One newcomer to the tablet scene that is making a good impression is Microsoft Surface is one of these with its pen writing/editing you can mark on performance markings or tricky passages. However there are limitations such as the screen size is 10.6 x 6.81, 1.1inch shorter and 1.19inch thinner

than paper (11.7 x 8.3). Whether or not this will affect all scores, what do you think?

Having a bank of so many scores available for free whenever you need them is an information age luxury. The main deciding points for players may be: the ease of page turning, the amount of space for storing scores, the size of the screen (you need to view the whole score) and the battery life (if you are playing live concerts). As a composer I think that the portability of being able to take Sibelius with me will be a nice feature. What are your thoughts? Can you think of any musical set ups that you’d use? Do you know which tablet the Brussels orchestra are using? Let me know

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IMSLP library

I’m currently finishing a music degree at University I have used and been directed by lecturers to study public domain scores from the site, most of the time have found what I was looking for. The quality does vary, some are scans, however it is generally high, please give it a try!

Wikipedia’s article states:

The site was launched on February 16, 2006. The library consists mainly of scans of old musical editions out of copyright. In addition, it admits scores by contemporary composers who wish to share their music with the world by releasing it under a Creative Commons license. One of the main projects of IMSLP was the sorting and uploading of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (1851–99), a task that was completed on November 3, 2008. Besides J.S. Bach’s complete public domain works, all public domain works of Beethoven, Brahms, Canteloube, Chabrier, Chausson, Chopin, Corelli, Debussy, D’Indy, Dukas, Fauré, Ferroud, Handel, Huré, Magnard,Palestrina,
 Ravel, Roussel, Satie, Florent Schmitt, Schubert, Robert Schumann, Scriabin and Sibelius are available as well as a large percentage of Mozart, Liszt, and many others’ works too.

Brussels orchestra has already replaced manuscript with tablet scores. Do you think there are any shortcomings of this technology? Let me know in the comments. If you’d like to find out about using tablets for manuscript I’ve written a brief post on this.

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Space permitting, we try and keep pianos side by side to make it easier for you to compare them. Each piano has its own characteristic touch and sound, and it is worth trying two of the same or similar (German compared with German) to know which you prefer.

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The Kawai grand GM-10K model. My fathers description was: “In our opinion the best new baby grand piano in this price bracket. Unlike its main competitor, the Yamaha GB1, it has a sliding music desk as with all other grand pianos, allowing adjustment in focal length. It has a firm even touch.”.

This piano is very similar to the Feurich 161 grand piano that we stock regularly. The sliding music desk sounds obvious, however the Yamaha GB1 doesn’t have one; we believe this is a major flaw. The Kawai GM10 finish is modern black-polyester and the sound is clear with a solid treble, somewhat stronger than an older Bluthner.

The other piano was a Kawai K-2 upright piano, our first new Kawai upright. My father’s description of this was “Medium height new upright piano…In our opinion the best upright in this price bracket”. I have to say that of the middle range upright pianos this one stands out for two main reasons. First of all, and quite selfishly, the leg room is a comfortable height for a tall people such as myself to fit under without discomfort.  The second reason for my initial liking to it is that it has a singing tone, a much desirable quality.

I’m sure I’ll gather a much better opinion with these pianos as I get to know them more; until then we can recommend Kawai as a long standing respected manufacturer and think that these are made with a better philosophy than Yamaha’s affordable pianos are.

Kawai grand piano. Model GM-10K

Kawai upright piano. Model K-2

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Recently we re-developed the website and I’ve been checking through the webpages, I can’t describe how educating an experience this has been, we have well over 100 pages, quite something to manage! However, as I’ve recently discovered, they are rich in information that can help you when purchasing a piano.

Here is an interesting quote from my fathers page on top makes of piano:

The used piano market has always been far larger than new piano sales. This is because a piano from a good factory is built to last for a lifetime and many older pianos have had very little use and are wonderfully made. However, heavy playing will mean that they will need extensive reconditioning.

I have to admit I have come to recognise this over time. One great thing about being second hand dealers is that we are (at least attempt) not biased to any make in particular and there are no business relationships to be damaged by our reviewing a make or model, hopefully no compromise. We don’t set out to criticise any makes or models either, in fact, of the German top makes we are very positive, it is hard to say anything against Bluthner pianos pre iron-curtain but we do like to ward our clients from buying during the iron curtain period.

The second benefit is that we are involved in restoration of top quality pianos, apart from being more environmentally friendly than buying and selling new pianos it also gives us great pleasure to work on pianos with history to them, whether it be Lord William’s Grotrian Steinweg or Jamie Cullum’s Bosendorfer, we enjoying the process of returning something old or unplayable in a playable condition.

So thank you for allowing us to serve you, here’s for many more years of service!

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Tuning the Steinway baby grand

Merton college asked us if we had any suitable grand pianos for recording a new album including Tavners “the Lords Prayer”. The following photos were taken during the choirs lunch break…

The acoustics of the room were fabulous. Recordings of the choir can be heard on their website: http://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/.
For information on recording a piano see Sound of sounds recording a piano article.

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Keyboards

It’s worth talking about keyboards as I’m sure there are lots of people

Knight upright piano

considering whether a keyboard might be best. My analysis is based on the assumption that you have the space and that disturbing the neighbourghs is no issue.

Keyboards are limited from the offset in relation to pianos, they are a multilayer recording of a piano. The quality of these recordings is limited by the memory assaigned in the construction proccess. Although keyboards can be cheaper than grand pianos, you need to spend about £3,000, the same price as some top quality british uprights, including accesories to resemble an acoustic piano, and the pedal slides away from you whilst your playing!

So if you are after the best acoustic sound, keyboards aren’t worth your concern.

British/Scandinavian Pianos

There are several top quality British and Scandinavian pianos that can be purchased with a few thousand pounds. These include Knight, Welmar as well as Fazer. Please see our stocklist for a current list.

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Steinway model S

portion of piano buyers that come our way are looking for a small grand piano. Some have a large house but perhaps a small music room, They don’t want a prominent instrument. There have been several debates on whether small grand pianos are as good as small upright pianos but its pianos like the Steinway model S grand that dissipate these questions. If ever you see a model S you’ll know that you aren’t compromising much except for bass tones in comparison to its larger siblings. The Steinway model S is rarely found second hand but worth looking out for if you have the money.

We regularly stock Steinway grand pianos, see our Stocklist for other top quality pianos.

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We have seen a pleasant increase in our Steinway pianos stock, both grand and upright pianos. The rarest of the pianos bellow is a Steinway model S baby grand piano, we rarely see these! Perhaps just one a year, not usually this young so it was a treasure that was likely to go quickly.

We have 3 model A grand pianos and a Steinway model O (rental); in upright pianos we have a model N.

We are constantly working on achieving the highest standard of Steinway restoration and sale preparation. If you can’t afford a Steinway but are interested in the opportunity of renting one, we currently have a Steinway model O grand piano for rental

This is accurate at the date of publishing. Please phone 01865 240 634 for information on our current available pianos.

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Introduction:

In the following blog I will look at why the piano industry is moving to Asia

Piano manufacture China

and give a brief overview of the bottom, middle and top range Asian pianos available up to the present time.
The main countries of piano manufacture in Asia are: China, Korea and Japan. Yamaha were the first to make pianos in Asia (subsequently, their logo consists of three super imposed tuning forks). Yamaha is one among an increasing number of Asian manufacturers. There are different ranges of pianos being made in Asia and the quality can vary greatly. Here is a brief description of these ranges:

Mid-Top range Asian pianos
Japanese pianos are made to very similar standards of craftsmanship as their European counterparts. They make pianos of exceptionally high quality have come from namely Yamaha (such as the CFIII handcrafted, or the more accessible U series uprights) and Kawai (e.g. KG3 series) alike.

Amongst the top quality handcrafted models, Yamaha also provide mid-top

range uprights such as the U series (see our webpage) which is a favourite of many private teachers, schools and conservatoires. The top handcrafted models of Yamaha are comparable to European makes such as Steinway and Bosendorfer with the same focus on quality.

Good enough – clean, fairly cheap but nothing special:

Many piano manufacturers are following the transnational shift in manufacturing towards Asia (mainly China). The end result is a piano at a fraction of the cost (even after shipping) of one made in Europe. Pearl

Yamaha GB1, made in Korea

River, where Steinway manufacture the Essex piano, is the largest factory in the world claiming to have the capacity of making over 100,000 [1] pianos a year.

Unfortunately, quantity does not necessarily mean quality or value, however it poses bigger questions on longevity. China does not have a heritage of craftsmanship. This is due mainly to the cost effective mentality of low paid employment and the lack of knowledge acquired over generations. We can easily forget Europe has been a centre for piano manufacture for over 300 years[2].

There are doubts whether the mainland Asian manufactures could ever make the craftsman instruments of Europe.

Unfortunately, some bigger manufacturers with names of heritage (e.g. Yamaha), are making their pianos in China under the influence of their brand but without the distinct European vetted quality of up and coming makes such as Feurich.

Collaborative projects:

Feurich is one of a series of new collaborative manufactured of pianos. They are European designed and all the hard labour is done in China. The piano then comes back to Europe for final preparation, arguably the essential part of construction. The result is an inexpensive middle range piano made to high standard. I could have added this piano to the inexpensive pianos section but I believe they deserve merit for their standard of quality which is comparable with Japanese models such as the C3 series and a quality based concept with enthusiastic technician based companies like Feurich who are not cutting corners but furthering and developing new ideas and pushng into new ground.

Other manufacturers have been known to have parts or entire sections (e.g. some Ibach’s have the entire action made in China and the rest of the piano made in Germany)

We are selective of which pianos, if any, from mainland Asia that we purchase and preffer collaboration pianos of Feurich to big name branded, just made in China or Korean pianos; namely Yamaha and Kemble. Another name to note is Kemble; once made in Milton Keynes are now manufactured in China.

For more information on the first known piano to date see: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cris/hd_cris.htm

In conclusion, we recommend that you understand where the piano has been manufactured. We take a tentative approach to pianos made in Asia, with the exception of most pianos made in Japan. We waited a long time before selecting a Chinese model to deal in, as we did with Feurich.
It is questionable whether Asia can ever make instruments of the same quality as early 20^th century European makers but it appears economics is pushing manufacturers towards the Far East.

As many first time clients feel confidence in the name Yamaha it may be worthwhile reading my comparison of Steinway and Yamaha’s tier system before buying one.

Conclusion

·The pool of experience in Europe has almost disappeared

·Kemble, Yamaha, Steinway and others have vested interest there

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