Audrey – Page 12 – Audrey's Piano: The Blog

July 7, 2011July 7, 2011

Perfect Pitch: What is A440 anyway?

This week at the studio we have been learning more about A440 (note shown above). A440 is the first “A” found on the piano above middle C. To be in perfect pitch, that string must vibrate at exactly 440 vibrations per second (or 440 Hz). Thus the term “A440”.

For those of you with an electronic or digital keyboard, you are all set! But if you play on an acoustic instrument (which is a wonderful thing), it is relatively important that it be tuned correctly. Some pianos may sound okay, but it may be because they are tuned to themselves and not to the industry standard.

Why is perfect pitch so important? Ear training will suffer for one thing – but in more practical terms – you will be unable to play a duet with anyone else, as it will most certainly sound “off”, likely very badly. Also, if you wish to play along with a recording of your lesson book, or even your favorite pop song from the radio, you will be sadly disappointed with the result.

If you would like to read more about A440, there is a good article at AllegroPianoWorks.com.

Musical Puzzle Book

This summer we’re embarking on a fun project. Each student is being given the opportunity to create a musical puzzle! Crosswords, Word Searches and the like. When the project is complete, we will publish a small musical puzzle book to share with our families.

July 1, 2011January 9, 2014

The Garden Grand Lives

Four days and no less than a dozen hours later, the new piano is complete!

June 28, 2011January 9, 2014

Garden Grand Piano

We’re bringing back the Garden Grand – paint job begins today. We’ll keep you posted.

June 7, 2011June 28, 2011

Piano Guild Participants

An article has just been submitted to our local Free Press Courier for our Guild participants. Keep an eye out for it next week!

June 3, 2011June 4, 2011

Piano Guild Chickens

This afternoon, seven of our students performed at the Cedar Arts Center in Corning, NY. For details, please visit our current Piano Guild Auditions page. Everyone did a MOST EXCELLENT job of performing. Scores were all the “Superior” rating, ranging from 18-27. CONGRATULATIONS all!!!

This year’s art exhibit included the blown glass works of Angus M Powers. They were the most interesting conglomeration of chickens I’ve seen in awhile.

June 2, 2011June 2, 2011

Music Bingo

Tonight during our Winter Makeup Class, we played Music Bingo. Each question was first posed to a student who would draw the answer on the whiteboard. A student was asked to draw a key signature with four sharps and to help them out with the first sharp, I asked the class, “If you only have one sharp in your key signature, what is it?” A quick witted student replies, “Lonely.”

May 18, 2011June 2, 2011

Upbeats

I was reviewing a new concept with one of my students. “Can you explain to me what an upbeat is?” “Yes.” he says. “It’s the note that stands all alone.” “Ah . . ” I reply, “Like the cheese. The cheese stands alone, right?” His reply: “Well, not always. Sometimes there’s crackers.”

May 17, 2011June 3, 2011

Calendar Comedy

In preparation for Piano Guild, coming up in a matter of a few short weeks, I was explaining the deadlines to one of my students. “Today is May 17”, I say. “You have to be memorized by Class on May 23. That’s just six days away. Then you have a lesson the following week on May 31. Then just three days after that . . .” My student interrupts me to say, “Yeah, that would be the 34th”. Actually….

May 9, 2011January 9, 2014

Welcome

Welcome to our new on-site blog. This will be a place for you to check out our current activities and important announcements. In addition to that, sometimes things that happen during lessons humor me enough to want to document them for future entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!