Hi, I'm new here. I stumbled upon this forum while I was searching for tips on how/where to buy a piano. At last, after couple weeks of searching I found THE ONE! I'm getting the Kawai-K3, and it's going to be delivered tomorrow, and I am soooooooo excited This is like a life long dream to have a piano, and I'll be having one, and it's great that there is a piano forum to shoutout my excitement. I'm sure you guys understand how I feel. I've always lovvved playing the piano when i was a kid, had few years of lessons, and haven't touched the piano ever since. I'm planning to buy the Yoke Wong DVD course on improvisation, any thoughts if this is good? Where can I find free music sheets? Cheers.

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on getting a piano, and especially getting a Kawai. they are great pianos and will give you much enjoyment. Gaby tu

You've come to the right place and you'll have so much fun. Nice score on the Kawai, they are indeed great pianos!. Take a look here for some good tips http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthrea...html#Post972650

As for the sheet music, there are plenty of reg places to get it (since it's not expensive) but also a quick search (google/bing) would yield favorable results to your initial question.

So where in CA are you, North or South?

Enjoy the journey!
SC

Welcome to the forum, liferocks, and to the wonderful world of piano!

I don't know anything about the Yoke Wong series, but you might try searching the archives for information. (Hint: when you click on "search", make sure you select the "advanced" option and make appropriate filters; the basic search function ain't worth a hill of beans.)

There's lots of free sheet music on the web, and some of it (mostly classical) is even legal. Just google "free piano solo sheet music" and see where that gets you, or google your favorite composers + sheet music.

For high quality classical sheets, try the Mutopia project website (www.mutopiaproject.org). Their stuff is all in lilypond format, and they have PDF & MIDI files available. A couple other places are imslp.org, and cpdl.org. The imslp archive looks like it is mostly scanned in copies, so visual quality may vary. And cpdl.org has a mix of lilypond, rendered, and scanned in copies.

One problem with the free downloads is that they usually don't have all the extras, such as fingering suggestions, and the quality can be all over the board. Whereas most in many cases you can pick up graded repertoire collections for around $5 to $6 per book. One collection I've seen mentioned around here is Keith Snell's graded repertoire series, which I've been meaning to check out (they are around $5.95 a book, and have a dozen or two selections per book). Another book that I recently picked up is from Hal Leonard, "essential keyboard repertoire" early-intermediate collection. This book is arranged by composer date, and the first half of the book is very good. The second half not much so, apparently because there wasn't much good early-intermediate selections to choose from from the late 19'th - early 20'th century.

Well, TODAY is THE day, the piano is going to be delivered. I can't wait. I am eager to look into the links and suggestions you all gave, thanks a lot for the valuable tips and the warm welcome. I already feel I belong here. I'm from San Jose, CA.

One could also check out a local library and see if they have any sheet music to check out. People tend to overlook that option quite often when it comes to "free" sheet music.

I only recently discovered the Petrucci Music Library online -- http://imslp.org/wiki/ is the URL, I think. It's fantastic -- TONS of public domain classical sheet music, all for free. I ate a couple Haendel operas, and if you look up "Serse" under his operas, you can find a version of "Ombra mai fu" for piano, and one for piano and cello. There's tons more -- lots of everybody's stuff, everything by Chopin, Bach, Beethoven ...

And congratulations. :-) I know what it's like to be a pianist without a piano.

Welcome to the forum,

Don't forget to post some pictures and a recording, if you can.

Serge

Hi folks, i just had been practicing with my new piano for the past week, and loving every minute of it.
I have relearned 2 piano pieces (Somewhere in Time, and a simplified Elana Joy by Dave Brubeck) Takes a lot of time and practice to get back to the rythm.
Last night, I practice for 4 hours to re-learn Bach's Invention IV. My wrists hurt. Is there a technique for proper use of wrists/hands while playing?
Thanks!

Hmmm.... four hours practice straight on one piece would make MY wrists sore, that's for sure. It's hard to tell without seeing you play whether your discomfort was just due to the sudden increased demand on those muscles/tendons, or because of some problems with your technique (e.g., playing with too much tension, holding your wrists too high or low). My advice would be to cut back on your practice time, and/or break it up into smaller chunks with plenty of breaks; and vary your playing routine. I know that in the past I have gotten captivated by certain pieces and would play that one piece over and over for an hour or more straight... and I would start developing soreness.

The straight answer to your question is that there IS a technique for proper use of wrists/hands, but it is hard to explain in words. You basically want to play as relaxed as possible.

Hi Life Rocks,

Congratulations on a very nice piano.

Have you seen the movie Matrix? You know, in the movie they upload some software into a person's brain for some skill like Kung Fu or flying a helicopter and within seconds, the person knows how to do it? I wish they have a piano program that I could upload into my brain....

Imagine the ability to smash through solid wood boards with your bare hands. These people train for years that results in micro-injuries in their bodies causing bone thickening and calcification and all sorts of physical strengthening before they were able to do those super human feat years later.

I consider playing the piano a super human feat even though it is not as violent as kung fu. Still, your whole body and especially your fingers of course have to be trained over time to do those amazingly things on the piano. So the excitment aside, there is nothing to help with sore hands after 4 hours straight if you haven't built up to it. Imagine running 4 hours straight when you haven't run in years. It's not too good. The best thing you could do is to take lots and lots of breaks in between.