Interesting article on Elton's Yamaha grand...

Now, is this a modified acoustic grand or is it an electronic piano in a grand case? How would the MIDI integrate? What am I missing?

Oh good lord!

from that web site:

To answer your question it is a real acoustic grand with a disklavier system installed which allows other midi instruments to be triggered as well as being a full digital player piano.

An excellent article that explains a lot.

I'm almost certain that it is a modified acoustic grand, featuring a beefed up Disklavier system.

I've got tickets to see Sir Elton in March. Woohoo! This article gave some technical background that'll add to my appreciation of the show. Thanks!

Mary Anna
http://www.maryannaevans.com

looks cool!

Yamaha pianos must be the best brand of pianos if Elton John prefers that particular brand. i think it's b/c of it's bright sound. i think Yamaha sponsered the Tsunami Aide Concert, b/c every piano they had throughout the U.S. and London was a Yamaha. did anyone see the red one he uses during his television appearances? and the purple one Alicia Keys used in her 'Karma' video? i think those are custom-made, b/c they don't make them in any other colors, unless you [have a lot of money] and contact Yamaha and request it.

I don't think they are the best pianos. I really dislike the "bright" sound you get from a yamaha. They all sound the same to me... machine like. They sound very tiny, and almost too bright. Someone asked Elton John in an interveiw why he chooses Yamaha over any other brand, and what model Yamaha does he have in his home.

His answer: I choose the Yamaha for professional purposes (im guessing thats becuase yamaha pays their artists), howver I have all steinways in my house.

This was on one of those news shows in 2002. I remembered it because my dad taped it for me because i was out of town.

Maybe Elton really plays a Steinway on stage with a Yamaha label on the side and the fallboard!

wouldn't that be ironic?

well, yes. but Steinways have a mellow/bright sound, and the one that Elton played on the Tsunami Aide Concert, i'm sure, was a Yamaha, b/c it had a really bright sound, but i really liked it. i guess it suits his style of music.
-but i'll have to disagree with you about the Yamaha sound, and i'm about to tell you why.
-not long ago i visited my local music dealer, and the Yamahas i played there were really mellow-sounding, compared to the really bright sound of the Cononber Cable pianos. but the only problem was that b/c of the name brand, they were awfully overpriced just to be baby grands at 14 grand. even if money was no issue to you as it is to me, you'd still be a fool to purchase a baby grand at that price.
-and there's something else amiss about the afformentioned Yamahas. i also noticed that the black keys had a dull texture, as opposed to the glossy texture Yamaha black keys are suppose to have.
-you probably don't understand what that had to do with anything, but don't those pianos sound like knock-offs to you? based on what the physical characteristics of Yamahas are, it sure as hell do to me.