Music Monday - How to Buy a Used Piano

The exciting news this week is that we have a piano!! A real acoustic, no electricity required, piano!

How to buy a used piano is as complicated or as simple as you make it. Of course the degree of risk varies also depending on what route you pursue.  Being of limited budget and somewhat picky taste (I grew up with a Steinway piano), I decided to take a little more risk in hopes of a greater return for my dollar investment.

First stop: pianoadoption.com a site dedicated to helping people find free pianos. I contacted two listings and both pianos found new homes before I found them.

Second stop: craigslist. After looking at all the listings in my price range with pictures attached and ruling them out I started looking at any listing in my price range. Craigslit hint - if you are remotely interested in a listing that seems to be a good bargain, contact the poster immediately. Go see the item as soon as humanly possible and be prepared to offer money on the spot if it fits your needs. This is NOT the time for "well, let me think about it." It will be gone if you wait.

I also figured out from consulting local webpages for used pianos (via music stores) that a used piano in a music store or for sale from a piano technician or professional piano movers started at about $800 (out of my budget).

Here's the craigslist post for the piano I ultimately purchased:

hallet davis & co piano for sale - $100

"Piano is a great starter piano. Don't know much about it so if interested going to have to come and look at it. Mother passed away and need to get rid of. Any questions please call at xxx-xxx-xxxx."

No picture with the listing, so before I called I found out as much as I could about the piano.

How old is the piano?  To help answer that question I looked on http://www.bluebookofpianos.com/.  Their Piano Age link was particularly helpful. It told me that if the piano was a vertical piano (and no way did I have room for a grand piano) it was made between 1960 and 1982. Not bad.

What is the piano really worth? Piano World. com as a great article on that question and a super chart to help with pricing: What is my piano worth? chart

Using that chart I determined that if this piano was worth approximately $500-900, possibly more if in very good condition. Deal!

What is the condition of the piano? To answer this question I had to go see the piano. I had already put a call in to a piano tuner hoping to get a professional opinion on the piano, but craigslist success depends on urgency and so I went to see the piano myself with 5 future pianists in tow. It played well. All the keys played. No funky sounding notes. And it was pretty well tuned. So I offered $25 as a down payment and agreed to pick it up on the weekend.

Later that day the piano tuner called me back. He said (contrary to all those "how to buy a used piano and not get a lemon" articles) that pianos don't really hide problems. If the keys work and it sounds good, it's most likely a good piano. He recommended waiting 3-5 days before tuning after moving the piano. Hmm, lots simpler than those experts recommend. He also said that 1960-1970 vintage pianos are among his favorite because they tend to be higher quality than more recent pianos.

Stay tuned next week for: moving a piano......

Music Monday - Practice without an Instrument!

Yesterday my piano, a 12 year old clavinova that has survived multiple piano students, decided that Sunday would be a day of rest. Unfortunately it didn't decide to go to work on Monday and it will have to visit the repair shop. So piano lessons did not happen yesterday and today I've spent some time considering how to practice and teach without an instrument.

Here's the game: LEARN PIANO WITHOUT A PIANO

Here are the resources I'm using:

Piano Keyboard Printable from Color in My Piano

Musical Alphabet Word Cards also from Color in My Piano flash card style words from "ACE" to "GAGGED"

Teeny Tiny Flash Cards from PianoAnne small enough to fit on the keys of your piano! Brilliant!

This week we will work on note identification. If the piano isn't resurrected by next week, we will work on rhythm next week. 

I'll let you know how it goes next Monday.

In the meanwhile I set a goal of playing every hymn in the LDS Hymnbook one time before June 1st. I was actually aiming for May 1st, but this being without a piano hiccup will make June 1st a more realistic goal. I am already at Hymn # 106 out of 341. Yay me!

Music Monday - Note Helpers

For music Monday this week I redecorated my living room. Okay, April Fool's I didn't really do that, but I did add some artwork. Can you see it on the bass clef side of the piano?

note reminders

I also have pictures on the treble clef side of the piano to remind the kids of the space notes and the line notes. The artwork came from debbiedee.com.

In a perfect world my printer ink wouldn't have made my All Cows Eat Grass (Bacon, and Doughnuts - my additions at piano lessons yesterday) look so pink and pale and I would have laminated them before putting them up and my camera would be high quality. But this is real life and I'm happy to have great reminders for the kids so we can start working more on learning the note names and where they are on the piano.

Debbie Dee has some other great piano teaching resources too so be sure to check out her stuff.

from debbiedee.com/piano-teacher-helps.html

Tip #1: Make sure you use the same note hints as the kids piano teacher. My daughter was confused for months when would try to help her and didn't use the same. I had never heard of Elvis' Guitar Broke Down Friday, but I like it better than Every Good Boy Does Fine (too many boys, too confusing).

Tip #2: It's perfectly fine to reuse piano method books (theory workbooks not so much). If you can see the green writing on the piano book in the picture it is actually from my sister's piano lessons in 1995! 

Music Monday - Fast Forward

Today's Music Monday is called Fast Forward because that's exactly what my beginner wants to do. He kept asking me all week what his next book would be. Sunday when I finally pulled it out for him he started trying to play pieces from it by himself. Then I looked and realized he really does have just a few pages left in his Bastien Primer A book. Wow Mr. Z!

Remember the Randon Reinforcement Charts? This is what they look like today (a month later). They are still working their charm.

And in the tweaking things department, I'm going to try doing a "Group Lesson" once a month. It will really be music games and review and a mini performance for siblings, but it will be fun. And after all music is all about playing right?

In the real life confessions department I didn't give my kiddos a lesson last week. So they had to practice the same songs for two weeks. Yep, I'm real and no where near perfect, but I keep on trucking.

Music Monday - Speed Bumps

So not every week can go perfectly right? I reminded K to practice her violin the day after a concert. "But Mom the concert's over. I don't have anything to practice." She ultimately decided to play some of her old songs to earn a chance at the random reinforcement board.

With this week's lessons J and Z were a little out of sorts too. I think it's time to come up with a goal - a concert, recital something!  I'm considering doing a mini recital for a nursing home. Any suggestions? Anyone have experience doing that sort of thing?

And if you need a personalized music tote to help motivate your piano student, I now have them available in the store.

Music Monday - Bead Counter Excitement

Our family practice rating went WAY up this week. In fact Saturday morning I delayed starting our family job time because the kids decided on their own to practice all at the same time. The youngest pianist practiced on a small electric keyboard (I don't have two pianos) - not the best for all the time practice, but it was fine for one day.

Random Tabs Selected from Random Reinforcement Chart

Random reinforcement has worked wonders this week. In fact my five year old demanded his own chart. I'm not teaching him piano yet, but he has other things he is working on and we use the chart for that.

Pros: lots more practicing,
     fewer reminders needed
Cons: a few tears when the randomness didn't work in their favor
     the toddler likes to pull a chair over to where the charts are and lift the flaps

But, what does this have to do with bead counters you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Midweek a package came in the mail. It contained bead counters for our mini musicians! The musicians were excited..... until the first time they practiced and realized that playing each piece 10 times is more than they were practicing up to this point. Then we had some complaints, but by the next day they were eager to use their new bead counters and play the random reinforcement game again. Win, win in my book. More practicing this week and longer, better practicing this week!
   

Bead Counters

Bead Counter Close Up - isn't it pretty?

So where can you get a fancy bead counter you ask? I'll tell you. Leslie at The Practice Shoppe has bead counters and other nifty stuff to help make practicing fun. The small pictures on her website don't really do justice to the quality of the bead counters she sells. Things I like about the bead counters:
   1. they are a handmade product
   2. they are super sturdy. Miss Toddler has been carrying them around testing this.
   3. the wire is super thick - not going to get easily bent out of shape
   4. the beads are a nice size - not too small
   5. they are colorful and there are lots of designs to choose from
   6. they are a great toddler toy when not being used for music practice

The bead counters are a great asset to our music program and they would be a great asset to yours. Go visit The Practice Shoppe and find one your musician will love whether it be camo, or dogs, or tie dye the Practice Shoppe has designs for everyone.

Disclaimer: the bead counters were received as part of a trade agreement. The opinions expressed are min and mine only. But get one for your musician and I think you'll like it as much as I like mine!

Music Monday - The Beginning

J Practicing Piano Upside Down = FUN!!

Welcome to the first ever Music Monday!

I'm a crafter + musician = crafty musician! I love good clean humor and I think practicing music can be fun. My children don't always agree with me on that last statement, but we are working on it.

On Music Mondays I want to share what is working (or not working) for me as I help my own children learn the joys of music.
 
Mom - maker of music and crafts and piano teacher to Miss J and Mr. Z.

Miss K. - 5th grader in school strings program learning violin

Miss J. - 3rd grader learning piano

Mr. Z. - 1st grader beginning piano (first lesson earlier this month)

So practicing upside down isn't recommended all the time, but it is fun to try once in a while.

Leave a comment and tell me what makes practicing fun for your mini musician.