Piano and Music Videos

We get this question all the time. So many times people call up and have old pianos they think are valuable. The first question isn’t: What’s the brand or what’s the size? It comes down to one thing: condition. Condition is everything with pianos. You’d think that a piano that dates back a hundred years or more would have some antique value. You hear about people who find treasures on Antiques Roadshow and they find out things they own are worth a lot of money. Not so much with pianos.

Now there are some exceptions. First, if for example you had one of the very first Steinway pianos ever made or maybe even another manufacturer, one that’s truly historical in its significance. For example, if Chickering only made half a dozen of a certain model and you had one of the last one’s made in the 1860s, there could be some antique value. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I would say maybe one out of 10,000 pianos might fit into that criteria. It’s a rare thing to have true antique value. Another example might be a piano that was owned by a famous person. That’s a whole other area, and as a matter of fact, for appraisals you have to find the right appraiser who can take that into account because it is really hard to assess value based upon a piano’s lineage.

Other than that, what other things are there to look for? There are certain brands that have more stature than others. Naturally, Steinway is the most well known brand of any piano. So, older Steinways can retain value even when they need rebuilding. There’s a market for them because used Steinways can command much more money than other pianos because everybody knows the name. Still, the condition is so important because the cost of rebuilding a piano can be very expensive. It can cost $20,000 – $30,000 to rebuild a piano that has been neglected or has seen much use over the years. You have to ask yourself what the piano would be worth after restoration. If the answer is less than the cost of the work that you’re going to put into it, you’ve got a negative net worth which is obviously no value.

The complicated description of parallel chords is: A series of chords that consist of intervals which do not change as the chord moves. Let’s break this down and make it a little more digestible for the average piano student.

I was recently sent a question about parallel chords and I thought it would be an interesting subject for a video. Carol asks, “can you think of any pieces off the top of your head that utilize parallel chords?”.

The one that jumped out to me right away is Sarabande pour le Piano by Claude Debussy. While these chords are not exactly parallel chords, they are very close and have harmonic relevancy. In the video above I demonstrate the portion of the piece that utilizes parallel harmonies which is very close to parallel chords.

When I was a child I remember a piece called “Run Run” by Octavio Pinto that used a lot of parallel chords. I remember learning it as a kid and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s a great piece for beginning students as it sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. Although the hands alternate in the actual piece, they are just parallel chords!

I’ve been enjoying and trying to read and listen to all of your “blog” contents on various subjects. I really enjoy them and am learning a great deal from them.

Gary

The subject of smaller keyboards is fascinating going back to the great 20th-century pianist Joseph Hoffman who had a special smaller keyboard made for him by Steinway. Charles Walter Piano Company is offering smaller keyboards on their pianos as well. Having small hands myself, it’s good to learn of yet another piano company that has offered smaller keyboards!

While the market for such an instrument would be small, with the wonder of the internet, I believe with the right marketing, it would be possible to connect with people who would appreciate an instrument of this sort.

I have not had the opportunity to play many Steingraeber pianos, but understand that these are top notch instruments in the European tradition of Bösendorfers and others.

Thank you for your kind words about the videos.

This is a common question when it comes to dealing with your piano. Many aspiring pianists play their pianos a great deal. But the volume can be an issue (and there is no volume control on your piano!) Yet, you have to be considerate of the people you live with as well as your neighbors. Are there any ways you can quiet the sound of your piano? There are a number of things you can do to lessen the volume of your piano!

Closing the Lid

The most obvious solution to making your piano quieter if you have a baby grand or grand piano is to close the lid. There are two options for this – you can close the lid and keep the fly lid open:

Or you can remove the music rack and close the lid completely to make the piano even quieter:

This will do a lot to quiet the sound of your piano without compromising your ability to play it. If you like, you can pull the music rack out of the piano and place it on top of the piano. (You will want to protect the finish with a towel or other cloth first.)

Getting a Rug

Another technique is to place a thick rug underneath your piano. About half the volume of the piano comes from the bottom. So, placing a rug underneath it will absorb a lot of the sound. This can be a good solution if you have neighbors that live below you that are complaining about the sound of your piano. You can even get more creative and add foam or other insulation-type materials to the bottom of the piano to further dampen the sound.

A String Cover

Adding a felt string cover in the piano can lessen the sound somewhat as well. It’s not going to do that much to cover the sound but it will help.

Ask Your Piano Tuner

While covers, lids and rugs can dampen the sound of your piano, your tuner/technician can help as well. You can actually voice down the volume of your piano by having your tuner needle the hammers to make them softer.

Over time the felt on the hammers harden and make the piano sound very bright – this is especially true on many Asian production pianos because Japanese felt is harder than German felt. By having your tuner voice the piano down it will make the piano sound more mellow and lower in volume. You may appreciate the warmer tone as well!

Mute Rails on Upright Pianos

This feature is very common and available on many upright pianos. The middle pedal on some upright pianos functions as a “practice pedal” which lowers a piece of felt in front of the hammers and makes the piano extremely quiet.

This works surprisingly well and is the easiest solution for people with upright pianos.

Mute Rails on Grand Pianos

They aren’t as common but there are muffler systems that can be installed on grand pianos that function in a similar way to practice pedals on upright pianos.

Placing an Upright Piano Near a Wall

Most of the sound of an upright piano comes from the back – where the soundboard is located:

Depending on where you place the piano in your room you can dampen the sound of the instrument. Placing an upright piano right next to a wall will make it quieter because a lot of the volume of the piano will be absorbed by the wall. Better yet, put dampening material behind the piano. This will also lessen the amount of sound that travels through the wall to neighbors.

Silent Systems

There is new technology available that can completely turn off the volume of your piano! A felt covered bar is placed in front of the hammer shanks so the hammers don’t hit the strings at all. Optical sensors read the performance of each key and transmit it through MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) to a sampled or other virtual piano sound played through speakers at any volume, or even through headphones for totally silent playing!

The only downside is that you’ll be hearing a simulation of a piano and not your actual instrument. However, you can hear the sound of a 9-foot concert grand even if you are playing an upright! The other good thing is that it is possible for you to enjoy the feel of a real piano.

Treating the Room

The sound of a piano relies heavily on the room around it. You can add pieces of furniture or heavy curtains to absorb some of the sound if you feel the piano is a little too loud for the room.

We made a whole video about the best size piano for your home and how to treat the room in case it’s a little too loud for it’s surroundings:

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

You probably know that the hammers are responsible for striking the strings on the piano and producing a sound. The dampers are the pieces of wood covered with felt that lie above the strings and are responsible for ending notes.

When you play a note on the piano the damper comes up so the hammer can strike the string and make a tone. When you let go, the damper falls back onto the string and mutes the sound. You might notice that when you hold down the damper or sustain pedal (the one on the right), all the dampers are released and will remain raised until you take pressure off the pedal leaving the strings free to vibrate and produce a long lasting tone.

When you press the damper pedal and all the dampers remain raised, it will make the tone echo inside the piano because of sympathetic vibrations. If you want to have some fun, try holding down the damper pedal and singing into your piano – the sound of your voice will echo around the piano for quite some time; it’s a fun trick you can share with family or friends.

The important thing about this is that you can affect the tone of a melody by using the pedal and keeping the dampers raised. When you play with the sustain pedal down you will get a much fuller tone.

What you might not know is that the sustenuto pedal, the middle pedal is a selective sustain pedal when it comes to dampers. When you depress some keys then press down and hold down the sustenuto pedal, the dampers above only those notes will remain raised. If you play other notes while continuing to hold down the sustenuto pedal, the dampers of new notes will respond like normal and fall back onto the strings once you let go of those keys even though the sustenuto pedal will continue allowing the original notes to sound. This is useful in music which would require 3 hands to play otherwise.

Generally, dampers will do what they are intended to do or not. That is to say, when they are down they should end a note and when they are up they should let a note sustain. If you have ever had notes hang up – keep playing after you let go of the keys and pedals, then you are in need of damper regulation to get them working correctly again. Damper regulation may be required if you hear buzzing at the end of notes. Dampers can be regulated but sometimes the felt becomes old, hard, and worn out and must be replaced in order to function properly. This is a very common problem on older pianos however, it can be fixed with the right technician.

One thing you might have noticed is that there are no dampers above the highest notes on the piano. You might wonder if this is a mistake or something intentional. The fact is, most of the notes that don’t have dampers simply don’t need them – they are not able to sustain long enough to necessitate dampers. The first note that has no damper is usually the 2nd to highest E on the piano. Sometimes on a very fine piano, notes in this register can last a very long time; without dampers there is really nothing you can do about this.

I hope this clarifies some aspects of this important part of the piano. Thanks for reading and watching and as always I welcome additional questions and comments.