How to Play Paradise on Piano by Coldplay

If you are a big fan of the hit song Paradise by Coldplay you will love this piano tutorial which breaks it down into a few simple left hand chord progressions and some right hand patterns.

Click here-for more Information 

Boston Piano by Steinway & Sons

This is the Boston Baby, and it looks and sounds fantastic.

The Boston piano features a duplex scale, adapted from the famous Steinway & Sons design, which adds a harmonic richness that simply can’t be duplicated by other instruments in a similar price range.

In comparison to other pianos, the Boston has less string tension. This reduced string tension allows for a larger, tapered soundboard, creating longer sustain, and more singing quality in the tone (as well as longer piano life). A wealth of other engineering enhancements, including optimal placement of ribs, braces, and bridges, also contribute to the Boston’s superior tone and greater stability.

The Boston grand piano and it's larger soundboard in comparison to other pianos of the same length, due to its innovative “wide tail” design. 

This wider construction of the case means that a 5’ 10” Boston grand has the same soundboard area as a typical 6’ 2” grand piano, creating the power, richness, and feel of playing a much larger piano.

I find this very interesting in such that I can not fit a 6'.2" piano into my condominium apartment but can fit a 5'10" and while their is not much difference in size it was always the difference in sound that put me off buying a smaller grand.

The sound boards used in the boston is made from Sitka spruce.the result is a beautiful sustained tone.

This little boston may have just changed my mind.

for more information on this boston and other steinway pianos click here

Lady GaGa talks about her Baby Grand Piano they got from Steinway

Inside Lady Gaga's New York City Apartment

For the first time, Lady Gaga invites cameras inside the three-level New York City apartment she grew up in and still calls home. Watch as Gaga gives Oprah a tour and shows her the baby grand piano her parents gave her on her 13th birthday. Plus, Gaga shares never-before-seen home videos of herself as a girl.

Old 1925 Piano Ruff condition but Sounds Great.

This a good example of an old piano in good condition, even thou the hammers are in need of TLC, the felts could do with change and a good cleaning but just listen to the tone, so rich and deep.

This is on ebay right now the bidding is only at 150 pounds. the question? is it a good buy, well in my opinion if I was in the UK I would bid on this and then set about restoring it as a hobby, and by doing this you get to know the piano warts and all, getting so close to the inner working of the piano will help you understand it and should help you play better. but only if you practice on it a lot.

The other thing is the great satisfaction you can get by seeing the finished product, and here's the other thing you can get most of the parts online now so it's not the chore it use to be.

Then once you are happy with its looks you can then get in a piano tuner to get the sounds back into good tone and hey presto you will have a piano that will do you for many years to come..

I have books on piano restoring if you want a copy.

have a good day folks…..

Embarrassment when Playing the Piano

Piano Playing in Kluang

It's true, adults can easily get embarrassed when other people are around when they are playing. this is just insecurity because they can not play well.


One thing that happened to me when I practice with my teacher was other people coming in out of the shop while i was playing.


and although they were their to browse the shop or buy I was convinced they were listening to me and my playing went badly wrong.


Then to make things worse a little girl about 4 years of age got on the piano next to me and with her began  to play classical music that i aspire to learn myself and she played it so well I began to feel inadequate in my own abilities.


My teacher looked at me and said that the girl was a child prodigy, and that I should not feel bad, and that the little girl also had to start somewhere.


The Only way to overcome this is with practice and over time build your confidence. This alone is one of the most important reasons why one should practice practice practice.


But also try to make your practice session fun or you will get board soon and give up.


I bet that boardroom is the most single reason people give up.


I respect my teacher because she said that I should pick a song I really like and she will teach it to me. by doing this you are already put at ease in the music your are playing, and the achievement you get once you start playing your favorite song is immense, and a great boost to your playing.


When an adult is learning to play music, they want to be able to apply their knowledge and experiences.  to the things they do, but because this is all new to them, they can not and feel so lost.

So many adults do not desire to learn music just for the sake of it, but to be able to play at their church or in a band or to compose their own music. They come to learn music with a goal and prior expectations.

It's all about how you handle these expectations that can make or break the piano playing for adults experience.

Good luck to all who are embarking on this wonderful journey and you are not alone as thousands of adults start to play each day. it's the ones that put in the hard work and practice that will succeed. 

Please feel free to leave comments.

regards John J Foster, Adult piano playing (Also a learner).

Monday and my Piano is Calling me to it.

Does your Instrument call you?

This is not a joke, I actually find myself suddenly having to look over at my piano and feel its asking me to play with it.

I have started a new system of mine, What is it? well I practice during the week and then weekends play the music I have learnt over the week.

I find this helps me because practice is not just for the sake of it - it's to improve my playing as a whole, I now look forward to playing for the family at weekends of the songs i have been practicing.

OK first let me say that I am a learner and not an accomplished player, and so while to many this may not be a big thing to us learners I can assure you to play for others it is.

I get scared and flustered when i hear those dreaded words, John give us a tune on your piano, why because I know that while playing for me is wonderful as i can tolerate mistakes, but playing for others has a dread of not sounding good.

How many of you that read my blog have the same problem. ( that playing for others is scary).

Anyway back to my system I spend about 1 to 2 hours of practice, by breaking down the songs right hand, left hand and both hands together.

only by doing this can i get the song down. Here's the other thing, and its true, I have lots of friends (My Teacher included) that relies on sheet music to play for others in public. but ask them to play a song and they can not. so by going slow and breaking songs down you are committing them to memory. ( I Hope).

But time will tell.

Thanks for coming over cyber land to visit me.

your piano learner friend John.

Fur Elise part 2

Finally I am now learning the second part of Fur Elise, I been looking for sheet music for ages and finally got a copy - so now i can practice to play the full song through out.

I always felt cheated not having the whole song under my belt.

So as usual it's time to break it down into smaller chunks and learn it slowly only moving on to the next bit.

Eventually it will register and I will have it in my mind.

As we get older I find my brain not working as fast as my hands, so reading music while playing is not something I enjoy, in fact for me it's only a means to learn the songs. I then play over and over till it move into my brains storage locker, ready for retrieval. ( however having said this, once its retrieved it have to play it over a few times before i get it right).

One thing I find is that playing the piano does indeed help your brain, as its in constant use while playing, not only exercising the body is good for you but exercising the brain cells maybe more important in the long run.

OK well thanks for stopping by.

Regards
John.

Wow I just found a guy called Andrew -http://www.howtoplaypiano.ca/

and he has a website all about learning to play the piano for free.

the good news for me is that he has a video about learning the fur elise already I know what I am doing wrong.

Check him out - we love FREE lessons.