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Interesting Piano

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JPSmit

JPSmit

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Yesterday on the way to Kingston (where I am this weekend) I stopped in to visit my brother. He is the principal of a residential school. It is a provincial school board (rather than local) and is for kids who can't read. So, they come from all over the province, 40 of them and have one or two years of intensive learning. They stay all week and go home on weekends. It is a pretty innovative school - with a stunning array of technology. The school itself is on the grounds of Sir James Whitney School, a school for hearing impaired kids. This school has been around for decades and goes back to a time when there were 800 students living on sight - there are now 80, some of whom are also living there. This means that the school is chock a block full of mothballed (or rented out) space from another era - shops/ kitchens etc. etc. Anyways, in the midst of my brother's school is an old Steinway Grand Piano (My brother is a musician so actually uses it with the kids)

If you look at the picture, you will see it is worn all around the edges. This from literally generations of hearing impaired kids putting their hands on the edge of the piano to "feel" the sound. Except, while they were at it, they scratched with their nails. Thought you might enjoy the pic.

PS apparently the piano itself is quite rare - I think because of its size.





 
Just how much does a Steinway?
Neat piano by the way with lots of class; I hope it keeps on making music for many more years.
 
Looks like a 9' grand. That's one heck of a piano. It's doubly amazing the way the finish has worn.

I've played a 9' grand once in my life. It was definitely pretty amazing the way it played and how the low notes, in particular, resonated. Among grand pianos, I've always been partial to Kawai.
 
Very interesting it is in a school for the hearing impared and the feeling for vibrations of sound. My wife, who spent her senior high school years in Olathe Kansas, knew a lot of the kids from a hearing impared school there in Olathe. She actually learned sign language to be able to talk to them. She would have made a great teacher as she's always loved helping people, but, I took her away a couple years later, never to return. PJ
 
Looks like an older Model "D"... and probably needs tons of work (if the case is any indication). Many of these have actions that are fully worn (whipens, hammers, bushings, etc.), and some need re-stringing (especially in the base section). Still, wonderful old beast.
 
Boink said:
Looks like an older Model "D"... and probably needs tons of work (if the case is any indication). Many of these have actions that are fully worn (whipens, hammers, bushings, etc.), and some need re-stringing (especially in the base section). Still, wonderful old beast.
Click to expand...

Separate but related, this is my cousin - who seems to be one of the very best in the world.

https://www.concertpianoservice.nl/

his book

https://www.thevoiceofthepiano.com/

He is currently in China setting up a school to teach tuning/voicing
 
I tried tuning my piano at home, an old spinet that was my mom's. I didn't do too badly for a first try. Tuning a piano makes trying to tune your carbs look downright easy. OTOH, the skill I picked up from learning to hear the differences in intonation from string to string (which sounds like beats or a warble that has to be evened out) on a piano comes in very handy when trying to synchronize the carbs. It's basically the same principle.
 
SaxMan said:
I tried tuning my piano at home, an old spinet that was my mom's. I didn't do too badly for a first try. Tuning a piano makes trying to tune your carbs look downright easy. OTOH, the skill I picked up from learning to hear the differences in intonation from string to string (which sounds like beats or a warble that has to be evened out) on a piano comes in very handy when trying to synchronize the carbs. It's basically the same principle.
Click to expand...

I'm impressed you got it even close (given the need to block other resonating strings). It's also important to go back and forth as the stretch will be constantly evolving. Good tuners get down to "cents" (hundreths of a tone). Many now use electronic devices, but the use of the wrench to tighten strings on the pin-block is a real art.
 
Boink said:
I'm impressed you got it even close (given the need to block other resonating strings). It's also important to go back and forth as the stretch will be constantly evolving. Good tuners get down to "cents" (hundreths of a tone). Many now use electronic devices, but the use of the wrench to tighten strings on the pin-block is a real art.
Click to expand...

Having played piano since I was 7 definitely helps. Although I didn't use it, I have an old, but still operational, Conn Strob-o-tuner, which was the original tuning aid. Apparently, they are still well-regarded as an electronic aid for tuning. I wonder how the Strobe-o-tuner would work on dual HS2 carbs? I ought to try that one day.
 
Interesting piano, indeed. Neat back-story as well. As I first read it, the "Kingston" part threw me. Though instantly: "What's he doin' in Jamaica?!?"

Then recalled listening to radio as a kid on the US coast of Lake Erie. "Limestone City" had an AM station we could pick up.

Growing up in a home with a piano (mother played), we were "forced" as kids to take lessons... as a result I took up the clarinet. Couldn't play either one today and ~just maybe~ could peck out "Chopsticks" onna keyboard if I had an hour. :smirk:
 
You can't beat a strob o tuner; they are really fantastic bit of tube technology.
 
Boink said:
Good tuners get down to "cents" (hundreths of a tone).
Click to expand...

My grandfather was as professional piano tuner and church organist -- watching him tune a piano was fascinating. Used tuning forks and his watch, would get it just so, so that when he removed the tool from the peg the pitch was right on. Talk about old school.

And a very neat piano, JP. Lots of music played on that old girl.
 
There's a book, "This is Your Brain on Music," written by a guy that got interested in sound perception after working as bass player, then a recording engineer. He stated that there is a connection from the cochlea to the cerebellum so the brain perceives music- pitch and beat- with us being conscious of it. I wonder if some of the students could respond to the music. I wonder if there are people that do not have the connection. I remember watching new recruits marching in formation with a DI yelling in some private's ear...
 
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