simple way.

It would start to get more complicated if you wanted to write down music where more than one note is played at the same time.

You could create a taller grid and write down groups of notes, but you’d have to remember which fingers on each hand you’d used to play them.

If you want to read other people’s music, you’ll probably find that it’s been written using standard modern musical symbols. It’s also very useful for writing down more complicated music.

That’s a bit much to handle in this article, though we’ll come back to it in future articles.

For now, if you’re feeling brave, you can read this Wikipedia article on modern musical symbols.

I hope this guide helped you. If you have any questions do feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll help you out as much as I can.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Yamaha P155 digital piano: Complete specifications and gallery

If you want the lowdown on Yamaha’s new portable digital piano, the P155, then look no further. Here are complete specifications, pictures, and comparison with Yamaha’s earlier P series instruments.

Overview

• The Yamaha P155 features samples taken directly from the CFIIIS 9-foot grand piano
• Uses Yamaha’s Pure CF sampling technology with minimal audio post-processing
• Dynamic Stereo Sampling (DSS) technology features 4-level piano sample
• Key off and open strings samples
• Graded Hammer technology – lower keys are heavier
• 128 note polyphony
• 12W x 2 speakers

Detailed Specifications

P155 Specifications
Keyboard	88 keys, Graded Hammer (GH)
Tone Generation	4-level AWM Dynamic Stereo Sampling
Pure CF Sampling	YES
Key-Off Sampling/Stereo Sustain Sampling	YES
Damper Resonance	YES
Polyphony (Max.)	128
Voices	17
Reverb	4 types
Brilliance	3 types
Effect	4 types
Dual	YES
Split	YES
Metronome	YES
Tuning/Transpose	YES
Scale Tuning Types	7 types
Song Recording	2-track recording/playback, 3 User Song
Preset Songs	7 Demo Songs, 50 Piano Preset Songs
Jacks & Connectors
MIDI	IN/OUT
Headphones	2 (stereo 1/4″ jack)
Pedals	Sustain Pedal, AUX Pedal
AUX OUT (Variable)	L/L+R, R (1/4″ jack)
USB TO DEVICE	YES (song data storage)
Amplifiers	12W x 2
Speakers	(12 x 6) cm x 2
Dimensions (W x D x H)	52-1/2″ x 16-13/16″ x 5-1/2″
Weight	18.6 kg (41 lbs.)
Colors	P-155: Black with Mahogany top-board P-155B: Black with Ebony top-board P-155S: Silver with Cherry top-board

Pictures

Comparison

• Step up in (doubling) polyphony from P140 / P120
• Return to P120’s variable output level 1/4″ audio jacks
• USB output options
• More scale tunings available
• More advanced sampling

Buy Yamaha Digital Pianos at Amazon

Popularity: 19% [?]

Ten toy pianos you and your child will love!

Not got the space or budget for your budding Rachmaninov to play a full-size piano? Or do you want something smaller and more colourful for little Chopin to test before investing in a larger, more expensive keyboard?

Take a look at Piano and Synth Magazine’s guide to the current range of toy and realistic miniature pianos. There’s sure to be one that your musical child will love.

1. My First Piano Red II

A 25-key (two octave) tabletop toy piano that’s ideal for toddlers aged six months to two years.

It comes with a songbook containing a collection of familiar tunes which along with Schoenhut’s patented Learning System (based on colour) which has been specially designed to build a child’s confidence and develop basic playing skills.

The keys are the same width as a real piano, so children learn about stretching even while their hands are growing.

Chromatically tuned, the lovely chime-like notes are produced by little hammers striking precision-ground, German steel music rods.

My First Piano Red II – £69.99 from Amazon

2. New Classic Toys 0157 Piano Black

An octave-and-a-half (18 keys) black wooden piano and is stated as suitable for ages 3+. It has full width keys.

New Classic Toys 0157 Piano Black – £39.95 from Amazon

Also available in pink and red.

3. Melissa & Doug Learn-to-Play Piano

A highly colourful two octave piano which includes tambourine, cymbals, maracas, clacker, tone blocks and a triangle. It won’t produce a huge sound but the 25 hand-tuned keys provide a great start.

Melissa & Doug Learn-to-Play Piano – £61.29 from Amazon

4. Bontempi Grand Piano

A very cheap and colourful introduction to keyboards, this 20-note keyboard is shaped like a grand piano and features detachable legs. It’s suitable for ages 3+.

Bontempi Grand Piano – £7.81 from Amazon

Also available as a 27-note version for £14.66

5. Baby Grand Piano Keyskills Age 2-6

Featuring 30 keys, this wooden baby grand toy piano features realistic plastic keys and a chime-like tone made from small hammers striking steel rods. No tuning required.

Baby Grand Piano Keyskills Age 2-6 – £135 from Amazon

6. Schoenhut Elite Fancy Baby Grand

This fancy high-gloss baby grand piano comes with a matching bench and features 30 full-size keys. It comes with a book and the Schoenhut patented learning system.

Elite Fancy Baby Grand – £139.99 from Amazon

Also available in red

7. Melissa & Doug Grand Piano

A more realistic-looking mini grand piano from Melissa & Doug, still featuring tambourine, cymbals, maracas, clacker, tone blocks and a triangle. Has 30 keys.

Melissa & Doug Grand Piano at Amazon

8. Mood Works traditionally crafted wooden music piano

A 25-key brightly-coloured wooden piano suited for children aged 3+.

Traditionally Crafted Wooden Music Piano With 25 Keys – £39.99 from Amazon

9. Early Learning Centre Grand Piano

A mini electronic baby grand piano with three octave keyboard, a microphone, eight instrument sounds and lots of rhythms and other features, as well as the ability to record and play back audio.

Requires two AA batteries.

£45 from Early Learning Centre

10. Schoenhut 44-Key Baby Grand Piano

For those with a serious amount of money to spend, look no further than the Schoenhut 44-Key Baby Grand Piano. These 44-key, stringed pianos feature perfect pitch and true piano sound.

With a keyboard half the size of that on an adult piano, this 44-key piano’s four and a half octave span allows plenty of room for playing with both hands. Working pedals are easy for children to reach. Schoenhut, leader and innovator in the toy piano and musical toy industry, recognized the need for a mid-sized piano to ease the transition from a toy to a full-sized version. These beautifully crafted stringed instruments were created after months of in-depth collaboration on the design with a reputable, century-old piano manufacturing firm.

Schoenhut 44-Key Baby Grand Piano – £1,795 from Amazon

Also available is the Schoenhut Black 44-key Upright Piano for £1,399.99.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Christmas carol concert: ten tips for preparing pianists

So, you’ve been asked to accompany the carol singing at your local school, church, social club, in the community, or even on the streets?

Here are ten tips to ensure you’re prepared and confident for the big day.

1. Be prepared

Most people like to know well in advance exactly what’s expected of them, so find out as soon as you can what you’re being asked to do, what format the carol concert will take, what rehearsals are planned, and how the whole thing will run.

Your stress levels will be lower if you have enough time to prepare for the event.

2. Know your skill and commitment levels

Be honest about your level of proficiency. Presumably, you’ve been asked because someone thinks you’re good enough to play, but don’t be afraid to keep things simple if you’re not confident playing more complicated pieces / arrangements, or if you don’t have a lot of preparation time.

If you’re provided with sheet music, and you know it’s too complicated, ask if there are simpler arrangements available.

Conversely, if you’re provided with chord sheets and lyrics, but you work better from manuscript, ask if you can have that instead.

3. Become friends with the organiser

You need to develop a good working relationship with the organiser of the event so that you can discuss how the event will run, flag any problems, and be kept “in the loop” if there are any new developments.

Particularly for more formal services, such as in a high church where there may be readings, liturgy, etc., the service organiser should be able to offer strong leadership so you’re not worried about when and how you should be performing.

4. Playing, singing, leading?

Are you going to accompany a choir or congregation by simply playing piano/keyboard, or are you expected to sing and play at the same time?

Are you “leading” others through your singing and playing, or is someone else directing from the front, or simply leaving it to the group’s knowledge of the music to carry it through?

Don’t be afraid to say if you’re not comfortable / able to play and sing at the same time. You may be able to work with a vocalist who can lead the rest of the group, leaving you to concentrate on playing the right notes.

5. Solo or group?

Are you going to be playing on your own, or with other instrumentalists? This will affect how and when you practice, what arrangements you use, and may require some diplomacy and group-building skills.

If you’re asked to play in a group and are prepared to either lead, or participate in that, be ready to work at honing musical arrangements and performance, dealing with possible creative conflicts, helping less confident musicians, and ensuring everyone knows what they’re doing on the day.

From my experience, many guitarists find all but the simplest carols (and hymns, too) quite difficult to play and make sound good, not because they’re poor musicians, but because many were composed on and for keyboard instruments. Don’t be surprised if guitarists wish to take more of a back seat when it comes to providing volume/body to carols. Solo instruments (cellos, violins, bass guitar) are often easier to work in, and can sound very good.

6. Singing from the same song sheet

Find out from the organiser exactly which carols are to be sung, obtain all the words, and ensure the same tune is being used (some carols have more than one version, particularly British and American variations).

If you have sourced your own music and/or words, ensure that it fits with what’s printed on the programme/hymnbook. Find out if certain verses are to be missed out, or repeated.

7. Practice! Practice! Practice!

If playing/singing solo, find enough time so you’re confident to accompany/lead the singers.

If working with other musicians, schedule in at least two rehearsals, or as many as required so everyone is confident, plus your own solo practices.

Find out whether you will be able to practice in the venue before the event — this can help to familiarise yourself with how you and/or a group of musicians will sound, particularly if you’ve never played there before.

8. Practicalities

Find out whether you will need to provide your own keyboard/digital piano, or whether an acoustic/digital piano will be provided for you.

If playing and singing outside, ensure there’s protection from the elements for you and your equipment, and a safe way to provide electricity for any amplification.

Ensure you’re able to get yourself and any equipment to the venue in plenty of time to set up, particularly if you’re working with a group, and if you will be using a PA system.

If using PA, find out who is setting it up and ask if there will be time to “sound check” everything, even if briefly.

Ensure that you can hear yourself playing and singing in the venue. See if the volume levels of any audio monitors (speakers) can be set at a slightly higher volume than is necessary, when practising, particularly when a large number of choir/congregation is expected — their singing will drown out or soak up your own sound and you may find it hard to hear what you’re playing.

Ensure you have enough light to be able to read the music/words comfortably.

9. Confidence

Be confident! You’ve been asked to do this, so someone believes in you.

Now you’ve accepted, trust in your abilities. If you’re nervous, don’t over-stretch yourself — play within your comfort zone.

With the right amount of preparation and practice, there’s no reason why the carol concert won’t be a great success.

10. Learn and Grow

After the event (maybe not right away) assess how you thought it went as a musician.

Did everything work as it should have? Were you happy with how you performed? What went well? What could have been better?

Make some notes so that, if you do another event, you’ll be even better prepared.

Have fun!

What tips would you add? Share in the comments below.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Playing piano or keyboard without a sustain pedal

Have you ever been stuck in a situation where the piano, keyboard, or synth you’ve been playing either has no sustain pedal, or the one that is attached works intermittently, or not at all?

I have, a number of times, and let me tell you it’s not much fun at the time.

Without wanting to sound condescending (apologies if I do), if you’re just starting out on the piano or keyboard, or you’re primarily involved with sequencing or computer-based composition, then you may not realise just how vital the sustain pedal is to many pianists and keyboard players.

When it’s missing, it’s very obvious — at least, to you, if not to your audience.

Here are some ideas for how to get around the problem of a missing or malfunctioning sustain pedal. Feel free to add your own hints and tips in the comments section below.

[Read more]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Next Page »