Piano World Newsletter December 2018

In-Tune, News from the Piano World December 2018

In-Tune, the Piano World Newsletter

December 2018 Issue

Check the In-Tune Newsletter Archives to see what you’ve been missing and catch up on what’s been happening!

Brought to you by Piano World The world’s most popular piano site, home of the World Famous Piano Forums!
(Frank Baxter, editor – founder – owner)
(Kathy Ford, Office Manager & Customer Service)

A NOTE About Links in our Newsletter:
The email service we use to send our newsletter (called Active Campaign) creates custom links in order to track data from our emails.
The links in this newsletter will begin with pianoworld.acemlna.com and yes they are safe to click on.
PLEASE – be sure you have picture viewing turned on for our newsletter

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Yes, the picture is me. Kathy suggested I’d look a bit like Santa if I let my beard grow, so I decided to give it a try this year. I play some Christmas gigs this time of the year, including for young children at a small church in New Hampshire and a sing-a-long party our friends/neighbors host. It was pretty amusing to see the children’s faces at the church as they tried to figure out if I was the big guy himself or not.

And when I’m walking through the stores these days I can see the little ones looking at me and their eyes get bigger and bigger. I smile and wink at them.

The tree behind me was decorated by Kathy, she is also the one who does all our arts and crafts (you can see some of her work later in this newsletter).
Her handy work includes Bird Houses that look like upright pianos, complete with pedals made from grand piano damper spoons, hand-crafted music boxes (she can also transform any bird house into a music box), and key hanging racks made from actual piano keys.

A Note About Contacting Me
If you sent me an email, a PM, or even a printed letter, please know that I receive multiple hundreds of emails a day and multiple phone calls. In addition to running Piano World (albeit with an important assist from our volunteer moderators) I also run our online store (PianoSupplies.com) including all the programming and marketing, tune pianos, play gigs, work craft fairs, do volunteer work, and help Kathy take care of our home. I’m 67 years old, and while that isn’t all that old, I don’t multi-task as well as I used to.
Point being if you don’t hear back from me I’m not ignoring you. I either didn’t get your message or I put it in a “to be done” pile, one of many.
Feel free to reach out to me again if I haven’t responded in a reasonable amount of time.

How It All Began
People often ask me how I got into the piano business, and how I came to create Piano World.
The About Us page has an overview. Or…
This video is the full length interview I did with Dan Del Fiorentino and his lovely wife Suzanne for the NAMM oral history program.
Frank Baxter NAMM Oral History
I’m proud that Piano World has become one of the most popular and influential web sites in the world dedicated to all things piano. If you are new to Piano World, Welcome! If you’ve been around here for a while, thank you for being part of our family.

By the way, Piano World is not a hobby!
People often assume Piano World is just a hobby, when in reality it (together with our online store PianoSupplies.com) is a major part of how I make my living. Those ads you see on Piano World help support it (hosting fees alone are over $6500 a year, we run 8 CPUs to support our forums!). While we don’t ask anyone to pay for using the Piano World web site or our forums, we do appreciate everyone who steps up and makes a purchase, takes out an ad, becomes a subscribing member, or makes a donation.

Christmas CDs from some of our Members
I asked a few of our long time members about their Christmas / Holidays albums.
I personally own a copy of each of these and love listening to them.
Jeffrey Biegel (concert pianist and long time member) The Steinway Christmas Album is through iTunes, Amazon, Arkiv Music and all online outlets (Jeffrey Biegel)
Steinway Christmas Album

Robin Spielberg (pianist, composer, member)
(THE HOLIDAY COLLECTION and AMERICAN CHANUKAH are both solo piano) The other ones are piano with some instrumentation: Holiday CDs
HOLIDAY SHEETS: Holiday Sheet Music (Robin Spielberg)
" I have new sheet music too for holiday.
Best, Robin"

Robin Meloy Goldsby (aka The Piano Girl) (pianist, composer, author, long time member)
My holiday album December is available on all streaming platforms. The CD version can be purchased here: December (on Amazon.com)

Dana Cunningham (pianist, composer, member (and tuning customer of mine) )
Silent Night Christmas CD
The CDs can be purchased on Dana’s website www.DanaCunningham.com, cd baby, Amazon, and downloaded from her site, as well as cdbaby, and iTunes.

Join Our Tour of European Piano Makers!
UPDATE:
Two members have stepped up and offered to help us organize the next piano tour (Thank you Jim and Sandy). They were with us for the 2011 tour and plan to join us for this one.

We’re still not sure who the travel agency will be, working on that.

A number of people have expressed an interest in another tour of European Piano Shops similar to the one we did back in 2011. You asked, we listened. Right now we’re in the “how many people really want to go?” phase.
Please visit This Post for More Information
Then, if you think you might genuinely be interested please let me know.
You can reply within the thread, but it would be a good idea to send me an email with Piano Tour in the subject line.
That way I can easily see how many people are interested (be sure to let me know how many people in your party) and I’ll have your email to keep in touch with updates. frank@pianoworld.com

The 2011 tour was 12 days, starting in Hamburg Germany, ending in Vienna, Austria. We will do it a bit differently this time. For one thing, I’d love to include Italy in the trip (Fazioli anyone?), and I would very much like to go back to the amazing museum in Vienna that was full of planes, trains, and automobiles, plus musical instruments including very rare pianos, and even rooms full of gold objects.

Please let me know if you are interested in the summer of (we’ve decided 2019 wouldn’t give us enough time to plan) 2020 piano tour.
I will soon start posting a list of people who have expressed an interest, once I do you should check the list to be sure your name is on it if you responded positively either online or directly to me.

Cool New Stuff in Our Online Store
PianoSupplies.com is our online store for music lovers, it is a division of Piano World.
We sell hundreds of music related items and are constantly adding new ones.
In the picture below you can see Hand Crafted Key Holders, Upright Piano Bird Houses, and Music Boxes. Our resident crafty woman Kathy (my partner) hand makes each and every one of these at our Piano World headquarters in Parsonsfield Maine
You can also see a few of the hundreds of other music related products we sell in our online store (picture taken at a craft fair we exhibited at recently). All bird houses can be made into music boxes as well for an additional $10. Choices include Fur Elise, Waltz of the Flowers, Claire de Lune, Bethovan’s 5th, Swan Lake.

Please take a minute now to Check Out What’s New in Our Store

SPECIAL SALE!
Keyboard & Roses Piano Bench Cushion.
Regularly sell for $79.95 or more, now only $39.00 (while supplies last).

We also sell benches,lamps, cushions, music related party goods, tuning equipment, piano moving equipment and so much more.
And we offer free shipping on Jansen Artist Benches* and Hydraulic Piano Benches by Hidrau* and CocoWeb Piano Lamps* (*contiguous U.S.)

PianoSupplies.com is Piano World’s Online Store

Please Browse our Store Today

About Our Forums
The Piano Forums on Piano World are not just one forum, there are in fact several, each with a specific target.
The following is a brief description of our most popular forums.

Piano Forum = The forum just titled Piano Forum is geared toward discussions of the instruments themselves. It is where you would go to find information about specific brands, or pianos in general. Many piano manufacturers monitor this forum even if they choose not to participate. It helps them to learn what the public is saying about their products, and their competitors products.
Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum = As the name implies, this forum is primarily for professional piano tuner-technicians, however anyone can read what is being discussed. You can also post specific technical questions here, but please be polite and realize the pros that take the time to respond are giving freely of their valuable time.
Digital Piano – Synths & Keyboards = This rapidly growing forum is geared toward the digital side of the piano/keyboard business. It includes digital pianos, electric pianos, electronic pianos, hybrids, and synthesizers & controllers. Discussions here can get pretty technical, but they can also be as simple as "which keyboard has the touch response you like the most?"

You will also find discussions about things like midi interfaces, sound modules, speakers, microphones, sequencers, etc.
Adult Beginners Forum = This is a bit of a misnomer as not all the participants are beginners (nor are they all necessarily adults). The idea behind it’s creation was to give adults a place to feel comfortable talking about learning to play piano later in life. Many of the participants played some when they were younger, got away from playing, and are now coming back to the joy of making music. Of course there are also lots of "adults" who are in fact just beginning their journey.

I’ve found over the years this is one of the more civil and helpful forums where the members truly try to help each other. They even organize online recitals and friendly competitions.
Pianist Corner = Primarily aimed at the more advanced pianist, many of the participants here are at an intermediate to advanced level. No need to be intimidated though, if you aspire to become a better pianist you can learn a lot from these folks.
Pianist Corner – Non Classical = This is a forum for the rest of us. Take me for instance, I play rock, standards, blues, a little jazz and a little ragtime. If you’re interested, you can see/hear me "in action" here On YouTube (thank you to our friend Sam Bennett of Piano Works in Deluth GA for recording and posting this from a previous NAMM show).
If you love to play piano, but classical isn’t your thing, this is the forum for you.
Piano Teachers Forum = Yes, it’s what you think it would be. Primarily for piano teachers to discuss their trade, lesson plans, scheduling, etc. If you are not a piano teacher but have a question you’d like to ask someone who is, please be polite and be patient.
If you are new to teaching piano, you may find a lot of good information here, and helpful people.
Other Forums = There are a number of other forums on Piano World, please take some time to explore them, you may just find something you really enjoy, and learn something along the way.
Some of our other forums include = Events-Recitals-Competitions, Composer’s Lounge, Parties-Tours-Cruises, Photo Gallery, Who’s Who, Member Recordings, Just for the Fun of it, and still more.

Visit the Piano Forums Today!

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Active Topics – Have You Checked?
Did you know you can easily view a list of the current active topics in the forums?
You can view active topics from the last 24 hours, the last 48 hours, or the last 7 days.

Here is an example of the current active topics from the last seven days Piano Forums Active Topics

You can find the Active Topics link at the top of the page, or just use the link I provided above. When you get there, you can always change the time frame to one of the other choices.

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Full disclosure, I own this module (along with a number of others) which I use with the PianoDisc ProRecord system I installed in my Estonia L-190 grand a couple of years ago. I enjoyed it so much I became a certified installer for the ProRecord and ProScan systems (along with my installation partner Larry Buck of E.J. Buck).
Mind you I absolutely love my Estonia piano, much like I’m thankful every time I see Kathy, I’m thankful every time I see my Estonia grand sitting in our living room.

But having the option of tapping into all these other wonderful instruments, plus the ability to play silently (with headphones), and finally, to make composing so much easier by connecting to composer software, well it’s just the best of all worlds.

Piano Parties! We love piano parties! If you are planning to hold one, please let us know. Piano parties are a great way to share your love of playing (and listening) and an opportunity to get non-players or those who haven’t played in years interested. If you find yourself in the area of southwest Maine let me know, we love to host piano parties whether it’s for two people or forty two. And we so enjoy attending piano parties.
Our piano friends in Europe have hosted piano parties every year since 2013…
2013 it was Brussels, Belgium
2014 it was Lisbon, Portugal
2015 it was Lucerne, Switzerland
2016 was in Milan, Italy (Kathy and I went to this one, amazing)
2017 had not one but two European parties, one was in Bulgaria, the other in Spain.
Here are some Reports & Pictures from the one in Spain.
2018 was in Germany Piano Party in Germany

So who is planning a piano party for 2019, and where? Let us know!
Visit This Forum For More Details

We’ve also hosted a tour of European Piano Makers (2011), a Piano Cruise , a Piano Crawl (NY), and several tours of the Mason & Hamlin factory in Haverhill MA and the Steinway factory in NY.
We will be hosting another tour of Mason & Hamlin in the spring of 2019, contact me if you’re interested. Same goes for Steinway in NY.

Not sure what a piano party is?
Check out the links above, and this forum Forum Members Parties, Tours, Cruises, & Meetings
Also, see this Collection of Piano Parties and Tours compiled by one of our moderators (thank you Casinitaly).

New Piano Owners Forum!

PLEASE – Visit this forum and congratulate these folks on their New Piano!
We now have a special sub-forum under the Piano Forum specifically as a place for posts about members getting a new (to them) piano.

I love reading the threads posted by members who have finally purchased their piano. Seeing the pictures and hearing the stories reminds me of one of the most important reasons we are here, to help each other.

And if you’ve found Piano World and/or the Forums to be helpful, we’d love to know that too.
Unfortunately these posts get buried quickly as new threads get created.

If you recently got a piano, or you know of a thread where someone is talking about getting their new piano, please let me know. I’d love to move the threads to this one central place for all to share in the joy of owning and playing a piano.

The New Piano Owners forum lives here , right under the primary Piano Forum.

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Fun & Interesting Stuff

The world’s Biggest Piano?
This post generated some interesting replies and input. Check it out here World’s Biggest Piano

My Favorite Teacher Changed My Life
A contributing journalist for Reader’s Digest was looking for stories about how a teacher changed your life. I submitted one about my piano/music teacher (who became a family friend). All the stories on this page are interesting and inspiring, mine is about 13 or 14 stories down the list… Reader’s Digest Teacher Stories

Just for the Fun of It… A forum for fun stuff. Cause sometimes you just need to laugh. Fun Forums

Have you visited the member recordings forums?
This is a great place to hear some of your fellow forums members. One is a sub forum in the Pianist Corner which features primarily classical music. Member Recordings – Pianist Corner

The other is under the Fun Stuff category and contains hundreds of recordings of all types of wonderful music. Member Recordings – General

I’ll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours
(Show Us Your Piano Room Pictures)
This thread has been running for ten years now!
Every once in a while someone discovers it and adds pictures of their own Piano/Music room.
If you haven’t posted yours yet, please feel free to add them. We don’t care if you only have a keyboard sitting on a table or two concert grands in an elaborate music room, we just love seeing people’s set up and knowing they are enjoying making music.

If you would like to add your pictures to this thread PLEASE be sure to upload your pictures to our servers (see Posting Pictures on the Piano Forums below). Otherwise they may just disappear some day, as you will see in some of the posts in this thread.
the Show Us Your Piano Room Pictures Thread

Thank You – Thank You – Thank You! A big thank you to all the other wonderful people who have made a donation and/or become a subscribing member of our forums.
And why is this important? Please see this post Piano World Is Not Really Free!
if you are professional in the piano industry, (Piano Manufacturer, Dealer, Tuner, Restoration Shop, etc.) you should be advertising on the world’s most popular piano site, Piano World.

If you know someone in the southwest Maine or southeast New Hampshire area, tell them you know a really good piano tuner (me).
Frank Baxter – Piano Tuner-Technician

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Warm Regards,

Frank Baxter
(Founder / Host) &
My Lovely Assistant, Kathleen (Kathy)

Piano World & the Piano Forums, PianoSupplies.com
91,000+ Forums Members, Over 2.7 Million Posts, and always growing!
webmaster@pianoworld.com
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Merry Christmas from our family (Kathy holding Cara, I’m holding Kirby) to you and yours.
(and if you don’t celebrate Christmas, we wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday however and whatever you celebrate).

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Piano World Newsletter December 2018

In-Tune, the Piano World Newsletter

December 2018 Issue

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