Pianos...

The topic you brought up is beautiful. Music aside, the first piano, the one on which you sweat the pains of hell, is never forgotten! In my case, at least I don't forget it because, especially in the early years of study (the boring ones, to be understood), a lot of time is spent mainly on basic technique, but the true relationship with the instrument is established the moment you start making music. My Krauss with its battered mechanics is still kept at my grandmother's house in Viterbo, having been replaced years ago by a Kawai grand piano about one meter eighty long. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to sell either of them. The first accompanied me during the early years of study, the second from the fifth year until graduation. Certainly in life, at least I hope, I will have other pianos, but I strongly doubt I will have the courage to sell these two instruments with which I grew up physically but above all artistically speaking... The point is that as the years go by, a certain type of relationship with the instrument is established, this is undeniable. Let's listen to other comments...

My first piano was a piano that was in the family. A Feurich from Leipzig, upright with bayonet action....beautiful sound. The action, a little less so. I learned to play it, or rather, I played it. My father took me at age 5 to see a film about Strauss Junior and when I returned home I went directly to the piano to play the "Blue Danube" waltz. Great amazement from the family who could not explain how I had memorized the music and how I was capable of reproducing it without ever having played. To tell the truth, even I cannot explain this phenomenon. I was an ear player for a long period and even when I studied with my first Masters... I was deceiving them. I had a great auditory memory and this worked against me.

Later, a Petrof upright entered my home. A great piano!....even if small in "stature". Even at that time, my head was inside the instrument to see how it worked. I was very demanding regarding sound and tuning, and few... left me with a tuned piano. Only one great person succeeded: Riccardo Orsini. Then a tuner for the Ciampi Company, he entered my house and explained many things to me with his coarse Roman dialect. I owe to him my roots of technological knowledge and many suggestions, far from scientific, but extremely effective.

Other instruments entered my home, such as a Petrof grand, a Seiler, even an Ibach 3/4, and finally the current Steinway B 211, which I currently have.

All pianos have a value. The relationship we establish with them is important. I will speak about this in upcoming videos on pianistic technique and the bodily approach to the instrument.

Thanks to the instruments that have allowed me to make music so far, inviting me to.....trust them.

...How beautiful it is to share these experiences...

the discussion seems interesting...Let's wait for more considerations, then (maybe 🙄) I will tell you something about myself too...

Hi!

ps...Paolo, we are looking forward to the next video! 😉

Hi, I'm joining this discussion even though I might not be exactly the most suitable person. 🙂 Perhaps because it is something I like, in the sense that I too dream of being able to establish a similar relationship with an instrument and I hope to be able to do so in the future. Obviously, it hasn't happened to me, and it will never happen to me, to have to sit in front of a piano for the first time and play like Mozart would have played or as Pianoexpert described.

It was in June that I decided to study the piano, so I started by taking all the books from the library (how to play the piano, what is a sonata, piano for dummies, etc.) and looking through a whole series of websites, but it was useless; they all said the same thing: practice. 🙂 So one fine day I went to the Chinese shop and bought a nice little keyboard for 7.50 euros with an octave and a half, stuck keys that didn't make more than one sound at a time. 🙂

Jokes aside, a month ago my father came home with a real keyboard, old but real, full of dust and with the note labels yellowed on top of the keys, but real. At most I knew how to play Frere Jacques and Jingle Bells, but the first night I had it, I sat there enchanted and played (if I remember correctly) the note C. C C C C C C C C C C C C C.

And that was the first time I played the keyboard. 🙂

🙂 ... I imagine the scene... 🙂

A beautiful scene, obviously...

I believe that this too is music, talking about what one feels not just for the sound or the melody itself, but also about what the actual instrument is...

It is interesting to note that all of you think that one can become attached to the instrument... For example, if I should ever buy a piano, I believe I wouldn't leave my little keyboard for anything... In short, that is where my "pianistic hand" was born... How, I have no idea... But it was born there 🙂 ...

As promised, here I am again.

I've thought about it a lot, and I have achieved a little bit.

I remember that I played a real piano for the first time around three or four years old... Of course, for the age I was, it is an understatement to say "played"... In short, I smashed the white and black keys for the first time at four years old 🙂 .

It seems to me that it was right at my first piano school, on the Kawai I told you about... I don't remember much, it was years ago... But I remember that I loved like crazy leaning my ear close to the piano, playing a note (when I began to understand more, the note became a chord) and just staying there listening... It fascinated me. 🙂

I don't know what I would give to relive that moment... What can I say, it felt like I had discovered (and I was right 🙂 ) something extraordinary... And my grandmother (my grandmother was there) told me that I didn't want to leave anymore... And yet, it wasn't that I could do much...

It was beautiful, I remember that... And that little bit I remember, I think I will remember forever...

Here is my experience: I have a vague memory of sitting at the little Casio keyboard and pressing a few keys. The clearest one was my first piano lesson: I saw this black upright and a keyboard that never seemed to end. My first teacher asked me: "Where do you think the highest notes are?" A bit hesitant, knowing I was giving the wrong answer—a fact I never explained to myself—I pointed to the left side of the keyboard. Maybe I did that because I was truly in love! Bah, who knows!

My first rental piano was a Young Chang upright: in the early years it sounded acceptable to me, but as I went along, I am glad I replaced it with a U3S.

I will express one last thought, perhaps contrary to the mainstream: pianos are inanimate instruments, but it is our minds that build them and make them come alive. Therefore, it is clear that even I would never sell mine, but one must not forget that the piano is "just an instrument".

P.S. I would like to be more active in the forum: damn engineering! 😆

What engineering do you do?

TheSimon wrote:

What engineering do you do?

I am in my final year of mechanical engineering.

Great, I was hoping that at least with IT you would give me a hand here....heheh.

TheSimon wrote:

Great, I was hoping that with IT you would at least give me a hand here....heheh.

I don't understand a single thing about websites 🙂

Oh well, in fact everyone has their own specialization.

camy86 wrote:

Here is my experience: I have a vague memory of sitting at the little Casio keyboard and pressing a few keys. The clearest one was my first piano lesson: I saw this black upright and a keyboard that seemed never-ending. My first teacher asked me: "Where do you think the highest notes are?" A bit hesitant, knowing I was giving the wrong answer—a fact I never explained to myself—I pointed to the left side of the keyboard. Maybe I did that because I was truly in love! Bah, who knows!

My first rental piano was a Young Chang upright: in the early years it sounded acceptable to me, but as time went on, I am glad I replaced it with a U3S.

I will express one last thought, perhaps contrary to the current trend: pianos are inanimate instruments, but it is our minds that build them and make them come alive. Therefore, it is clear that even I would never sell mine, but we must not forget that the piano is "just an instrument".

P.S. I would like to be more active in the forum: damn engineering! 😆

Certainly we are talking about an "instrument", but precisely because it is something that allows me to express myself (probably better than with words), I would never part with my mythical little keyboard... 🙄

Obviously we cannot "talk" to the piano, but speak through the piano yes...

See you soon!