Episode 5
The Gina Bachauer piano competition has finished, here are links to the second performance of the finals and to the competition website.
A teacher
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by a busy schedule yet still found moments of inspiration that reignite your passion?
Good lighting is important to playing well and being comfortable at the piano. If the room you are in has good diffuse lighting, you’re probably ok, but if your room has a single light in the centre of the ceiling, it can be difficult to get even lighting over both the keyboard and the music you may be reading. So, you may need a specialised lamp of some sort.
A good lamp will light up the pages evenly, that’s not too hard, but it also has to illuminate the keyboard, and that’s 1.5 m wide.
The type of lamp you will need will depend upon what type of piano or keyboard you are using. There are lamps made specifically to sit on top of an upright piano and illuminate the music stand and keyboard.
My piano is the Kawai hybrid grand, so it has the same low profile that a grand piano with the lid closed has. After looking around I settled on the CIVHOM Piano Lamp that I saw in a Living Pianos video. The lamp clamps to the top of the music stand on the piano and easily lights up the whole keyboard and the music stand.
My YouTube channel recommendation is LivingPianosVideos, link in the show notes. Living pianos is presented by Robert Estrin a pianist with a long history of performing and educating. There are over a thousand videos on the channel going back fifteen years, so you won’t run out of things to watch soon.
The videos all tend to be short, around five minutes, and they cover topics including performance notes for pieces and the history of both music and piano manufacturers. There are technique tips, insights on the psychology of playing and just about anything else that you can think of to do with pianos. There is even a section when Mr Estrin dresses up as historical composers and pianists and plays in their style on era-appropriate instruments.
This is an eclectic channel, if you’re looking for something unexpected for your piano viewing, I can recommend LivingPianoVideos with Robert Estrin. There’s a link in the show notes.
You can contact me:
via email at david@pianofinally.show; this is probably the best option
the show website, www.pianofinally.show
Instagram and Threads @pianofinally
and on YouTube
all the podcast directories - list
here's the RSS feed
Some of the links to books and other items mentioned in the podcast are affiliate links for Amazon or other providers. If you use one of these links, a commission may be paid to me at no additional cost to you. Thank you if you use a link.
All reviews of products, websites and services are unpaid, and no sponsorship has been received for any content on this podcast.