What is good?: Object: Piano

Reasons I think Pianos are good:

- They make beautiful Music

- Hundreds of notes can be made from the keys

- They come a variety of forms

- I can play one

- Many famous people play them

- You can make a living from playing one

- They are used in all genres of music

- Composers love them

- They look stunning

- Black and white are my favourite colours :)

- They scream elegance

- You can lie on one and suddenly look sexy

- You can find them in pubs

- Its a skill to be able to play one

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Opinions of pianos

- Yahoo Question:
How many hours of piano lessons does one need to become a reasonable player?

Answers:

"no access to a piano between lessons." means lessons are all but useless.

The question contains the wrong formula for progress.

Here it is.
1) If a beginner, a minimum of one half-hour lesson once a week.
2) As required for any class, at least the same amount of time spent during the lesson, daily, covering the material (practicing): even better, at least twice the time of a lesson, daily, practicing.
3) The regular schedule of practice plus the quality of concentration applied while practicing.

Taking lessons without being able to practice between lessons, and no instrument to practice on? = Useless expense and futile attempt.

Don't even think of it until you have access to a piano on a daily basis. There are many with your 'complication' who manage to arrange the free use of a piano on a regular basis through a religious or educational institution. Where there is a need, a way can usually be found.

Again, do not waste your time or money on lessons until you can beforehand be certain you have access to an instrument upon which you can practice regularly.

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Facts about pianos

- The Piano was invented in 1698 by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori.

- There are over 12,000 parts in a piano, 10,000 which are moving.

- There is approximately 18 tons of pressure being exerted by the stretched steel piano strings. In a concert grand, it is close to 30 tons of pressure. The average string having about 160 pounds of tension. There are 230 strings inside a typical piano.

- The action of a grand is superior in many ways to a vertical piano, one being that any key can be repeated (reset) faster than any vertical upright (regardless of the name given by manufacturers i.e.: upright grand, studio grand, inverted grand, etc.).

- Most pianos have two to three pedals.

- A new piano should be tuned four times the first year, with the change of seasons, and at least twice a year after that.

- The name piano is an abbreviation of Cristofori's original name for the instrument: piano et forte or soft and loud.

- The term "Tickle the Ivorys" refers to playing the ivory keys of the piano, however, ivory has not been used to make piano keys since about the 1950's (they are plastic, sometimes referred to as "Ivorine").

- During the past 100 years there have been approximately 5000 Brandsof pianos placed on the market. Most are still on display in homes or elsewhere.

- The worlds largest piano is a Challen Concert Grand. This piano is 11 feet long, has a total string tension of over 30 tons and weighs more than a ton !!

- The first note (on a standard 88 note keyboard) is A .

- The last note of the keyboard is C.

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Words relating to piano

- Keys

- Notes

- Ivories

- Music

- Composers

- Pedals

- Tuning

- Concerts