A catalogue of my piano journey

[ByteMixer]

A catalogue of my piano journey these past 2 years (well, 2 years as of April this year).

Hey everyone, been awhile since I've been on here. Kinda been busy rebuilding myself as a pianist.

Started lessons once more April 2022. We had me working with some "simplified" versions of works in an adult beginner anthology book, and I also worked on some exercises in a Czery-Gerner book. So the first 2 or 3 months was spent rebuilding sight reading and some basic technique/pedagogy work. I was going to skip the May recital, but ended up playing my song "Bytemix Funk" for the recital. I kept it to 3 minutes.

Following that, May-Going June, I learned Scarlatti K.32 "Aria" and K.40 "Minuette" Going into the summer, we felt pretty confident, and I was very driven to learn the "Passacaria" from Suikoden 1. So over the summer and moving to Fall recital in November, I learned the Passacaglia from Suikoden 1, and also Chopin's Waltz in A Minor (post.) During those months, I also learned Chopin's Prelude in E minor, and Bach 2-part Invention no. 4 in D minor.

After the recital, going into January 2023, I learned Bach 2-part invention no. 15 in B minor, and Chopin's Prelude in B minor. I started also working on Satie's Gymnopedie no. 1. May 2023 recital choices were originally going to be Gymnopedie no. 1 a duet with my teacher for Schubert's Fugue in E minor D. 957and Chopin's B minor Prelude. However, I also started learning Waltz in B Minor (post.) during that time, and we decided to switch to that since we figured I could learn it in time for the recital. And that's what I did.

Going into summer, I started working on the Fugue "Praise Be To My Master" from Suikoden 2 as one of my recital choices. The other two choices that I also started working on for that summer-going-to-fall were Bach's Sinfonie no. 4 in D minor, and Scarlatti's Sonata in F minor, so managed to get those under my belt for the Fall recital.

Moving on to this year, after exploring some ideas, I learned Mendelssohn's Venetian Gondola Song no. 1 in December, and started working on Mozart's Fantasy in D Minor K.397. I'm currently polishing up the Fantasy, and re-polishing the Mendelssohn piece for a soiree my teacher is holding for us adult students next Friday on the 1st. The Mozart piece is a little longer, so I'll probably only be playing it and one other work for this Spring's recital. The 2nd piece for the recital I've chosen a nice fan arrangement of the "Woodcarving Partita" from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. So I started working on that end of January this year 2024.

The Mozart is just about ready, but I need to polish up my accuracy on the presto cadenzas, and the allegretto section at the end. The partita is mildly frustrating. I basically had it memorized by sight/ear within a couple weeks, but my fingers are catching up. (my teacher says I tend to memorize music freakishly fast, maybe too fast and the fingers have to catch up). So I'm working on keeping things slow with the partita to really work out some trouble spots (some very large interval jumps, and octave-to-chord pulses that give me a little trouble.) So feeling a little impatient, haha. Here's the link to the arrangement: https://musescore.com/user/18042251/scores/6660070

Going into summer, I'm hoping to start learning Chopin's F minor Nocturne op.55, and it should be within the realm of possibility, but might be a bit of a step up in challenge. (but then, so were the Passacaria in 2022, and the B Minor Waltz and Sinfonie in 2023).

We've been exploring other options to start looking at as well. My teacher was suggesting some Debussy, and I did go through and mark some pieces in my book that I kinda liked such as Reverie, The Little Shepherd and The Snow Is Dancing from Children's Corner, Danse Bohemienne, and also Valse Romantique and La Plus Que Lente. Outside my book, possibly Images no.1 (1894). I also have the Ravel Prelude in A minor, which is short (and I think his only Prelude?) which would be doable.

But, after some reading of various forum pianist opinions/posts/etc. I think I decided, I might stick with the late classical/romantic era for now, since it'll do more for building my technique. I think French Impressionist Piano is kind of like a side-step or an "aside" that while nice to learn and play, wouldn't really do much for my technique building because it's kind of over there off to the side from what I'm trying to learn and work on right now. Good for ear training and musicality, though.

SO, I'll talk to my teacher on Tuesday, but going forward, I'm thinking I might dive back into some more Chopin and a little bit of Brahms. Looking at things I have worked on/am working on, and thinking on the Henle scale system, I'm rough solidly Henle Grade 5, overlapping into Grade 6 (intermediate and late intermediate) probably not quite ready for Grade 7 (Early difficult/advanced).

So, I may decide to learn some more Chopin Waltzes I like and work toward learning Polonaise in C Minor op. 40, and with Brahms, I think I might learn some of the short waltzes, then work toward a couple Intermezzi, and aim for his Rhapsody no. 2 in G minor (Henle Grade 6, so I should be just about capable of going for it.)

So I think that's my plan for now. And as of yesterday's lesson, I'll be starting in on Chopin's F Minor Nocturne Op.55 no. 1



Also, as an aside:

As I'm starting to hit more complex and nuanced material now, I'm in the market for a small grand piano, possibly within this next year. So I've been window shopping around. Ideally I'd like 5'8" minimum length (which works nicely with my teacher's Mason & Hamlin). But ideally, I'd want 5'10" and no longer than 6 ft. We'll be taking out the long dining table in the dining room and putting the piano there. (We'll have to raise the chandelier a bit so I can open the piano lid.)

So I'm shopping around keeping Kawai, Yamaha, Suzuki, older Knabe & Co. (before Sammick acquired them so KN-series), Boston, or Mason & Hamlin in mind... or possibly Schomacker, which I understand is a Philly make, though I've also heard they have particularly heavy keys, and any Shomacker is going to b really old and either need restoration or parts will be hard to find. Though I did find one local in Malvern that had a restoration done more recently.

Basically avoiding the mass-manufactured pianos out of the same Chinese factories that produce Samick/Pearl River/Kimball/ etc. etc. etc. (Yes I'm aware that Knabe KN series are made by Young Chang, but the KN were Korean made, not Chinese... KB was Chinese, and then they got acquired by Samick in 2001).

I have a few bookmarked like a Kawai KG-2C/D and RX-500, and a Yamaha G2, a Knabe, a Shomacker, and some others. But I've got some time before I'm ready to buy, so I'll just see what comes up.

When I do find something that fits my needs/desires, I'll try to arrange to see it in person with my piano tuner tagging along to get their opinion. Hoping to find something local so the moving cost will be low.

And in any case, I promised the wife that I wouldn't jump on any grand piano purchases until she's more comfortable with the idea, so probably later this year. But for now, the window shopping continues! (and I just missed out on someone giving away their Kawai grand piano here in Pennsylvania. The listing disappeared as I was typing up that I was interested, and wanted to know the model and length. Ugh! Probably for the best, don't want the wife to panic.)

[ByteMixer]

Semi-related, I resurrected a few of my compositions from my college days, and I have an arragnement I wrote of the Fugue from Suikoden 2 "Praise Be To My Master" which are up on my MuseScore.

Fantasy in B Minor for piano
https://musescore.com/user/647711/scores/13974178

Processional and Recessional string quartets:
https://musescore.com/user/647711/scores/14084827
https://musescore.com/user/647711/scores/14136763

"Praise Be To My Master" Fugue from Suikoden 2 for piano
https://musescore.com/user/647711/scores/13321816

[ByteMixer]

Quick (okay not so quick after typing all this out) update. So, since earlier this year, I've low key been in the market for a parlor grand piano. But I didn't start seriously looking until around the beginning of April. Reason being that my old Baldwin Hamilton upright isn't really cutting it anymore, and my teacher thinks that it's affecting my progress and practice in a negative way at this point. (having a little trouble getting over the hump of smoothing out the alberti bass figure in Mozart's D Minor Fantasy). So yeah, it's time to move up to a grand piano to keep making forward progress in my journey.

I did manage to find one that was suitable for my needs; A Knabe KN-590 (not a "real" Knabe, but it was from 1998 back when PianoDisc owned the Knabe and Mason & Hamlin names. During that time they outsourced to Young Chang in S. Korea to build the pianos. Some were installed with the PianoDisc systems before being moved to dealer floors). They wanted $5200, which given the depreciation schedule was a very fair price. This piano was set up for a player system, but didn't have one installed (thankfully). Overall, the tone was really good with some sparkly upper octaves, and the alto and tenor regions had a very nice warmth to the sound. The action was a good medium-to-medium light. It was within my budget, so I went to see it in person to get a good feel for everything, and later managed to schedule my tech to evaluate it. So far, everything great, went to get the check from the bank after talking more with the seller.

And then at the very last possible minute, they backed out, got cold feet and decided not to sell the piano at all. They decided to keep it. I didn't get a sense of it, but it seems they were waffling back and forth a lot on selling or not selling. And for the price they were selling it at, they couldn't find something comparable to replace it that had a similar tone or action. So yeah, kinda wish they made the decision BEFORE I went through the trouble of getting the check. So I cancelled the check. Also, no hard feelings on the seller for their reasoning for backing out. Just wish I had known sooner.

So the search continued for a couple more weeks of nothing of interest really showing up. A few baby grands at 5ft. or 5ft. 1in. and some larger pianos that were too old for me bother going through the trouble of assessing and hiring my tech to evaluate and find any red flags.

And then finally, last week, I came across a Petrof that had its price significantly reduced. It's a good one, too, from 2004, which is well after their questionable years, but before they rebranded and started jacking up their prices to an absurd amount. (or maybe it's not so absurd, depending on the quality of the materials and such). It's a Petrof IV Chippendale from 2004. 5ft. 8in. or 173cm, not unlike a Mason & Hamlin Model A, or slightly larger than a Steinway Model M.

I went to see it on Monday. The reason for the price reduction is that the owners put the house on the market back in February. Everything was moved out of the house but the piano. The owners can't take it, not enough room, and they were downsizing their living space. The house is now pending, and under contract with the settlement happening just a few days after my birthday. Buyer doesn't want the piano. So they massively reduced the price to a point that it's basically a steal. The con, is that here isn't enough time to schedule my tech to evaluate the piano; they need it removed by the 20th at the latest (which happens to be my birthday). And my technician is a busy dude, so the soonest I could get him out wouldn't be until either the very end of the month or possibly beginning of June at the soonest.

But, from what I know of the Petrof brand, my limited knowledge of the internal workings and mechanics of a grand piano, and my experience as a musician, I felt that this was a safe purchase. Yes, the piano is a bit out of tune, but beyond that, nothing else seemed amiss to me. The action was even across the keys. Keys were all even. The action was a good medium with good smooth responsiveness. No sticky keys. The room was empty so a bit reverberant, but the piano had good dynamics soft to loud. The hammers were in good condition, don't think there were any string lines in the felt. The inside of the case was nice and clean, strings were shiny, not much dust on the soundboard or the harp/frame. Dampers didn't feel too loose on the strings, damper felt looked good. Pedals felt good and responded well.

Despite being out of tune, the character of the tone was present with a rich bass octave, and good clear tonality all the way up to the highest C. The lowest bass notes (A0 through C-1) also had good tonality and weren't distorted like on many pianos. (many grand pianos and uprights of lesser quality also tend to sound a bit metallic, percussive and atonal up the very last half-octave.) So, overall, I felt like the piano was a safe purchase.

It IS 19 years old, or 20. The serial number puts it at a very late 2004 build. So, it may possibly need a little bit of regulation (tends to be the case for pianos 20 to 25 years old). Or it might not need it for a few more years. And of course it needs to be tuned (which would have to be done anyway after being moved and sitting in the new climate for a few weeks). But I can't imagine much else needing work. My only real concern is I don't know how long ago it was last tuned. Hopefully the pin blocks are all in good shape and the tuning pins stay nice and tight. That's the one thing I had no way of really checking.

But yeah, all in all, everything good so far. Except even at the reduced price, it's a little over my budget. So, I negotiated, and the realtor agreed to split up the payments. I'm paying a little over 2/3 now, and I'll pay the rest of the piano after I receive my birthday money from my parents and in-laws, so I'll pay the rest after the 20th.

A Petrof IV Chippendale from that year range, 1998 through about 2004 or 2005 (NOT the newer P173 Breeze model) typically sells for about $15K on the private sales market. A piano dealer would sell it used for up to around $22K. Of course all that depending on the condition of the piano. But you could reasonable expect somewhere between $13K and $25K depending on the seller or dealer. I'm paying $8K for this beauty. First chunk of payment is paid, and the piano moving company is retrieving it on the 16th.

She's a beauty!

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