Taylor Made Music

Tips for Buying Digital Pianos and Keyboards

16
Jul

Buying a digital piano could be a very delicate attempt, especially if you have no idea about pianos in the first place. This article is written to help you out how to choose the best digital piano.

For starters, digital piano is different from an “acoustic” piano in many ways. A digital piano is a copy of what the “acoustic or original piano is. However, instead of strings and hammers, it uses “digitally sampled” sounds, amplifiers and speakers. It was made to imitate the real sound of that of the original piano. Many people now prefer digital pianos. It is because of its portability, low-to-almost non-maintenance, volume adjuster and various voices.

What you need to know in buying a digital piano is how closely it resembles the “acoustical piano” in terms of the sound, and its total piano-like feel. Do the keys move under your fingers almost the same as the acoustical piano keys do? Sometimes, most digital pianos have damaged spring action on the keys thus they could affect the tone of the piano. Always see to it, when you are in a hunt for a good digital piano, you should bring a good set of headphones. It is one of the advantages the digital piano has compared to an acoustical piano. When a player wants to play loud but his surroundings are opposed to the noise it could bring, he could only attach the headphones and play as loud as his heart desires without causing another’s eardrums to bash but his own. Other than that, the headphones could help distinguish faint defects that the speakers couldn’t detect. Do not hesitate to try as many brands as you like to compare and choose which sounds better. It is not in the brand or price range that the piano is considered good. It actually depends on the buyer whether he feels good about the sound of the digital piano he chooses.

Do not forget to check out the range of the tone. Does the tone change when you turn up the volume? And what about when you turn it down? The digital piano should be consistent in its tone no matter how low or high the volume is. Also check out the sound as it ends. Does it linger too long or fades easily? If there is an acoustical piano nearby, do try comparing the sound as you play a note and then a chord. Check out the time lapse of the sound as it ends and sense for repeating patterns or loops.

Check out where the notes come from when you play a scale or chord successively. The trebles should be coming from the right side and the bass should be coming from the left side.

Try holding down the sustain pedal and play the two low C’s to check out the polyphony or the harmony of the notes. It is good if you can distinguish the two low C’s played simultaneously. Most not-so-good quality digital pianos would cut off one tone while being played. Poor quality digital pianos drop both notes prematurely.

Is the digital piano user-friendly? Check out the design and see if you can understand the lay-out of the model. Check out the buttons and if they are functional. Be sure that the “special-effects” buttons are not that close to the keyboard or you might accidentally hit one and then change the entire settings of your piano while you’re playing.

Check the manual for other fine-tuning facilities. Some digital pianos come with other special effects such as alternate tunings, variable harmonics and adjustable decay (fading) lengths. These effects can be very useful when you play with a group. You wouldn’t necessarily go to lengthy process in adjusting to the level of the group.

Most digital pianos offer various tones and voices to have diversity in voice effects. Some have whistles, echoes, guitars, and other non-piano voices. If you are used to playing the piano and using pressed-pedal for sustain, it might become a hindrance to you if the digital piano you got has an “on-off” pedaling.

Also, other accessories such as amplifiers and speakers must be compatible with the brand or model you have. The digital piano you purchased may be a good quality but when attached with an incompatible amplifier or bigger sound boxes, the sound projected may not be very good.

Lastly, if you doubt your capability to choose for yourself a good piano, ask a friend who plays piano, or even better yet, a professional to help you determine a sound-quality digital piano. However, you must not rely totally on what they say. It is because what is good for them may not be good for you. Buy a digital piano that you are going to be comfortable playing with.

About The Author

The Writer, Ismael D. Tabije, runs the website http://pianos.e-mart4all.com that markets a wide choice of high-quality digital pianos and accessories at the lowest prices in the online market. Brands sold include Casio, Yamaha, Korg, Kurzweil and Roland. The website also features interesting piano articles about piano humor, trivia, myths and facts and even piano lessons and instructions

Tags: digital piano, , , , , , , , instrument, keyboard, learn to play piano, music, piano, piano lesson, piano music

Soothing Music The Native American Flute

04
Jul

Native Americans are eager to share their ancestry with their families and friends. One of the ways they do this is through their music, particularly through the music of the Native American flute. They want to ensure that their children have a strong link with their ancient culture, and music is an excellent way to teach non-Native Americans about this culture as well.

Mothers of small children often find that Native American flute music is very soothing for their babies. It seems to have a tranquil and calming effect on children. Songs played on the Native American flute can be introduced during naptime and before bedtime to calm children down. The music often puts children to sleep within just a few minutes. Experts have also recommended Native American flute music to families with small babies that have a hard time getting to sleep.

This music also represents an excellent tool for calming down a baby in situations where there may be difficult transitions for such young children, such as when many visitors come to the home. It is often difficult for small babies to adjust to the confusion and noise created by a large number of people at special occasions, and playing Native American flute music can help to calm a baby down in these circumstances.

The music of the Native American flute is very soft, and it creates a wonderful, soothing background for many situations. It is just the sound for keeping babies calm when there are a lot of people in the environment. Babies seem to focus on the flute sounds instead of on the loud noises generated by crowds. Having flute music playing in a room makes it easier for them to adjust to visitors.

Of course, adults will also enjoy the music of the Native American flute. It is easy to find interesting and unique Native American flute music on the Internet, since many online stores offer selections of alternative music. It is also possible to purchase Native American flutes and sheet music. Several vendors offer musical compositions for the flute, and they sell Native American flutes as well.

Native American flute music is an excellent way to learn about and enjoy the special features of Native American culture. And since songs are often linked to memories, this music offers a good way to preserve the memory of special times.

To discover more about music, musicians and playing music go to http://music-advice.com

Tags: Flute, , , music, native american flute

Piano Lesson What Can Pippi Longstocking Teach You About Piano Playing

25
Jun

Piano playing is an art with unlimited possibilites. Pippi Longstocking made a remark in a film that can be used when you try to learn to play piano.

Pippi Longstocking is a nine-year-old Swedish girl in a series of children’s books. Pippi has red braids and is very unconventional, assertive, extraordinarily strong, and rich. She lives alone with a monkey and a horse in an old funny house. Her friends Tommy and Annika accompany her on her wild adventures.

One Christmas when she was alone in the house looking out through the window feeling lonesome her lyoung friends and the children from town came in a procession to her house surprising her with a Christmas present.

She was very happy when she saw them and when she opened the present she found a trumpet and immediately started to play on it.

One of the children commented: “I did’nt know that you played trumpet!”. Pippi answered smilingly: “Well, it is easier when you have a trumpet!”

Much wisdom there. It is easier to learn to play an instrument if you have an instrument. It is easier to learn to play piano if you have a piano. Do you have a piano?

What does it mean to have a piano. Let me explain………..

One of my cousins lived with her family in a small town in a small house. In the house was a tall black piano bought from a nearby amusement park. This piano was fascinating in one aspect.

It was fantastically out of tune!

When you played a melody on the piano it was like playing in different keys at the same time. My cousin living there never became a pianist. I don’t know if the out of tune piano put her off but it sure didn’t help her.

She learned one funny piano song at least and I can still remember the sound of it on that piano.

I think that you can say that a piano has to be tuned or it isn’t really a piano. All those beautiful and fantastic piano compositions are intended to be played on a tuned instrument.

I would suggest the following….

1. Have a piano. Meaning a tuned instrument. Make it a priority to have your piano tuned by a piano tuner or if you are adventurous, try to tune it yourself! Read about piano tuning on the net.

2. Buy a digital piano. It is always in tune but has other small disadvantages. It should have weighted key action to imitate the action of an acoustic piano.

When I was a child we always had our piano in tune but I guess it is quite common to find pianos that is out of tune around the globe.

I guess you can get used to playing on out of tune pianos but this will limit your progress and the joy you deserve to experience when you play piano.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com.

Tags: learn to play piano, , , , , , music, music lesson, piano, piano lesson, practicing

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