Your New Piano

So you have bitten the bullet and invested in a new piano… now what?

In the next few blogs I will cover some of the do’s and don’ts of maintaining your piano correctly.  This will ensure that your piano performs to its optimum for the longest time and maintains its value.

Where should I place the piano in my room?

To some extent this is a personal and aesthetic matter, however we can look at the serious 'do not' cases. 

Good light on the keyboard is desirable, but possibly not if this is north facing and will attract the sun at its hottest.  At all costs you must avoid any part of the casework heating up due to exposure from the sun.  In time this will destroy your tuning stability, possibly cause damage to the timbers and almost certainly cause bleaching of the veneers if your piano is a wood finish.

Try to reach a balance of light, position and appeal.  Having a grand positioned so that the lid opens directly into a wall is not ideal, if nothing else you will find it difficult to lift the lid. If there is no option but to have it in a window where the sun will fall on it at certain times of the day, it is clear that you must be prepared to pull the curtains or blinds over when this happens.  Fine if you remember, but disaster if you don't and then go away for a week in the summer! 

Pianos should be positioned away from external walls if they are un insulated and as far away from the kitchen as possible in order to avoid greasy fat deposits on the surface.

Heat sources are a problem. As a general rule keep the piano as far away from any heat source as possible.

Non flued gas fires pump moisture into the environment which will cause humidity related problems to the piano such as compression of the soundboard. Wood fires on the other hand will dry out the piano quicker than you can say – OMG my sound board has cracked.

Many modern homes also incorporate under floor heating which will not only destabilize the tuning but dry out the soundboard.

Many of these issues can be mitigated by the installation of controlled damp-chasers and heat mats however it is imperative that each piano environment is assessed individually. If in doubt, ASK!

Finally invest in a $70. Dick Smith Hygrometer which will track the relative humidity and temperature  of your room and will let you know if you have a problem.

Thanks to Jeff Shackell of Shackell Pianos UK for his info.

Next week we will look at tuning, regulation and voicing.

Post by John Eady

Lewis Eady blogs about pianos in general and in particular Steinway pianos are our passion.  New Zealand Pianos specialist Lewis Eady have been passionate about pianos since 1884.

Out of the mouths of babes...

A wonderful conversation between Lewis Eady Music School teacher Dom Blaazer and one of his 6 year old students...

Mister Blaazer, do you play with Don McGlashan?

Yes Max.

I like Miracle Sun. Are you on that?

Er, no Max but I've played it with him a lot.

(Dom plays intro)

How about Anchor Me?

No Max, I'm not on that one either. But I've played it with him a lot.

(Dom plays verse)

Mister Blaazer, which ones are you on?

Have you heard of Marvellous Year?

Um. No... but Anchor Me made him get famous, didn't it?

Yes Max, it sort-of did.

Oh yeah, I really like How You Doing, that's funny. Toy Factory Fire gives me nightmares though.

Dominic Blaazer teaches guitar, ukulele and keyboards for Lewis Eady Music School at St Leo's Devonport, Takapuna Primary, St Michaels Remuera and Ponsonby Primary Schools.  He currently plays for Don McGlashan, The Reputations Soul Revue and The Trains.

'Cool' Guitar Vids

Every now and then we come across some cool bits of promotional videos which transcend that annoying selling to you bit, and are just plain cool. Here are a couple of those videos.

Alhambra guitars are a range of Spanish made classical and steel string guitars brought in exclusively by Lewis Eady Ltd. http://vimeo.com/38564130

Fender guitars need no introduction. A few years ago when we looked at adding an electric brand to our retail shop there really was only one choice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MnylRaQC3w

Come into the Lewis Eady guitar showroom to check out these quality guitars ‘in the wood’.

Post by David Love

Second hand pianos - the good the bad and the ugly

If I had $1 for every time I heard the phrase “Old piano for sale - just needs a tune”, I would be able to retire by now.

If somebody said to you “50 year old car for sale - works fine just needs a service”, you would probably be slightly more skeptical!

However there are more moving parts subject to wear and tear in a piano action than in a car.

As I have mentioned before, pianos - like us and cars - have a life time and that life time is dependent primarily on three things:

1. The quality of the piano in the first instance
2. How well it has been maintained 
3. How much use the piano has had

If considering a second hand piano, there is quite a bit to take into consideration, and remember, if you buy privately you don’t get a warranty and you are not covered by the consumer guarantees act. So be cautious and do your homework.

Here are some basic rules that should be observed:

1. Check the brand and serial number of the piano and give us a call at Lewis Eady Ltd to determine the age.
2. Never buy a piano over 70 years of age, no matter how nice it might look. There are some obvious exceptions such as Steinway.
3. Spend $80 on getting a qualified technician (not your husband’s second cousin who once played the piano) to do a report on the piano. This could save you thousands of dollars.
4. Remember that Trademe is a wonderful place to pick up bargains as well as other people’s junk.
5. Be very wary of Japanese made pianos over 30 years old and in particular of used Japanese imports. These should only be purchased from reputable companies that carry out the service work and offer a comprehensive warranty.
6. Factory warranties are NOT transferable and only apply to the initial purchaser.
7. Do your research on the Internet to find out if the piano you are looking at is good quality. Quite often they were bad when they were made.

I have never bought or traded a second hand piano that didn’t require some sort of service work and on the odd occasion that I have purchased ‘sight un seen’ without getting our technicians to check it out - I have been burned.

Then guess what - we sell them on Trademe with no warranty!

If in doubt, please call us at Lewis Eady Ltd. Yes, we sell pianos however we are also more than happy to offer any advice you need and can at the very least suggest a good technician to view the piano or movers to shift it.

Lewis Eady blogs about pianos in general and in particular Steinway pianos are our passion.  New Zealand Pianos specialist Lewis Eady have been passionate about pianos since 1884.

So you have decided to buy a ‘REAL’ piano for your family?

Where to from here?

Essentially you have two choices – New or Second hand. If only it was that simple!

A decade ago it was relatively simple...

Imagine if you will a 'Pyramid'...

At the very top - of course - you had Steinway underneath which was the remainder of the European brands such as Bechctein, Schimmel, Grotrian, Sauter etc.

Underneath these you moved down the pyramid to the Japanese made pianos such as Kawai and Yamaha and finally at the very bottom were what we referred to as PSOs (or Piano Shaped Objects - not to be confused with real pianos).

Of course, this structure is entirely relative to the value, cost and performance of these instruments and the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ is very relevant in the world of pianos.

Ten years on and whilst the number of piano manufacturers has almost doubled, the quality structure remains very similar.

A Chinese client of mine explained it quite succinctly to me. He said, that a Japanese manufacturer will look at a Steinway piano and say, “I am going to try and build a piano as good as that.”

Where as a Chinese manufacturer will look at the same piano and say, “I am going to build something that looks like that.”

The emerging ‘new world’ manufacturers as yet, simply don’t have the experience or the skilled technical and design workforce to build quality pianos. This is changing rapidly and no doubt in a decade’s time the situation will be quite different. In the mean time we are their guinea pigs.

The other common misnomer put out by many ‘new world’ manufacturers is that they source their parts from well known overseas companies and simply ‘assemble’ them in their factory.

A piano is NOT like a car - 'quality is not determined by single properties, but by their interaction' and therefore a piano is a reflection of the standard of its designer.

New will always be best, however for many this is a financial impossibility. Next week we will look at 2nd hand pianos and what the pitfalls are.

Lewis Eady blogs about pianos in general and in particular Steinway pianos are our passion.  New Zealand Pianos specialist Lewis Eady have been passionate about pianos since 1884.

Which piano is best suited for my children?

...this is a question which we get asked often at Lewis Eady Ltd.

Whilst Grandma Dawn’s 100 year old upright piano might make an attractive proposition both cosmetically and financially, it may not necessarily be the best option to learn on.

Firstly one needs to understand that pianos - like humans - have a lifetime. The average upright piano action is made up of over 8000 moving parts which are subject to wear and tear. Furthermore the tension created by the strings of a piano can be in excess of 15 tonnes per square inch which over time fatigues the soundboard causing it to loose tone and power.

In a nutshell after 100 years most pianos are dead and gone, and should be given a suitable burial (there are of course always exceptions to this).

So what options are there?

Keyboards are a cheap option starting at around $400 but have a lightweight touch derived from Organs and are really only suitable for the very early stages of learning. Furthermore they tend to have truncated keyboards of either 61 or 76 notes as opposed to a piano which has 88. If you must go down this route choose one which is ‘touch sensitive’ and make sure that you have a plan to upgrade to something better within a year.

Digital Pianos are more expensive but a more preferable option to keyboards. These have a full 88 note keyboard and a weighted action which - in the best brands - will closely resemble that of a piano. Be aware though, these to will have a lifetime. If your little Johnny has aspirations of becoming the next Ashkenazy, even the best digital pianos will only see him through to around grade 4 level (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music).

Acoustic Pianos obviously the best choice but these can be a real mine field as there are so many options.

In my next blog I will go into more detail on these in particular and will look at the options with new versus 2nd hand, and the difference in qualities available.

Lewis Eady blogs about pianos in general and in particular Steinway pianos are our passion.  New Zealand Pianos specialist Lewis Eady have been passionate about pianos since 1884.

Here's to the next 10 years!

Well, 2012 is panning out to be a big year for David Love – Lewis Eady Ltd store manager.

He will have been married 10 years…

His wife turns 30...

But most importantly he has been at Lewis Eady Ltd for 10 years (please don’t let David’s wife see this).

A big thank you to David for all his hard work and support.

We are a very small tight knit team and here’s hoping that you enjoy the new Martin guitar!

All the best

John

The LE Acoustic Series - two years on

The Lewis Eady Acoustic Series started off as a flicker of an idea 3-4 years ago. That idea gestated for a while, grew, changed shape, and then gave birth to something simple – LE Acoustic Series – 6 May, 2010 with The Glory Sea, Mali Mali, and Lydia Cole. We stumbled from this ‘humble’ beginning, through 7 gigs in 2 years to see the return of Lydia Cole (now with band) and Luke Thompson, and LE newbs, The Right Ones.

It was a beautiful, intimate night, with 150 of our collective nearest friends. Necks craned, personal space was shared, and new friends were made. Thank you doesn’t seem to cover the level of respect and gratitude for what the bands shared with us. Check out the beautiful pictures from the night below (thanks Kelley Eady). Please feel free to share your favourite memories. Mine was the spontaneous jam at the end of night of Dylans, We shall be released.

So what’s next? Friday 25^th May we do it all again with Alaska, The Paper Cranes, and the return of Strahan. http://www.facebook.com/events/311082252302334/

And then? Let’s just say we’re working on a couple of new things. Watch this space.    

Best Festival Ever

Well that was the feedback anyway and I would have to agree! What a wonderful week of performers and piano repertoire.

I thought as a wrap up I would put a link through to the ‘Upbeat’ interviews. Have a listen when you get a minute.

Thank you to all that came along and we look forward to seeing you again next year... yes, NZIPF 2013 is happening - watch this space!.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/20120420

http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/audio/2517057/nzipf-review

http://www.podcast-directory.co.uk/episodes/nzipf-review-18016821.html

John Eady

NZIPF Chairman

Closing Night

Alas all good things must come to an end... and what a way to finish with the husband and wife team of Natasha Vlassenko and Oleg Stepanov.

The recital was book ended by two duets starting with the Debussy Petit Suite and finishing with a wonderful performance of the Ravel Rhapsody Espagnole.

In between we were treated to a feast of solo Liszt repertoire including in the first half - the Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude, Liebestraume and Hungarian Rhapsody performed by Oleg and in the second half the Sonetto di Petrarca No 123, Trancendental Etude no.12, Sposalizio and Hungarian Rhapsody No.11 played by Natasha.

All concerts have been recorded by Radio New Zealand for broadcast later this year.

This morning, as I write, I have been flooded with calls and emails from people with positive feedback on the week’s festivities. Please feel free to comment and offer any constructive advice – at the end of the day we are not concert promoters but merely piano enthusiasts with a desire to provide a valuable music experience to the New Zealand community.

Post by John Eady
NZIPF Chairman

Move Over Boris?

Well not entirely perhaps, but Sofya Gulyak’s recital at the Concert Chamber last night was simply astounding. What else would you expect from a young rising Russian megastar performing the greatest repertoire from Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostokovich?

From the very fist melodic notes of the Rach five pieces Op.3 we knew that it was to be a wondrous and magical night and Sofya certainly didn’t disappoint.

It was very hard to pick a favourite with such fantastic music. C# minor prelude of course but I was particularly taken with the two short Poemes Op.32 by Alexander Scriabin.

At this point I would like to give a heart felt thanks to Prof. Tamas Vesmas, the NZIPF Artistic Director for providing us with such fantastic talent. These truly are pianists of a quality that we have not heard in New Zealand before and I can’t wait to see who he sources for future festivals.

Post by John Eady
NZIPF Chairman

China's Loss New Zealand's Gain

Having recently taken up a position at The New Zealand School of Music in Wellington it became very obvious as to why Jian Liu is creating quite a stir amongst the NZ music community.

Despite having injured his wrist the previous Friday, Jian gave a masterful performance of a very taxing programme. His intellectual prowess was matched by his equally formidable technique and in particular his interpretation of the Liszt B minor (one of my personal favourites) brought out facets of the music which I had not previously heard. Once again you could hear a pin drop in the Concert Chamber as every ear was glued to model D Steinway.

As I write this blog Jian is conducting his masterclass at the Lewis Eady showroom and it is fascinating to get an insight into the minds of these fantastic performers and how they put together the architecture of the music.

Post by John Eady

NZIPF Chairman

Oh My God

... the piano gods that is!

I need to buy a new Thesaurus as I’m about to run out of superlatives.

Tonight’s recital was a concert of THREE halves - the first half followed by the second half, followed by the SIX encores and TWO standing ovations in the third!

For those of you who couldn’t make it... you just missed possibly one of the best piano performances we are likely to see in New Zealand.

As one awestruck concert goer said ‘imagine how good he would have been if he hadn’t been suffering jet lag’.

As luck would have it though, we still have three fabulous concerts to go, including another up coming Russian superstar.

Don’t miss this one!

Post by John Eady

NZIPF Chairman

NZIPF Opening Night

The New Zealand International Piano Festival saw Wellington pianists Richard Mapp and Emma Sayers performing a mixed piano duet and piano duo programme.

Much of the programme was perhaps not repertoire that we were familiar with, however, that is the beauty of festivals such as these where one can be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Last nights performance was definitely one of those occasions and the favourite for me was the Lutoslawski - variations on a theme of Paganini which brought the recital to a fitting close.

Richard and Emma not only commanded the keyboard but a spellbound audience.

Here’s looking forward to Boris Giltburg this evening.


Post by John Eady
NZIPF Chairman

Scallop Garnished Soup, Chardonnay & Schubert...

All came together in the first of three delightful dinner-concerts at Mollies Boutique Hotel featuring pianists from this year’s New Zealand International Piano Festival.

Diners were treated to a ‘sensory extravaganza’ which consisted of a three course meal matched with wines supplied by Kemp Rare Wines.

In between courses concert pianists Richard Mapp and Emma Sayers performed a selection of the duet programme that they will be playing at the Concert Chamber this coming Saturday.

The food was divine, the wines from Purriri Hills sublime and the dulcet tones of the Steinway grand completed a magical evening.

Well done Mollies and looking forward to the next one.

Cherry on the top... Best Classical Performance

16 hours of flight fatigue turned into flamboyant excitement as the wheels of the plane thudded down onto the runway of Jakarta International Airport. It seemed almost surreal that after months of anticipation, I was finally here, at my first international competition - my first peek out of a window to the world.

The Indonesia Pusaka International Piano Competition is a youth piano competition, catering for young pianists up to the age of 28. There were 46 competitors chosen across the age groups, 15 of which would be competing in mine - the age group for 11-15 year olds. Upon meeting the contestants on arrival to our hotel, I could see that the competition was going to be fierce. It was interesting to see that all the competitors attended top music conservatories from around the world. 

I was also feeling a little less eager to be compared...

The competition venue was daunting. Two long tables lined the front of the audience- each seat occupied by an adjudicator. I must say that having ten adjudicators from all over the world is not something that I am very used to. After my performance, I got a chance to speak with each of them. I felt it was incredibly beneficial that I was able to do this as they all gave me tips on how to improve my performance.

Overall, my experience in Jakarta was absolutely amazing. Being awarded Best Classical Performance was the cherry on top for me. I met lots of young performers, and we have now become great friends.

I’d like to thank Lewis Eady Charitable Trust for sponsoring me - without them, this trip would’ve been impossible. Given the opportunity, I’d enjoy returning to IPIPC again.

Post by Sylvia Jiang