Pianos

[Shin]

It's been an interesting year of learning about pianos.

Since I took up the hobby of playing a keyboard for fun and relaxation I've had quite a good time. It's been very relaxing and enjoyable. One of the things I've learned recently is that the piano used to be the home entertainment system of the past, they were so incredibly common homes everywhere had them.

Instead of gathering around a television people would gather around a piano, and play and sing. How many better ways people had of entertaining themselves back then!

For this reason amongst others old pianos are incredibly common today, and sadly they are of very little value. From what I have been told, unlike wine, pianos do not gain more value as they age but less, and have a lifespan as an instrument. Eventually it is more expensive to repair a piano than to buy a new one of better quality. And so it is often only for sentimental reasons that an older piano would be kept and repaired.

I do not have an acoustic piano, but a simple keyboard with 88 keys. I am however planning on moving up to a higher quality one that has more of a real piano feel to it and is more expressive, the one I have now is more of a beginner's introduction instrument than something reliable.

If you're looking for a way to relax and have fun as a family together.. think about pianos. They aren't always big and heavy there are a lot of possibilities today.

St. Cecilia, pray for us! 

[Shin]

My new Roland FP-90 arrived in the mail today. I was a bit concerned seeing the big gash in the front of the box. Pulling away the cardboard I could see the keyboard inside. . . It looked fine.

After some unboxing, which I regretted not having a free place to take some pictures of, I was quite relieved to find it looked pristine. A minor fuss later as I cleared away styrofoam crumbs.. one despite my best efforts got inside the keys, I cleaned it off, and sorted through the accessories. One damper pedal, one two part power supply.. and a box with the music stand and documents.

I tried the keys out, they felt great.. the graded-ness I hardly noticed, which I appreciated coming from a non-graded keyboard.

I plugged it in, turned it on, it's beautiful. All white, with blue white lit buttons, aesthetically I am very happy with it. Played a few chords.. I was concerned because the majority of the demos weren't classical. I think the sounds can handle classical, my concerns about that eased.

It's looking to be great. I will have to assemble the stand and etc. as there's no place for it now. My previous Keystation was lightweight enough to sit on a fold out shelf on my homemade cabinet-desk. The Roland would be too heavy and overturn it even with my short legs to stabilize it. I had planned on adding some two by fours, cut down to size to make a heavy duty slide out shelf, but life intervened and I ran out of time.

The stand turns out to be clear glass, which truly goes beautifully with the aesthetics. I had looked at the RD-2000, and it seemed to follow an opposite scheme, which was one of the reasons I went with the FP-90 despite the lack of a modwheel. I can use my old keyboard's modwheel on a double tier, or some other auxiliary controls, I hope that will work out fine.

The first few chords I played on it.. impressed me, and the expressiveness was just what I was looking for. Quite different from an few years old Keystation 88.
I could play the keys softly or loudly, and control it all as I wished, rather than feeling it was out of control once the key was pressed.

So I am a happy fellow here tonight. The Lord is good, everything is beautiful, it's a happy evening.

I shall have a great deal of fun in the future with this pasttime I believe.

Deo gratias et Mariae Semper Virgini.

[CyrilSebastian]

On The Lawrence Welk Show Bob Ralston played piano solos magnificently for years.

[CyrilSebastian]

                      The invention of the piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy.   
                       He was employed by Ferdinando de' Meddici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, as the Keeper of Instruments.