See-Through Piano Lid Transforms Performances

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=1090

Jools Holland talking about Boogie Woogie Piano

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=1085

Hong Kong Piano News @Linkedin Officially Opened!

This Linkedin Group will focus on:

Piano News 

Professional advise on Piano Maintenance 

Professional advise on Piano Purchase 

Things on piano that all piano users should know 


Welcome All Pianists, Piano Teachers, Piano Technician & All those who love this instrument to join!

<Hong Kong Piano News> @Linkedin

Pianos for People

From the late 18th century, when the piano began to supplant the harpsichord as the world’s chief keyboard instrument, it’s been a fixture in many places. People had a piano in the parlor; churches had one in the basement for choir practice, and every school auditorium had one. Pianos even graced the stages of silent movie theaters during the early 20th century.

In the 21st century, as electronic instruments become more popular as less expensive options than traditional pianos, wood-and-wire keyboards are finding their way into landfills and junk heaps. Non-profit organization Pianos for People doesn’t want these pianos uselessly deteriorating when others could benefit from them. Their mission is to restore and recondition these instruments to working order and then deliver them, free of charge, to needy and deserving families and groups.

There are many people who simply cannot afford a keyboard instrument of any type. While a suburban family might only need a simple spinet for their children’s piano lessons, a school might dream of a 9-foot grand for its stage. One of Pianos for People’s main sponsors, Jackson Pianos LLC, has many instruments in its shop. It has found, rebuilt and saved Steinways, Chickerings, Baldwins, Kimballs and many other brands.

The project’s genesis stemmed from an advertising executive, Tom Townsend, who lost his son in a tragic accident. Father and son had shared a love of music, and both played the piano. As a tribute to his late son, Townsend approached Joe Jackson of Jackson Pianos LLC and presented the idea of providing unused or discarded pianos to the needy. Jackson was instantly interested, and Pianos for People was born. They brought prominent St. Louis piano teacher Patricia Eastman on board, and, together, they bring music into people’s lives.

All three of them smile when remembering the happiness of the recipients, many of whom jump up and down with delight. Others are simply speechless, but they are all extremely grateful for the gift. Townsend remarked that lonely pianos sitting in out-of-the-way places yearned to be played. He shares the joy of music with each person to whom Pianos for People delivers a freshly reconditioned and well-tuned instrument.

From: Pianostreet

Leonardo da Vinci’s Viola Organista comes to life after 500 years!

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=1076

Pleyel Factory close down aftermaths

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=1073

France's Pleyel piano maker plays final note

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=1070

Storage Service for Piano

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http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=401

Steinway Update: Code Name “Edelweiss” Outbid by a True Piano Lover

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=981

10 Easy Ways To Optimize Your Music Practice

please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=979

Old News. But it is a good reminder for HK consumers that Schimmel & Seiler had gone bankrupt previously

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=975

Walking to New Orleans

A channel four documentary first shown in 1985, featuring amongst others :Jools Holland, Fats Domino, Lee Dorsey, Allen Toussaint, Dr John,The Neville Brothers, Johnnie Allan, and Jools Holland's long time drummer Gilson Lavis.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Haessler

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=970

Billy Taylor Workshop -- Jazz and the Yong Performer

Billy Taylor Explains How Jazz Musicians Improvise

What is Jazz? Explained by Billy Taylor

Please Read:

http://www.tongtuning.com/wordpress/?p=1461

The scales and the piano

Why Learn the Scales?

Learning the scales is like learning the ABC's when learning to read: not so exciting, and it doesn't get a lot of practical use in everyday life, but trying to learn piano without learning the scales is like trying to learn to read without first learning the alphabet. It can be done, but the "shortcut" only winds up handicapping a novice player. The counter-argument has been made that the scales mainly use fingers 123, which are already technically strong compared to fourth and fifth fingers, which are weak because of anatomical limitations. This argument's weakness, however, is in realizing that the purpose of learning and practicing scales has little or nothing to do with strengthening fingers 1,2, and 3 - although this is a pleasant benefit. Practicing scales with rigid tempo and in a legato (connected) style helps lay the foundations of rhythm and fluidity of motion.

The scales are essential, because 99% of music is built on them. One can find the scales, or portions thereof, in songs of every complexity, from the simplest one-note rendition of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" to the complicated classical pieces and even almost all modern songs.

When one plays the melody of "Mary had a little lamb" in C major, you can be pretty sure that it doesn't have a wild bluesy part with a lot of black keys. OK, we exaggerated a bit, but we were still very very close. Try to play "Mary had a little lamb" on black keys only. You can make it, and when you can do it, you probably can do it forever. It's easy to remember to only use black keys after all. Conclusion: Scales are very good help in memorizing. If you remember the key of your piece, memorizing eases.

When you try to play some piece by ear, and you have figured out that it is in major key, the rest will come a lot easier. You will now know that the black keys aren't the first candidates for the right notes, if you want to play it in C major. Or if it sounds bluesy, you will presumably need some "blue notes", which you can always find in blues scales (there are various). Conclusion: Knowledge of scales is good for playing by ear.

When you play in parties, and you've finished your highly virtuosic piece and everybody is fascinated by your playing (the situation is fictional, it doesn't happen for real), somebody brings to you sheet music for some piece. But then you see, it has six(!) flats. This is no problem for you, because you instantly know it's either Gb major or Eb minor and what the black and white keys are. And then everybody at the parties considers you as a miracle. Conclusion: Knowledge of scales is absolutely essential for sight reading.

What scales are

In music, a scale is a set of musical notes in order by pitch, either ascending or descending. Western music is divided into whole and half steps. A half step is the distance from one note to the very next note, including black keys. For example, D to D#, Ab to G, or B to C. A whole step is two half steps. For example C to D, E to F#, or Ab to Bb. ALL SCALES RELY ON WHOLE AND HALF STEPS!

If you play any C and play all the white keys up to the next C, you have played the C major scale ascending. Do it backwards and you have played it descending. The scale you have played has a special pattern, what makes it sound major. It's 1-1-½-1-1-1-½. 1 stands for a whole step and ½ for a half step. Try to use 1-1-½-1-1-1-½ for every possible key; it always works; it creates a major sounding scale. Resorting the order of whole and half steps creates different sounding scales -- different modes -- as can be seen below.

Playing C major's relative minor A minor, just start from A and play all the keys up to next A. This scale is actually A natural minor scale. The notes and their order are the same, the start and end point is different. Then start from some other key than A or C. This scale isn't major or minor, it's another mode. Major and natural minor are, in fact, just different modes of each other. In the table below are all the modes. Don't memorize, if you don't want to, the only reason they're there is to help you to understand what minor and major really are. Major and minor just "killed" other modes. But, for example, phrygian mode is still used in flamenco, and all of the modes are used in modal jazz.

Ionian	1	1	½	1	1	1	½	Major
Dorian	1	½	1	1	1	½	1
Phrygian	½	1	1	1	½	1	1
Lydian	1	1	1	½	1	1	½
Mixolydian	1	1	½	1	1	½	1
Aeolian	1	½	1	1	½	1	1	Natural minor
Locrian	½	1	1	½	1	1	1

Why do major and minor sound so different? Why are the major and minor modes used so much more than the others? The answer lies in chords. So called I IV V chords in major are all major chord. In C major they are I = C major, IV = F major and V = G major. In A minor they are i = A minor, iv = D minor and v = E minor. Note: the roman numerals for minor chords are lower case. The other modes are more odd. You can harmonise many pieces using only I, IV, V or i, iv, v. Or improvise on them: just play something only using the notes of the scale and its I, IV, or V. If anything feels confusing, visit Ricci Adam's Musictheory.net. It's a free site with easy to follow animations.

Each scale degree has a name. I is called tonic, II is supertonic, III is mediant, IV is subdominant, V is dominant, VI is submediant, VII is leading tone. For example, in the key of C Major, if you are referring to the G note, which is the fifth scale degree, you would call it the "dominant."

Table of scaledegrees:

I       - Tonic         - First (and most important) note of the scale
II      - Supertonic    - Second note of the scale
III     - Mediant       - Third note of the scale
IV      - SubDominant   - Fourth (and third most important) note of the scale
V       - Dominant      - Fifth (and second most important) note of the scale
VI      - Sub Mediant   - Sixth note of the scale
VII     - Leading Tone  - Seventh note of the scale
(VIII)I - Upper Tonic   - First (and most important) note of the scale

List of things to practice with scales

All major scales, harmonic minor scales, melodic minor scales and natural minor scales (natural not so important):

Hands together, hands separately, four octaves, two octaves, ascending, descending, ascending and descending, stacatto, legato, tenuto, crescending, decrescending, softly and loudly and everything between, rhythmic variations, contrary and similar motions.

Information Source: Wikibooks

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Piano/Scales

Piano Workshop Conducted by Billy Taylor

From the 1988 Tri-C Jazz Fest, Billy Taylor offers his thoughts for pianists working in different configurations.

Video from the compilation Tri-C Jazz Fest Cleveland, 30th Anniversary Collection, Willard Jenkins compilation producer.

Oscar Peterson Piano Lesson

Oscar Peterson - Keeping The Groove Alive

A Documentary on Oscar Peterson with some rare archival footage and interviews with Diana Krall and more.

"Perfectionist, practical joker, and one of the all-time greatest exponents of jazz, Oscar Peterson is unlike any music legend that ever was or ever will be."