Studio News
July, 2006
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Recital
Plans AMEB News
Sitting at the Piano Buying
a Piano Caring for your Piano
Gluck
Welcome
to July’s issue of Studio News. We
have a long term ahead, offering plenty of learning opportunities.
In
this issue, we will look at the very important basics about posture while
sitting at the piano. We will also take a quick look at instrument options and
care.
The
composer we will meet this month is Christoph Gluck.
He reformed classical music in a way that has significantly shaped our
modern western culture, although he lived 300 years ago.
^
Recital
Plans
The
student recitals are planned for Saturday afternoons, 4th and 11th
November 2006, at around 2:00 pm. At
this point in planning, it would be of great assistance to have an estimate of
the number of people likely to attend. Therefore,
I have included forms with this newsletter seeking preliminary notice of
attendance intentions. Please
complete and return this form. A
formal invitation will be sent at a later date.
Thank
you to everyone who has already expressed intentions to attend.
Thank you also to parents who have encouraged students to consider pieces
they would like to play for others. This
is very helpful. A few students
have already decided what they would like to play.
^
Exciting
AMEB News
AMEB
has just announced the introduction of a new music syllabus, Music Craft.
As part of this introduction, AMEB is offering exams next August for
free. This
is a saving of $55 to $100, depending on the grade – so well worth taking
advantage of if you want to experience an exam.
^
Piano
Playing Posture
Posture at the piano influences how the piano is played and how it
sounds. The comfort and well being
of the pianist is also at stake. Correct
seating position will foster the natural development of correct technique and
musical playing. It is of vital
importance that correct posture is used from the very beginning, 
whether
sitting at a keyboard or a piano.
When
sitting at the piano, the pianist should sit on the front half of the bench.
The bench should be moved out far enough that the knees only come about
an inch in from the edge of the keyboard. The
knees should be comfortably apart, providing support for the body when leaning
left and right, reaching for all the keys on the keyboard.
The feet should be slightly forward of the knees and flat on the floor or
on a stool. When sitting up
straight, but not stiffly, it should be possible to lift the hands in a relaxed,
cupped position and place them on the keys parallel to the floor.
The elbows should be slightly out and forward from the sides of the body,
but in a relaxed way, not a lifted position.
If the forearms are not parallel to the floor and slightly higher than
the keys, it is necessary to add a cushion. (The photo
to the left has been taken from the website of Ms Madeline Bruser, www.artofpracticing.com/
pianotec.html. Ms Bruser presents excerpts from her book and discusses
correct technique and practice at the piano.)
Often, a child will need adjustments made to enable correct seating.
Would parents please check posture and make any necessary alterations
(e.g. adding cushions and footstools).
^
What
Instrument to Buy?
There
is much to consider when purchasing an instrument, since budget, quality,
aesthetic preferences, touch preferences, and more all need to be considered.
The following comes from my own personal experience.
Other people might have different opinions.
Beginners Pianos: Often people begin piano lessons without being sure they
will want to continue. A piano is
an investment – one worth purchasing costs several thousand dollars. The questions is, then, what do you do until you know?
A
simple keyboard will suffice while students learn to find their way around and
read notes. For a younger child,
this could be for 3 to 6 months. (The
development of an older student will suffer with more than a few weeks playing a
keyboard.) Obtain the cheapest
keyboard you can find, so long as it has standard sized keys.
Often, these can be bought at Kmart, Target and other department stores.
Once
you are ready to commit to lessons, it is important to obtain a useful
instrument as soon as possible. Purchasing
a cheap instrument will end up a waste of money (a poor sounding and playing
instrument that you will quickly outgrow) or will cost you more in improvements
in a very short time. Besides an
outright purchase of a piano, there are two reasonable options: hire purchase of
an electric piano or lease with purchase option of a new acoustic piano.
Electric
Pianos: Electric pianos have
much to offer. They allow for a
variety of sounds, have internal metronomes, have headphone jacks for quiet
practice and never need tuning. They
are also much easier to move around and maintain.
However, an advanced intermediate student (after four or five years’
playing) will notice the differences between a good electronic piano and an
acoustic piano. For this reason,
expect to buy an acoustic after a few years even if you buy a good electronic
piano. It can be worth having the
two types of pianos because they have different things to offer and fulfil
different purposes.
Similar
to the piano, it is not worthwhile buying a cheap electric piano, as you will
need to upgrade in a short time. The
electric piano must have three fixable pedals and hammer key weighting.
The minimum you should spend on the piano is $2 000.
An electric piano at this price will be far better than an acoustic for
the same price.
Acoustic
Pianos: A $6 000 acoustic piano will suit all piano players until the
advanced levels. Therefore, it is
worthwhile investing in such an instrument.
The brands that I personally recommend (this is my opinion, and it is
important to try an instrument before you buy to check your own preferences) are
Kawai, Schimmel, Charles Walters and Boston. Yamaha also has a good reputation and many people like
Steinway – although these instruments are not to my own taste.
New
instruments vary in the quality of the internal workings and strings, strength
of the frame and the resonance of the soundboard. Some have more resonant low notes or chirpier high notes.
Sound preference is personal choice.
Stiffness of the keys also varies. It
is recommended that the keys be not too stiff or too loose.
Second hand pianos: Before investing any money into a second hand piano,
check that the strings are free of rust and the felts are free of mildew.
Make sure the pedals are easy to use.
The keys should be secure, not loose, and depress consistently in depth
and by using the same amount of pressure. Watch
out for hammers and felts that are worn out around the middle of the piano.
Check that all the keys return to their original position after release
and that the sound cuts off consistently across the keys after release.
Be careful buying a second hand piano, especially an older one.
Students will rarely find these satisfying for more than a few years.
^
Instrument
Care
An
electric piano requires only the standard care of a piece of sensitive
electronic
equipment
(i.e. avoid extremes of temperatures, keep closed when not in use, do not clean
with chemicals, keep away from fluids, etc).
An
acoustic piano is much more sensitive to its environment and requires annual
tuning even in perfect conditions. Temperature
variations and high humidity will cause an instrument to go out of tune more
quickly, requiring four to six-monthly tuning.
Humidity needs to be stabilised at around 42%.
High humidity will rust the strings and pins, cause the soundboard to
rot, produce mildew on the felts and cause the keys to stick.
Low humidity will make the piano flat and the soundboard will become
brittle and crack. Do not keep your
piano near the kitchen or bathroom, near windows, heaters / fireplaces,
air-conditioning vents, near a skylight or other source of direct light, or
against an outside wall.
Pianos
do not go out of tune at the same rate across the range of notes – usually,
the middle notes lose tune more quickly because this is where the soundboard is
most flexible. This means that a
pianist trying to play a piano that is overdue for tuning will be unable to hear
and understand the music they are trying to play.
A student with good aural skills will find playing frustrating and
stressful, even if they do not recognise the cause – they will just know it
“doesn’t sound right”. No
degree of effort can make an out of tune piano “sound right”.
An out of tune piano will inhibit the musical development of all
students.
^
Christoph
Gluck
Christoph
Gluck was born on 2 July 1714 in Bavaria. He
died in 1787. He is one of the earliest classical composers.
He was also the reformer of opera - from a singing art into the fully
orchestrated, musical form that we now know.
At
about 14 years of age, Gluck left home to live in the Czech republic of Prague,
study music and work as an organist. He
then moved to Vienna, where his compositions were first recognised and
performed.
One
of his first operas was Don Juan (1761). He
worked with an Italian poet, Ranieri di Calzabigi, in the writing of Orpehus and
Eurydice, Alceste, and Paris and Helen – stories based on Greek hero legends.
He wrote several other operas and ballets over the 18 years of his
career.
Gluck
made two very important changes to vocal music with music accompaniment and to
ballet. Before Gluck, most singing
music (mostly operas and arias at the time) had very little accompaniment.
Operatic singing performances were more about displaying spectacular and
‘frilly’ voice effects. Gluck
insisted that operas should tell stories – the words and voices should create
a picture of the story behind the opera. He
also insisted that music should be performed as the composer had written it –
rather than with major changes by the performers.
Gluck
added a full orchestra to the opera, instead of a simple keyboard line.
This was the beginning of combining voice with instruments to work as a
group – an ensemble that sounded good and belonged together.
To make quality performance, with such a depth of ensemble, Gluck was the
first to insist that performances should take months of rehearsals instead of a
couple of weeks’ preparation.
Gluck
is important to music, as we know it today – ballet, musicals, movie
soundtracks and more. Gluck’s
combining of voice with instruments, in a meaningful way, even founds modern
popular music.
I
wish you satisfying learning.
Annah-Valerie
Hyrst (teacher)
Individual
dynamics
Rouse
Hill, NSW
