Each year on May 22 we observe National Buy a Musical Instrument Day. The day is all about playing music. If you are a musician, it might be time for a new instrument. Maybe you can learn to play a second or third one. If you have never played an instrument before, National Buy A Musical Instrument Day might be the motivation you need to start.
Naturally, here at the O’Connor Music Studio, a piano, keyboard or organ is recommended but this day is for all types of instruments and is for people of all ages. Grandpa can play his ukulele while the grandkids play the drums, trombone, and flute. Together they can all make terrific music!
Last year, Google’s homepage ran a picture to celebrate the 360th birthday of Bartolomeo Cristofori, inventor of the piano and keeper of instruments for the Medicis in Florence. The instrument Cristofori invented was originally called a “harpsichord with soft and loud” even though the distinction between the two is large (the harpsichord produces sound by plucking strings, the piano by striking them with a hammer). Only three of the newfangled instruments he made – all of them dating from the 1720s – survive.
More than a century later the piano recital was devised. It was Liszt who first decided to have the whole stage to himself, and set the fashion for dispensing with the mixture of celebrities and supporting acts that had prevailed up to that time. As he wrote about his audacity to a friend: “Le concert, c’est moi!” And he called his appearance at the Hanover Square Rooms in London in June 1840 not a concert but a recital.
The composer-pianists of the day concentrated on their own works. Liszt set a marker in this regard, too, choosing music that ranged from Bach through Beethoven and up to Chopin. He set the pattern for playing from memory, and cemented the platform layout we know today by turning the then-conventional position of the instrument on the stage through 90 degrees. He was what we would now call a sex symbol as well as a star musician, and the new arrangement allowed the audience to see his impressive profile as well as to hear the instrument more clearly. The standards he set have survived without significant alteration right up to the present.
The quest to serenade the Seven Wonders continues…
A few years back we set what seemed at the time an impossible goal: to film music videos on all Seven Wonders of the World. Now we are nearly half-way there. We started by scaling the Great Wall of China, performing in feng shui fashion “Kung Fu Panda” in harmony with Chopin:
Next we paid homage to the Christ Redeemer Statue in Rio, Brazil, dedicating “Gabriel’s Oboe” (from “The Mission” soundtrack) coupled with the beloved hymn “How Great Thou Art:”
And now we present the third Wonder, Chichén Itzá.
Thus far our tradition has been to mix timeless classical music with contemporary film scores. We also love infusing local and historical culture in our arrangements. For this Wonder we wanted to stay true to this tradition while simultaneously nailing “jungle harmony,” as a famous cartoon bear once coined in…Disney’s Jungle Book! But in this decision we were confronted with an entangling challenge — to effectively blend the cacophony of Disney Jazz, classical music, Mayan heritage, all while making it epic enough to be filmed in front of a massively-historic, world-renowned stone temple!
First, it was vital that we carefully, thoughtfully pay proper respect to the “wonder” of “El Castillo,” its surrounding artifacts, and the Mayan spirit that pervades Chichén Itzá. The Mayans were an incredible people — adept astronomers, unprecedented builders, and incomparable artisans. Their ability to use architecture in an acoustic way especially impresses us. For instance, you can stand upon a step at one end of the plaza and be heard clearly on a step at the opposite end. The Mayans also used instrumental music in…read more here: http://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/jun…
Filming it in just the right vein was just as challenging. We wish to sincerely express our deepest gratitude to the National Archeology and History Institute (http://www.inah.gob.mx) and Cultur Yucatan (http://www.culturyucatan.com) for allowing us the profound privilege of filming at Chichén Itzá. Were it not for them and their warm hospitality this video shoot would not have been possible.
Steve is playing the most recent addition to his cello family, “Maya,” hand painted in Mayan hieroglyphic style by Juleez (Julie Borden) just for this video. Her uniquely creative masterpieces are only matched by her equally vibrant spirit and enthusiasm for musically influenced art. See more of her instrument artwork here: http://www.juleez.com. Thank you, Julie!
The inventor of the piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori, is celebrated in last year’s Google Doodle.
Born on 4 May, 1655 in Padua, northern Italy, Cristofori initially worked making harpsichords and clavichords and was employed by Prince Ferdinando de Medici, son of the duke of Tuscany.
He is believed to have started work on what would become a piano in the 1690s and the first one is thought to have been made in 1709.
In a harpsichord the strings are plucked, so it is not possible to play the notes softer or louder. Cristofori managed to design a mechanism that transferred the pressure placed on the keys to the hammers that hit the strings.
He called his invention a “gravecembalo col piano e forte” – a clavichord with soft and loud. The name was shortened to pianoforte and then simply piano.
Francesco Mannucci, a musician at the Medici court, described one early version as “a large ‘Arpicembalo’ [the name of a type of harpsichord] by Bartolomeo Cristofori, of new invention that produces soft and loud, with two sets of strings at unison pitch, with soundboard of cypress without rose”.
Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco was an Italian maker of musical instruments, generally regarded as the inventor of the piano.
While other musical instrument makers had attempted to solve the same problem with the harpsichord, Cristofori’s invention is generally regarded as the first real piano.
However, the piano was not popular at first and many felt it was too difficult to play. Cristofori died largely uncelebrated for an invention that would later change the musical world in 1731 – a year before the first sheet music for the piano appeared.
Steinway was so adamant about getting the technology right that in 2014 it bought Live Performance, a company founded by music engineer Wayne Stahnke. Lauded as the creator of the first mass market computer-controlled player piano able to simulate the nuances of a human performer (the Bosendorfer 290 SE), the former NASA engineer opened Live Performance in 1992 to commercialize his four decade’s worth of experimentations in “high resolution” electronic reproducing pianos.
At its new Manhattan showroom, Steinway president Ron Losby showed Quartz how the Spirio can be played manually like a regular piano, but can also “accompany” a singer in the absence of a pianist. In theory, a sophisticated self-playing piano can work well in any number of live events such as a ballet recital, a church choir performance, a party—or perhaps just to give the pianist a break.
Piano pedals have existed for almost as long as the modern piano itself, but they had a rocky start. While the modern piano accepted most of its final touches, the evolution of the piano pedal continued.
In 1722, the piano’s first tone-modifying mechanism came in the form of a hand stop, and was created by Father Piano himself: Bartolomeo Cristifori. The device positioned the hammers to strike only one piano string per key, which created a soft, relaxed timbre. But it was far from ideal; a spare hand was required to use it, meaning the pianist either repeatedly removed one hand from the keys, or practiced alongside a hand-stop operator. Thankfully, the mechanism was later modified to be operated by the knee, and became the predecessor to today’s una corda, or “soft,” pedal.
The next modification arrived soon after. Gottfried Silbermann — renowned European constructor of keyboard instruments — created a mechanism that lifted the dampers off of the strings, causing a reverb effect. This early sustain pedal had an advantage over most modern sustains: treble and bass notes could be controlled separately from one another; however, like the una corda, the sustain did not start off as a foot pedal; an impracticality which may have justified its early unpopularity. Today, the sustain is the most frequently used, and possibly the most favored, piano pedal.
Which brings us to the underdog: the sostenuto pedal. Created in the mid 1800s by Boisselot & Sons, it is by far the most misunderstood piano pedal. The sostenuto is constantly being replaced — or removed entirely — from its position as the middle pedal, and is only standard on an American grand. It allows certain notes to be “sustained” while other notes are left unaffected, and even piano leader Steinway saw potential in the pedal, opting to patent the idea three years after its début in 1844. But, surprisingly, the impressive effects of the sostenuto never caught on.
Alternative middle pedals have included practice rails, which muffle the notes for quiet practice; and the faux-sostenuto, which allows only the bass notes to resonate. Most modern pianos now have only two pedals, leaving the sostenuto –- one of the most unique and inspiring pedals –- to fade into antiquity.
When it comes to tuning, every piano is different, even two pianos of the same style and make are different, and the humidity of the room makes a big difference, he said.
High humidity causes the sound board to swell, stretching the strings and causing the pitch to go sharp, while low humidity has the opposite effect.
In Minnesota, humidity can easily range from 80 percent in the summertime to 10-15 percent in the winter, if the home doesn’t have a humidifier. Wood-heated homes tend to be especially dry, he said.
“Pianos like it between 40 and 50 percent humidity in the house,” he said.
Even places that are supposedly “climate-controlled,” aren’t always. The heat might get turned down substantially evenings and weekends, for example.
A new piano needs a few weeks to settle into its new home before tuning, Fry said.
“If they get a new piano, generally they call us the day before it gets in the house,” he said. “It should sit in the house a couple weeks just to acclimatize it to its new surroundings … brand new pianos stretch for a while. They go out of tune quicker. The wire stretches and they settle into themselves.”
Some people think they have to let a new, or recently moved older piano, sit six months or a year before it gets tuned. That’s not true, Fry said, but it does need a few weeks.
He recommends that pianos be tuned at least once a year (he tunes his own piano once a year, even though he no longer gives lessons) and the busiest time for him is before the holidays — September through December.
“Piano-tuning is something people can put off,” he said. “We noticed a real drop in tuning when gas got over $3 a gallon. I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference, but it did.”
Fry said he is looking for some kind of work to do in the summertime when his other businesses are slow.
He doesn’t give piano or guitar lessons anymore, but does enjoy tuning all types of pianos.
“It takes me a couple of hours. I have time,” Fry said. “I’m going to do the job that I like to do, and do it right.”
Simply Piano is a fast and fun way to learn piano, no previous knowledge required. Works with any piano or keyboard. Chosen as one of the best iPhone apps for 2015.
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– Suitable for all ages, no previous knowledge required
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How it works:
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Simply Piano is developed by JoyTunes, creators of award-winning apps Piano Maestro and Piano Dust Buster. The apps are used by tens of thousands of piano teachers worldwide with over 1 million songs learned every week. JoyTunes are experts in creating educational and fun apps for learning piano quickly and easily.
Awards & Recognition –
– “EMI’s Innovation Challenge”
– “World Summit Award”, by the United Nations
– “Best Tools for Beginners”, NAMM
– “Best Tablet Game”, GameIS
– “Parents’ Choice Award”
– “Golden App”, Apps for Homeschooling
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