Posts Tagged ‘Pianos’

Moving from one house or location to another is never easy. It is hard enough to move your household furniture and belongings. But if you have a treasured piano, relocating becomes even more difficult. Finding a moving company that you can trust to handle your instrument properly is imperative. Here are some tips to take into consideration when you are selecting your piano movers.

The first thing to look at are whether your company of choice specializes in moving pianos or furniture. Some furniture moving companies are skilled and equipped to handle the job of moving the piano but others are not. It may be worth the thought of hiring a piano moving company for the piano and regular movers for everything else. This is because the moving of a piano is challenging and a business that moves only pianos day in and day out will likely have more experience with that type of a job. If you want your furniture moving company to handle the piano make sure to ask about their experience and track record with this type of instrument.

The next thing to look at is the team assigned to your move. Have the employees been on the job for a long time. How many pianos have they moved? Obviously, the more experience that they have the better off you are. You want a team that works well together and has been moving pianos for years.

Now, you want to take a look at the moving vehicles. Pianos need special care so that they do not become damaged in transit. The trucks should be well cared for, with good suspension, and have controlled temperature. Should you need to store your piano, then you should examine the storage facility as well. You want your piano in a controlled climate where it is not subject to extreme temperature fluctuations.

Despite everyone’s best efforts, accidents can happen during a move. To protect yourself and your instrument make sure that your chosen piano movers are properly licensed and insured. This will minimize any risk of monetary loss.

Although it may be easier just to have your standard movers transport your piano, it is well worth the effort to explore all of your options. Specialty piano movers may be able to offer you peace of mind that you cannot put a price tag on. As with anything else, before you hire a service provider, make sure to check with local agencies like the Chamber of Commerce and the BBB, to make sure there are no complaints on file. And always check references.

One of the coolest things you can get into is playing an instrument. I don’t know what it is, but somehow some instruments just seems to “move” us in ways we can’t describe sometimes. For me, violins, pianos and guitars have always moved me in that sort of way. A few months ago I decided to learn guitar, I only wish it was easier for me to learn and be instructed on different things like how to hold the guitar, how to strum the strings, etc. If your looking into playing an instrument such as a violin and also wish there was a way to be shown how to do certain things like holding it correctly, reading the notes on sheet music and tabs, or anything else, you’re in luck! There are many different sites online that offer something called video lesson packages.

These packages allow you to easily learn to play the violin online through watching an instructor and “mimicking” he or she. These packages usually include other things besides hundreds of videos, such as jam tracks, exercises, scales and cards, and step by step instructions. This could be incredibly beneficial to you the user.

This must cost a lot right? Not really. In fact, most systems I’ve seen online cost a mere $100 and in some other cases they cost under $100 which to me is just incredible! You get a ton of videos, all kinds of steps on learning all about the violin and a world renowned violinist for way less than it would cost to have someone actually come to your house and instruct you. Another nice thing about e-instructors is the fact that you can start and stop the program whenever you want, as well as do the program whenever you want. If you want to do it at 1200pm or at 200am, you can! That’s the beauty of it, you have full control over how fast, how slow, when you do, when you don’t, etc.

If you are searching around on the Internet for violin lessons online, then you are in luck! A few good places you could look if your searching for these professional video lessons or packages are listed below:

- eBay

- Amazon

- ViolinOnline

- TheViolinSite

I wish you luck in finding the perfect package, I have no doubt that you are going to have an extreme amount of fun learning how to play your violin! Have fun!

So, just how difficult is it to learn the violin? Well, to be honest it all depends on your attitude and dedication. Of course that seems like the usual answer, but it’s the truth. Decide right now to make the choice within yourself to learn the violin today. There are plenty on online courses available that will help you through the beginner stages, right up to the intermediate level.

The violin is only considered difficult to learn because of the initial steepness of the learning curve. Whereas guitars and pianos require only the pluck of a string or the push of a key to make a noise, the violin requires a technique that might take a few hours to master. It might be a whole day before you can even get a sound out of it! But don’t let that put you off..

Actually, there are quite a few advantages to learning the violin. It’s a small instrument so you can take it wherever you want, and you’ll also find that you’ll be original in that not a lot of people play. It’s also an adaptable instrument, as you can play classical pieces, folk pieces, and even rock pieces. Don’t believe that violin can be used in rock? Just check out The Dirty Three!

To learn the violin you will want to play for at least an hour each day. In fact, if you’ve got some music there to jam along with for some inspiration you’ll do even better. I’d recommend teaching yourself violin if you want to get an original sound out of your style.

“What are those foot-thingies for?” Kids always ask that when they see me playing a tune on the piano.

“They’re called pedals, and they are what make the piano have a magic sound,” I reply.

Children in general cannot correctly operate the pedals until they are much older, but on certain pieces it is wise to let them hold the pedal down, without changing it, to see the effect it has. Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” and “Moonlight Sonata” are perfect examples of pieces with which you can start experimenting. Any piece will do to illustrate, as shown below.

Holding the pedal down without release will, of course, blur all the chords together, but it lets the child feel more in control of the piano. And it gets the child ready to use the pedals correctly, moving the pedal up and down every time the harmony (chord) changes.

Here’s how I begin to teach the pedal.

First, explain what each of the pedals does. There are three pedals, but some pianos do not have the rather obsolete middle pedal.

Right: Sustain
Middle: Does not work on almost all except the finest concert instruments. Ignore.
Left: Soft

Begin with the sustain pedal, the one on the right.

Before you say anything, illustrate so the child sees what the pedal does to the sound. Here’s how I do it:

Have the child hold the pedal down with their right foot. If they are too short, let them stand. Don’t play anything, just let them poke around and hold the pedal.

Then have them release the pedal while you play a C chord, arpeggiated slowly from the bottom of the keyboard to the top. Play very staccato (short) so the notes are sharp and clean with a space in between each note. In Piano by Number this would be:

C E G 1 3 5 8 10 12 15 17 19, etc.

I then say, “Now let’s make a chord castle.” They will say, “What’s that?”

Now have the child press the pedal, and you play the same keys again. The notes will seem to merge together into a lovely sonic mass. Call the sound a “chord castle.”

Give a command that says, “Off with the pedal,” so they know that the event has both an “on” and an “off.”

Make a game of having them hold the pedal, and you play other chords. Minor, major, diminished, augmented, half-diminished.

Explain that the pedal is like watercolors. If you have a dab of color (a note) and add a bit of water (pedal) the color mixes with the water and washes across the page. Pedal makes the sound ring in the room and makes it larger.

Most beginner pieces do not require the pedal (The Entertainer.) Many do (Moonlight Sonata.)

Do not restrict their access to the pedal. If they want to try Entertainer with the pedal, try it. But then explain that some pieces have a “dry” sound (play a staccato piece) and some have a “wet” sound (play a piece that demands pedal.)

As for the soft pedal, have the kids try it. First show them the difference between the soft pedal by playing Moonlight Sonata first without pedal (“I can play this soft without it.”) and then with pedal (“Listen how soft I can make it!)

Pedals are not really useful for the very early beginners, but if they ask, show them.

It’s their piano and the more they know what all the accessories do, the more they will like it.

Also, if they adopt the pedal(s) on pieces like Moonlight Sonata voluntarily, applaud their maturity, but do not teach them about changing the pedal. That process is all but impossible for beginners who are having trouble enough with their two hands, without adding the feet into the equation.

In general, it takes children until about the age of 10 or 11 to be able to try changing pedals. There are obvious exceptions, but don’t push it.

Kids feel like the pedal is some secret teacher’s device, because they can barely reach them.

Let them reach further than they can grasp.

Someday they will reach the pedals and already know what they do.