How To Choose A Good Piano

Very often people ask me which brand of piano do I prefer to play on ?

My answer is I , of course, enjoy playing a good piano regardless of the name brand.  I love to browse through used piano warehouses because there are countless pianos grands and uprights and there are so many name brands that I even do not know about and not mentioning all those carved wood works on the piano bodies and legs !

A good piano , is not only a piece of combinations of wood and cast iron, brass and steel wires and top quality wool and etc.

A good piano ( can be either upright or grand , big or small )  has its own character , or say …… life!  It is a living art created by human hands, I should say that it has the highest technology with human passion in it.

If you believe that the plants you care for everyday have spirits in them , if you talk to them out loud or just in your mind , don’t you feel that your plants do understand you and they do depend on your everyday’s greeting.   After years and years of loving care your plants will only grow more and more beautiful !  and you, will become happier all along !

That is how I treat my pianos , when I practice , I feel that they understand what I need spiritually and after days and days , months and months, years and years practice my pianos give me back rewards.    If I do not practice , there will be no rewards !  But if I do, the rewards may not come right away but it surely will come sooner or later !  I kneel down in front of the keyboards regularly , yes, down to my knees, well …. to clean the dust off the pedal board and that little space on the floor as well underneath the pedal board.    I also clean the inside of my pianos even the sound board.

I have my personal piano technician in Taipei who takes care of my pianos.   Besides the tuning, he also checks all the specifications of the action and the condition of hammer heads.      One month before my recital he will do the very detail checks on the action and one week before the actual performance  he will recheck it again and when my piano is moved to the stage at the concert hall , all he will do is the fine tuning !

The main purpose that I keep on giving piano solo recitals is because I feel very regretful that my beautiful 9 footer concert grand cannot sing out properly being cramped in my small apartment in Taipei city.   That’s why I will bring my beloved concert grand into a 2000 seats concert hall with the highest grade of acoustic and let my piano sing her heart out !   🙂

I never use any pianos as a tool to gain my personal fame and reputation, I love the piano and when I play a good piano, she talks to me !  I do not punch, attack, beat , pound or do anything rough to make the piano feel uncomfortable. When I play a fortissimo , I hug the piano as I would hug my pet .

Therefore, when you play on a piano , if you feel that you can play musically so naturally then you know you are on a good piano.    But , of course, first keep up our daily practice , yes…… days after days, months after months, years after years and only then, when you play on a good piano you will know for sure !!!