ZylBlog | Music

Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (February 21, 1844 – March 12, 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher. [ref 1]
Widor’s most famous is contained within the 5th movement of his 5th symphony — and also a challenge to play. By far, this is my favorite organ piece to listen to.
Frederick Hohman plays this piece on the Chantz pipe organ at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey. His performance of this piece is one of the best I have found on the Internet. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKejfYzB3ak

Reference:
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Marie_Widor

“What is the difference between a rank and a stop?”

This is a question often asked, and often not answered very well. I’ll do my best.

Straightforward: A rank is a set of pipes, and a stop is the selector for a set/sets of pipes.
This means, when you pull a stop, you are indicating which ranks you want used. There are some complications following straightline thinking, and I will attempt to describe them.
To have a full rank, you need at least 61 pipes (because the average organ keyboard has 61 keys). Some stops might be limited to less than 61 notes, but this is something you’ll either have to bug me to write about or learn on your own. (Side note, “Tenor C”, or “Tenor” stops usually stop short with an octave of keys left in the bass).

Let’s pretend we have an 85 pipe trumpet rank.
If there are 61 keys, where do the extra go? We have many possibilities, and it’s all based on the pitch (not tone) of the pipe.
We can have a 8ft stop, which plays everything at the octave played on the keyboard.
If we wanted a 4ft stop, we would need 12 more pipes to play one octave higher.
If we wanted a 16ft stop, we would need 12 more pipes to play one octave lower. And so on an so on for 128ft, 64ft, 32ft, 2ft, 1ft, etc.

One common issue assuming that the statements are above are true, and then examining your organ is that sometimes the stops themselves, even on the same ranks, are called different things. (Eg: On the same rank, you may have a 4ft “Clarinet” and an 6ft “Trumpet” stop, which work on the same ranks, but because of where the typical pitch is for the instruments they have been modeled after we can call them different things. In my opinion: this is just confusing.)

Also, stops include mechanical features which do not create noise on their own, but add effect or modify tones. Mechanical stops include things such as octave couplers (to move everything an octave up or down), pedal to great, great to swell, swell to great, great to pedal, and other variants as well as tremulants, presets, and much more.

I wish I had a picture for this.

Here is a topic one can get into trouble for hosting, but not get into trouble for linking! And I am a linking machine.

Two websites which allow you to download sheet music:
http://my-piano.blogspot.com/
— and —
http://ultimatesheetmusic.wordpress.com/piano-sheets/popular-piano/

Most of the music listed on these websites have tabs and chords.

Many of the links are broken, because the music is not actually hosted on these websites, but these websites are only indexes to online sheet music placed in various locations. Content from the linked websites are often deleted due to copyright violation.

Ethics: Buying sheet music is really strange. The artists seldom make money off of the sales, arrangers are almost never original, and many publishers get away with making small changes to the originals and re-copyrighting it again.

Because of this, there are often many versions of popular songs and they end up being different from what you expected. You can only preview the first page on sheet music sites, and the recordings are often not great.

Since the process is so disorganized, I never buy written music unless it from a thrift store, garage sale, or an original arrangement.

Hear that sound? It’s familiar, it’s something you’ve probably heard all of your life. It’s just much slower than expected. Often thought of as the tune to “Ode to Joy”, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is thought by many to be one of his best pieces. Quite some time ago, this symphony was digitally stretched (see, I made it computer-related) over a 24 hour period without pitch distortion. This stream has been live since 2005, playing just this — quite cool. Read the rest of this entry »

Where can I find free classical, open source, or public domain music scores?

Free-scores.com sounds like your typical “get the first page free with a sample watermark, pay for the rest” website just based on the domain. If you, like me, have spent hours upon hours trying to find your favourite tunes in the public domain for free but to no avail, this website may be for you.

Manipulating their search engine to give you just what you want can be a little tricky, but a little tweaking will help you find just what you want.

Music for just about every instrument can be found on this website.

Instrument Selections include: (from their website…)

WINDS	STRINGS	KEYBOARDS
Bassoon Clarinet French Horn Flute Oboe Recorder Saxophone Trombone Trumpet Tuba	Banjo Doublebass Harp Guitar Lute Mandolin Piano Viola Violin Violoncello	Accordion Harpsichord Organ Piano OTHERS Choral, Voice Drums Orchestra Other instru.

Which is better? An Upright/Cabinet Grand Piano, a Spinet, or a regular old Upright piano?
(For the sake of simplicity, we will call the Cabinet Grand an Upright Grand)

See Also our article on Piano Buying Tips

Disclaimer: I am not a piano expert, nor do I claim to be one, nor am I a certified music professional. The advice below comes from the experience I have in buying my own pianos and self-research.

The three most common types of pianos that you will find in your typical home that tend to be for student piano players are usually limited to Upright Grands, Spinet’s, and regular Uprights.

The obvious difference between these pianos is the size. A regular studio upright piano is usually 42″-45″ tall. Anything taller than that is considered an Upright Grand. Spinets are only slightly higher than the keyboard, but sizes do tend to vary.

The advantage of a spinet is, of course, the size. They are great space savers when it comes to wall-space, and tend to be lighter. Unfortunately, the sound can be a bit “muffled” on some spinets, and the keys are not very sensitive.

An upright grand tends to be louder. The control is more or less similar to that of a regular upright, but many consider upright grands to be a much more enjoyable experience. Most older pianos tend to be upright grands (though this can really vary by the area you live in). Older upright grands are often made to look beautiful, and the heavy, thick wood will cause the piano to be extremely heavy — up to 700 lbs. Be sure you have enough people to move your piano, and watch your back! (Literally, your back…)

A regular old upright tends to be the regular standard of student pianos today.. not too big, generally the newer ones are not too heavy (they won’t require a football team to move). Since the availability of older used uprights seems to be lower in many areas, they will be harder to find. Most new pianos are uprights.

So, which is better?

I would go with an upright grand. Not only do they look wonderful in just about any home, but they are often readily available and tend to have great control over the dynamics of sound (loud to soft sounds). The action often feels better on these pianos, but since most of them are older the action may also be much more worn and other damage may interfere with playing. This is where playing the piano before you buy it comes in handy — if you don’t play the piano, it may be wise to find an experienced piano player to help you out.

What kind of piano do you like the most? Vote in our poll and let us know, feel free to write suggestions and other advice in a comment as well.

[poll id=”4″]

Piano Buying Tips: Things that you might want to know

Also see our article about which is better (for home pianos) Upright/Upright Grand/Spinet

Disclaimer: I am not a piano expert, nor do I claim to be one, nor am I a certified music professional. The advice below comes from the experience I have in buying my own pianos and self-research.
1. An antique piano is not necessarily a bad thing. (1. a., if the piano is being sold for a high cost because it is “antique” don’t buy it. Pianos DO NOT gain value over time, nor do they really become valuable for being “rare”.)

2. You should always play a piano before buying it. And, by play, I mean: Really sit down and play. If you don’t play yet, see if you can find a willing piano player. Be sure to look at other pianos before deciding on just one.

3. Space, space, space. The width of any piano does not vary, it’s the height that you need to worry about. It’s not a matter of it hitting your celling, but a matter of clearing wall-space. Also, some pianos may have more depth, but this varies by piano and does not have a general rule to go by.

4. Research the piano. Call the seller and ask them for a serial number, the piano brand, and the piano series (if the series had a name). The serial number is usually located on the soundboard towards the top, if it is not it may be on the panel under the keyboard. This latches on, and pulls out. Type this information into the Internet and try to find duplicate pianos, do consider that most information you will find will be based off personal opinion and that the piano being reviewed may be quite different from yours. Many pianos may be impossible to find on the Internet — don’t let this discourage you, if you can’t find it just go see the piano and try it out.

5. Inspect the soundboard. Ask the seller to do this for you before going to see the piano. Nearly all older pianos will have some damage to the soundboard.
When you go to see the piano, you will want to inspect the soundboard yourself: Open up the top of the piano and look down inside (bring a flashlight!). Look for cracks on the wood in the back of the piano.
Open the panel underneath the keyboard of the piano. This panel stands vertically and has a clip that must be disengaged before pulling the panel out… the clip style varies. Once that is open, you will see the bottom of the soundboard. Inspect for cracks.

6. While you have the piano open, look at the strings. If you see a great amount of rust, this might indicate that the quality of the strings has degraded over time to the point in which it may affect the sound and life of the string.

7. If strings of the piano are broken, ask the seller how they broke. If it was due to age or other unknown causes, other strings are likely to break in the near future. If the strings were broken due to physical abuse (say, a kid hit it with a hammer) then it may be worthwhile to replace the strings — do consider though that string replacement can cost a lot and the note of the replaced string may sound different from the others.
Along with this, it is also very expensive to replace the action (the moving parts within the piano). Only buy a piano if it is fully functional.

8. Bring a tuner with you, if you can afford to. Many tuners will take a look at pianos for you, but at a cost. In many cases, it could be worthwhile but not completely necessary.

9. Search for broken keys. The action (moving parts) of the keys is very difficult to replace, and if broken keys are in areas that will be played a lot it will affect playability. A tuner can help assess damage of keys. The ivories (though no longer made of ivory) can be replaced without sacrificing a great deal of money.

10. Figure in the cost of a pitch raise and tuning. After your piano sits at home for two or three weeks and settles in place, you need to get both tunings before the piano starts to sound pleasant. Tuning and pitch raise costs vary, so you will need to call your tuner. Some people choose not to tune their pianos, which is fine — it will not hurt the piano, it will only result in a sound that may not be as enjoyable.

Used pianos can be the best kind there are. Since the wood has settled inside the piano, it won’t go out of tune as quickly as a brand new piano (though if you can afford a brand new piano, you can afford the tuning) but will still need tuning every year (or every six months, if you can afford it).

Where can I find a piano?
Another often asked question. Watch the classified ads of your paper (look under “Musical Instruments” and “Ads Under $100”, get a Nickle Ad paper (or another free paper that just lists classifieds), and keep a close eye on www.Craigslist.org and watch your local area for musical instruments.
Tip: On Craigslist, don’t just look under “Musical Instruments”, also search for “Piano” or “Pianos” in the search bar.

Hopefully this article has helped you prepare for the long process of deciding on a piano to buy.

I finally found an accordion fingering chart. See it here:
http://www.accordionlinks.com/play.html (Under; “The Bass”> “Layout”)

This what you were looking for? Then please look at our sponsors websites and help me make some money.

I also found this on that same page:

“If your accordion has more bass buttons, 80, 96 or 120, then see Hans Palm’s Stradella basses layout page; the extra columns are simply copies of columns that are there already: e.g. the next column on the right would be the C sharp column. But that is simply D flat under a different name. (an 80 bass accordion does not have the diminished row)”
From “Accordion Links — How To Play”
http://www.accordionlinks.com/play.html

Please visit their website, it looks like it has many useful resources.

I am not associated with the linked content in any way

November 2009: This page becomes most popular, most requested page on ZylstraBlog.