ALL INFORMATION ABOUT PLAYING THE PIANO

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Piano - a musical instrument classified as a struck chordophone, invented in 1709 with a hammer mechanism and keys. The inventor’s name was Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian from Padua who lived in the 18th century. His invention has its roots in the clavichord and, partially, the harpsichord. In a modern piano, the strings are cross-strung on a metal board in threes for high and mid sounds and in twos for the low sounds. Single strings are responsible for producing the lowest tones.

I have been a professional piano tuner for decades, but I still remember well a time when I was a young piano player, knowing nothing at all about tuning. I only knew that to satisfy my ears my piano needed to be tuned about four times a year, with the change of the seasons, and that my parents could only afford to pay for one tuning a year. In a recent popular movie, a teenaged wizard reminds his friends that every skilled person, even the greatest, started out as a beginner. As long as you have no prohibitive physical limitations, you can learn, with time, study, and practice, to do anything yourself.

A short check lists of Do's and Don'ts for Parents who students are beginning piano lessons. Make clear to your child at the outset of lessons, in an enthusiastic manner, that music training is a long term process, just like school, but with many high points of pleasure along the way. Your child has his own unique pace, so avoid comparing him to siblings or neighbors’ children who may appear to be playing better than he. Anticipate “ups and downs” in his attitude and progress, along with a number of “growing pain” periods. Seriously contemplate how to help your child. Knowing when to help, when to be supportive, and when to withdraw to encourage him to help himself, is a parental art in itself.