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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Originally posted by Nina: I am cracking up, however... since in all of the pictures the center of attention is the PIANO... the people are just specks. I guess we know where our priorities lie! Nina
LOL!! I thought the same thing! I tried so hard to get a good pic of the group but they were usually smushed together looking at Bruce Clark! Many of my pics are of the backs of people's heads! :p
The tour was so intense, there was little time to socialize. Something to remember for next time....
BeeLady
Life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!
I can relate to your frustrations, Chris, in posting pics. I thought I was all ready to roll yesterday, having gone through the resizing, etc., and ended up with monstrously huge pics. Now this morning I can't even get into my web space via FTP. Bah! Eventually, maybe I'll succeed, but now with Frank's pics, mine are pretty duplicative anyway.
Like Beelady, I attempted to get people in many of my shots, but same thing - lots of backs and very cramped. Beelady, btw, I regretted not having more time to talk to you - before I knew it, you were gone.
Now that a bunch of us from New England have finally met, how about a PF party in this neck of the woods?
Yes Yes Yes. Take advantage of the momentum you have right now. Y'all NorthEasterners must experience the unique pleasure that we So.Calers have known. A piano party is a magical gathering of people from all over the sociological map. We only have one thing in common, love of pianos and their music. And if someone wants to rush into a piano party, I may be able to attend this Friday or early Saturday. My flight back to California is Sat at 9 PM out of Boston.
I felt kind of awkward before the first party (at my house) but when Penny burst in with her white chocolate pudding dish - gave me a big hug - and bubbled, "Where is the oven?" the ice was broken and every party just gets better. Really folks, we can be too careful and hesitant to get together with people now a days. The media has convinced us to bolt our doors, and that everyone is after you. So far, I've learned it is just silly. The pianoforum has proven to be a great filter for all that concerns me about strangers. I have met some of my best friends through Frank’s Piano forum.
Well, Kenny, I had kind of set aside Saturday as Maine coast tour day with you, but if you'd prefer another social event and if others are up for it, I'm game to have a little afternoon, piano soiree on Saturday. My house is a bit of a wreck with my do-it-yourself bathroom project in its interminable state of incompletion and cat-shredded living room furniture slated for replacement/reupholstery, kitchen floor slated for resanding, but what-the-heck, I'm not proud, and the piano is in good working order; plus, the real pianist in the family Peter/Fredshopin will only be here for another couple months before he spreads his wings.
So, we have 4 forumites on the roster: JF, Fredshoppin, Kenny and me - - any other takers?
kathyk, I wanted so to talk to EVERYONE! Did get a short chat or two in the elevators, and with Cool Nerd, her lovely sister and TerryTunes at lunch, but....Guess next time we need to set aside a few hours to just schmooze!
kathyk, kenny is right and we should get a party together soon. Unfortunately the day of the tour, when the clock struck three, POOF!, I turned back into Minivan Mom!
BeeLady
Life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!
Thanks,tour members, for the great pics and descriptions of the factory. I'm a proud owner of a Model A. Wish I could have participated in the tour. Let's hope the new AA and coming CC are a great success!
I didn't leave for home till Tuesday evening so this is about the first chance I've had to post my reactions to the tour and get-together.
It was really a successful effort on everybody's part and I was really glad I attended.
As almost everyone has mentioned, the M&H people went way out for us. Setting up the "Piano Row" on the 6th floor, the radio headsets that allowed us to hear clearly Bruce Clark's clear explanations and answers, the scheduling of a rim glueing/bending so that we could see it from beginning to end, an excellent lunch, and the fact that they gathered most of their top doggies together for us.
Both the Burgett brothers were there and were very accessible and friendly. Cecil, the national rep and a doubly black-belted extrovert if ever there was one, was there {if the term icebreaker comes to mind, add Antarctica's Ross Shelf to your vision}. {but in a kind and gentle way :} or consider an episode of The Sopranos with Mr. Rogers as a guest star} Paul Van Ness{sp?}< their institutional sales rep and a piano professor at a California university played exquisitely.
That name may be wrong, there was another piano professor from S. California attending, as his school is in the process of buying a lot of new pianos.
They also provided a couple of "watch your head"ers and "you forgot your shoes again, Bob" shepherd types that kind of brought up the rear. The finished AA that was on the sixth floor was the prototype, and was built pretty much from scratch. They used the new rim jigs and some other new equipment that will be used in the production models, but much of the rest of it was used, as it was being built, to "calibrate" the rest of the jigs for the production models. I'm not sure how much midnight oil they may have burned to get the prototype ready for us by the 10th, but it is certainly appreciated. And the finished product was very nice.
I'm not sure how many people mentioned how knowledgeable and sharp Bruce Clark was, but I'm going to restate that opinion, He knew the process and theory inside out and a person would have to be pretty thick not to learn a lot from listening to him. {hmmmm..that's odd...has anybody seen my shoes?} Well, it WAS a long tour. About 9 am to 4:30 pm with a lunch break.
Seeing Frank, RealPlayer and Bernard again was good, and meeting Kenny, SameKenny , and SameKenny's1,2 and 3 wasn't as confusing as I thought it was going to be. CoolNerd, CoolSis, KathyK withtheKellyGreen Velour, BeeLady and TerryTunes from Tewksbury were all great and JeannieW showed the sand to be the first PianoWorldWoman to overcome the fear factor and go up and play at the end of the tour. Though jittery at first, when she started playing the music she had written herself it was very enjoyable.
One of the Kenny's was the first PW guy to play {Frank's earlier appearance doesn't count, as he's the PW owner, and I saw one of the brothers slip Cecil a $50 before he went up....the other was bringing out a lid stick that looked remarkably like a baseball bat} Did I mention there seemed to be some reticence among the PW tourers to play solo? Well, there was at first, but I think pretty much everybody played by the time it was over.
One of the Chris's was up there early on too. {W1, I think.}
Axtemes played his way down the entire row of pianos for us so we could compare the same music on the different pianos.
BeeLady, I think it was you that mentioned a shop in Boston at 1090 Boylston called PianoForte. Used pianos only. I went there Tuesday {after going to Boston Organ & Piano and Steinharts} and had a good time. They had maybe 6 9-footers {2_Baldwins, 2-S*S, Chickering, Yamaha{?}}and a bunch of assorted smaller ones. There was a mottled Oak Mahlin 1895 7footer that was gorgeous but $48k. 2 or 3 smaller early 1900's Chickerings with good sound and touch. I hadnt had the opportunity to play any early Chickerings before the trip to Boston, where there are many of them.
I see a self-styled name change coming. Kenny, you've started a trend.
Drat! KathyK, I am even going to be in Maine Saturday, but on a tight schedule. Otherwise, I'm all ears to a Northeast get together. The room we have the piano in is probably too small, but we could also try and put something together at our home sometime.
Englemen, Eastern White and Sitka spruce were the ones Bruce Clarke mentioned during the tour. I am pretty sure Steinway uses Sitka. There is a rivalry in that regard, as one might expect. I just watched the DVD we all got. Its a great presentation that goes further into the history of the company than was covered during the tour. At one point, though, what stood out to me was how in describing the hammers M & H uses in their current pianos, the narator mentions how no "lacquering short-cuts" are taken. If that doesn't sorta go accross the bow, I don't know what does .
Axtremus is the one to quiz on the pianos that were there. He was the only one to play virtually the same thing on one after another, with all else quiet. I only tried the AA and a BB. Light and responsive, as Kenny said, was my take on the touch, as well.
Never in my life have I experienced a tour quite like the M&H on 5/10. What a treat. What a thrill to have been a part of it.
Just when I think that I have read the last post, I find another thread that has been started. It has been such a delight to read everyone's stories and know that others were just as pleased.
As the rest of you have stated, I would also like to chime in to once again thank Frank. I might have at some other time ended up taking the tour in Haverhill but it would have never compared.
A round of applause to all at M&H. Bruce Clark impressed all with his knowledge and never hesitated to answer a question and there were so many. I have come away with an impressive more positive feeling for the large factory on Duncan St.
Last spring I purchased Larry Fine's book and for the first time discovered somewhat the complexity of how a piano works. This spring I had the chance to witness the making of a piano.
And to add to that I had the chance to meet other forum members who have assisted me with an opportunity to recover from a disappointing time in my life by sharing my love of the piano with them.
I believe that Axtremus was the first of the forum members to play the piano at the end of the tour. I want him to know that his playing almost brought me to tears. It took my breath away along with so many others. I look forward to hearing Axtremus play in Westford the end of June. I hope others from NE will try to make it over to Westford on the 26th of June. I don't know if I can overcome my fear of playing in front of an audiance..... and there was mention of a... stage??? hmmm.... I'll have to think about it.
Realplayer... did your jacket clean up ok??? I sure hope so. I thought it pretty amusing when we came out of one section and Cecil was giving each individual a chance to be "hit" with the air gun!!! I truly enjoyed listening to Cecil play and the song he played.... Now I'm having a memory lapse... what was the song that Cecil played????!!!! What a terrific arrangement he played.
Bob.... so great meeting you! You were everything I expected and then some!! How did you do your next time getting into Boston??? Did you find the Wilmington train station? I took my grandson over to where I worked on Tues and showed him the "big trucks" but I would also have enjoyed checking out pianos with you in Boston.
KathyK... your Chopin piece was wonderful. Hopefully we will get together sometime and not only share our love of piano's but all the home projects that await each of us!! I head to the Cape tomorrow with my daughter and her family for one last visit with family and then will drop them at Logan on Saturday morning. I don't think I could handle the ride up to Maine afterwards but want you to know that it sounds tempting!!
John Williams & guests... I meant to ask if you know of a singing group on the Cape called the Victrola???
All the forum members that I had the chance to engage with in some conversation, I would like you to know it was a pleasure meeting and sharing the day with you.
Chris FWIW I have a small living room. I just bought several of those cheap resin chairs. It was fine. Besides, people meander about. It isn't a recital. I think the key to having a pleasant piano party experience is to let go and just let whatever happens happen. It doesn't have to go a certain way. Your piano is to-die-for, really I was blown away. Plus several people in the room will absorb some of the very ample sound. Your home and piano room are both wonderful for a party. Please people - your house doesn't have to be Martha Stewart perfect (Look where all that got HER!) It is about music, friends and Pinaos.
Chris W1 wrote: "Axtremus is the one to quiz on the pianos that were there. He was the only one to play virtually the same thing on one after another, with all else quiet."
It's great to read all the wonderful comments and reports about the tour. I realize I have not actually written anything about the tour or the pianos except a "thank you" note... I am a little tied up with something else these few days, but I do hope to follow up with posts on the tour and the pianos later... as soon as I can find a big continuous chunk of time to organize the info and write it up.
Posted by RSVK1 (Bob): "That name may be wrong, there was another piano professor from S. California attending, as his school is in the process of buying a lot of new pianos."
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That was Dr. John Pickett a Professor of Music at Central Washington Univ. in Ellensburg, Washington. Check this out:
http://www.cwu.edu/~music/keyboard/pickett.html
Jeanne W
Music is about the heart and so should a piano be about the heart. - Pique
My apologies for being this late in extending my thanks and those of Cool Sis to Frank and Cecil and everyone at Mason & Hamlin. I flew home on Tuesday and left immediately for a project out of town. This is my first opportunity to post since Monday.
The tour was absolutely wonderful! I heartily second the glowing praise posted by others. It was quite a memorable day! Well beyond my expectations! I got to see where my baby A was born. The piano building process is extraordinary and Bruce Clark did a great job of explaining each facet.
Matching faces to screen names from the forums was great fun, too! I so enjoyed getting a chance to meet, although briefly, most of the forumites. The highlight of the day for me was the opportunity to hear the piano soloists and pianos. The musical talent of the Forum Members is awesome! The pianos each had a unique sound and personality and could accomodate the various styles of music played.
This was a fabulous opportunity! Thanks all!
The piano professor who played at lunch was John Pickett from Central Washington. We realized in the elevator that he had been at Davidson College at one time, which is here in my town. Small world.
Originally posted by Jeanne W: Posted by RSVK1 (Bob): "That name may be wrong, there was another piano professor from S. California attending, as his school is in the process of buying a lot of new pianos."
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That was Dr. John Pickett a Professor of Music at Central Washington Univ. in Ellensburg, Washington. Check this out:
http://www.cwu.edu/~music/keyboard/pickett.html
Jeanne W
Thanks Jeanne, now I understand why he played so beautifully:-)
My Keyboards: Estonia L-190, Roland RD88, Yamaha P-80, Bilhorn Telescope Organ c 1880, Antique Pump Organ, 1850 concertina, 3 other digital pianos ------------------------- My original piece on BandCamp: https://frankbaxtermrpianoworld.bandcamp.com/releases
Me banging out some tunes in the Estonia piano booth at the NAMM show...
Wasn't he something? I was amazed he could play so amazingly well and still look out the window! And yes, kathyk, he was oh so nice a person as well. (So were all the lovely folks from PW!)
BeeLady
Life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!
I am thankful to our M&H hosts for a fabulous day. I will not repeat the comments from the other tourers but...it was awesome. For once, I am not envious on other geographically divisions of PianoWorld and I felt that I was in the perfect spot!
I have seen many factories of different sizes, so the industrial landscape was definitely not new. I was, however, very impressed by the attention to detail (well, very much needed for this kind of product) and the dedication of the crew. I was very, very impressed by the multi-hour performance/presentation made by Bruce Clark! And in the end, the proof was in the pudding, er, pianos...
Meeting citizens of the PianoWorld was also rewarding. It was definitely inspirational to hear various people play; I think that it pumped seriously my piano adrenaline.
In summary, thank you M&H, and keep building those wonderful pianos!