The second annual New Zealand International Piano Festival (NZIPF) will be held in April 2012. 

This exciting event brings together concert pianists from all over the globe, to perform solo and duo piano recitals at the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber - and also provide a supreme educational experience for New Zealand’s up and coming musicians through masterclasses. 

Festival dates - NZIPF 2012 

Saturday 21st April  Richard Mapp & Emma Sayers 

Sunday 22nd April  Hyoung-Joon Chang 

Tuesday 24th April  Sofya Gulyak

Wednesday 25th April  Jian Liu

Thursday 26th April  Oleg Stepanov & Natasha Vlassenko

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Saturday 21st April - Richard Mapp & Emma Sayers

Programme : 

Schubert - Allegro in A minor (Lebenssturme) 

Ken Young – Variations on a Prayer 

Samuel Barber - three pieces from Souvenirs 

Poulenc - Sonata 

Interval 

Ken Young - Fantasy for two pianos 

Bartok - Six pieces from Mikrokosmos

Lutoslawski - Variations on a theme of Paganini 

When you go to a concert by Richard Mapp and Emma Sayers, you get not just two outstanding single pianists, but also a pair of piano-duettists, and, when pianos permit, a first-class piano duo team. 

Richard and Emma have been working together as pianists and recitalists for close to ten years, and are both currently on the staff at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington. They are in great demand not only as a duo/duet ensemble but also as soloists, as accompanists, and as performers of high stature in a variety of chamber music ensembles. 

These two pianists are a great choice for ringing up the curtain on this year’s NZIPF programmes, and they’ve chosen a programme that shows them in two allied roles. In the first half, the music will be all piano-duet, and following the interval and the set-up of a second Steinway grand, there will be three varied pieces for piano duo. 

As well as Schubert’s Lebensstürme movement - a rarely heard but powerful sonata-piece for four hands - Richard and Emma are offering Poulenc’s sardonic “Duet Sonata” and three witty items by the American composer Samuel Barber. 

The Piano Duo works in the second half are by Bartók (from Mikrokosmos), and a tightly compressed set of flamboyant variations on a Paganini theme by Polish composer Lutoslawski, written when he was hiding from Nazi occupying forces during WW2. 

Two special items will be excitingly unknown for many. Not only do they offer new experiences, but they help to confirm the NZIPF as a New Zealand event, since they are by Wellington composer/conductor Kenneth Young. The first is Variations on a Prayer for piano-duet (“a wonderfully evocative piece” according to John Button of The Dominion Post) and the second is called Fantasy and is for two pianos. “The Fantasy of the title,” says Young, “reflects the fact that I simply let my imagination run wild... I really enjoyed writing the piece... and I hope the audience will too.” 

The bet is that the audience will love it. 

“Beautifully integrated playing...” The Dominion Post 

Visit www.nzipf.com

Blog post by Sharon Seeto

Lewis Eady Charitable Trust Administrator

Is your child learning on a suitable instrument?

To give your child the best chance of success in learning the piano, it is important that they learn on a suitable instrument. In essence there are three options:

1. Keyboard

2. Digital Piano

3. Piano

Keyboards

These are the least favoured option as they have light weight sprung actions derived from organs and do not resemble piano touch at all. At the very best 6 months is the maximum a child should learn on one of these and never never never buy a keyboard that isn’t touch sensitive – they are a complete waste of time and money!

Also bear in mind that keyboards are like computers and will depreciate in value very quickly.

Digital Pianos

These are a much better option than keyboards as a learning tool. They have a full 88 note keyboard with weighted actions which in some cases - like the Kawai digital pianos - can be very close to a piano touch. 

Bear in mind though that these too have their limitations. The best quality ones like the Kawai are rated by the Associated Board up to grade four level. Most digital pianos won’t take you that far but are still way better than keyboards.

Pianos

The best option but ‘Buyer beware’! Buying a second hand piano is like buying a second hand car of the same age. There are almost 8000 moving parts in a piano action. If the piano you are looking at on Trademe hasn’t been well maintained or has been exposed to high humidity or excessive use, you could be buying very expensive firewood.

All our second hand pianos are selected and serviced by qualified piano technicians and we stand behind each and every one of them with a comprehensive warranty. 

One last point on second hand pianos. Pianos are like humans – they get old and die!

They don’t get better with age.

They don’t appreciate with age.

And in many regards you would be far better off with a digital piano.

Get good advice, do your research and then come and see us at Lewis Eady for the best deal.

Finance available on request.

Poste by John Eady (Lewis Eady Ltd)

The Life of a Lewis Eady Music Tutor

Ah, the opportunities for a Lewis Eady Music Tutor don't cease over the holidays... I was given the chance to tutor at the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's 'Sistema Aotearoa' holiday programme at Sir Edmund Hillary College in Otara. The inspiration for the programme was 'El Sistema', founded in Venezuela by Jose Antonio Abreu. 90 percent of the 250,000 children attending El Sistema's music schools are from poor socio-economic backgrounds. 

Five and Six year olds came to learn Violin, Cello and Double Bass and worked towards a group string and vocal performance at the end of the week for friends and family. 

In week two I ran 2011's second installment of 'Lewis Eady Rock School' where seventeen creative young people learned the ins and outs of performing in bands and writing their own Rock songs. They worked tirelessly for 3 days finally putting on a show where they shook the foundations of M.A.I.N.Z. in stunning unrelenting ROCK style.

One member of the Rock School programme was new to our country and didn't speak english. His constant grin behind the drumkit and the Sistema Aotearoa experience reminded me of the power of the language of music and what can happen when people of varying social and creative backgrounds are brought together to share it.

Post by Brent McGarva 

Brent joined Lewis Eady in 2005, he teaches piano, keyboard, guitar, bass guitar, ukulele and Rock Band at the Lewis Eady Music School and Lewis Eady Rock School in the school holidays.

Brent holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Auckland, Grade 8 Piano and is currently studying to become a classroom teacher. He writes and performs both classical and rock music and is the Principal Coach of the Lewis Eady Rock School.

Solid vs. Laminate

There is a widely held belief that if an acoustic guitar has all solid wood it will sound better than a guitar that is laminate. In every belief there’s a small lie (see what I did there). While it’s true that the best sounding guitars are all solid, it’s not true that because a guitar is all solid wood it will sound great. Now to try and explain that particular riddle...

First off, what do I mean by all solid wood? It’s easiest to look at the top of the guitar. If you look inside the sound hole of the guitar at the cross grain you will either be able to see grain running through the thickness of the guitar, or you’ll see three pieces of wood glued together (a wood sandwich). The wood sandwich is three pieces of wood laminated together. The top piece is usually more cosmetically beautiful than the other pieces. Laminate tops are strong, but because of the glue holding the wood together they’re also very rigid.

This shouldn’t be confused with a guitar having two pieces across the face of the guitar. There should always be two pieces (preferably book matched which is a whole other blog).

The cheapest guitars are usually laminated all over. Mid priced guitars and most entry level high end guitars (Martins, Matons etc.) have solid wood tops but laminate or composite back and sides. High priced guitars are all solid wood. In a nutshell to get a piece of wood not only thick enough to make a guitar but structurally sound, and cosmetically beautiful it costs more.  So surely if a guitar is all solid wood it will sound better. Less glue making the more free to move than if it was laminate means more resonance and tone right? Yes, but not exactly.

I often tell the story of Antonio de Torres. Antonio de Torres is widely considered to have created the modern classical guitar. He innovated the making of guitars in Spain from 1852-1893. His belief was that the most important part of the guitar was the top. If the top was well made from solid wood the guitar would sound great. To prove this point in 1862 he made a guitar with solid spruce top and papier mache back and sides. The guitar sounded amazing; much better than the all solid wood guitars made by his contemporaries. 

This quote by Antonio de Torres explains the point of this blog "my secret is one you have witnessed many times, and one that I can't leave to posterity, because it must with my body go to the grave, for it consists of the tactile senses in my finger pads, in my thumb and index finger that tell the intelligent builder if the top is or is not well made, and how it should be treated to obtain the best tone from the instrument."

The most important contributor to how good a guitar sounds is not what it’s made from, but the skill of the person/people who made the guitar. The question we often get asked is, is a Martin guitar really that much better than a cheaper guitar, or do you just pay for the name?  Yes, if you play a quality guitar of any brand it does sound better than a badly made guitar (of any brand!). And yes you pay for the name… but not just the name. You pay for the 175+ years of collective guitar making skill and innovation passed down and nurtured for 7 generations of guitar makers that the name stands for. Does a D-28 sound better than a DX1, yes of course it does… that’s when we can start talking about what neck joints, bracing, oh and what solid wood does to the sound of a guitar.


Does a Farida D-8 for $299 sound and play better than solid top guitars for $299? Does a Recording King RD-16 for $599 sound and play better than an all solid wood guitar for $599?

Yes I believe so, but don’t take my word for it. Come into the shop and find out for yourself.

From David Love (Lewis Eady's GM)

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