Musical Instruments

Reviews

excelent product it exceded the condtion I thought it would be in.:) I had a hard time finding this I was soooo happy you had it and a a great price.

I love Halloween, I love Mannheim Steamroller. But I don't love this album. Mannheim Steamroller is perfectly suited to Christmas music but they just don't get spooky right. Take a pass on this and buy another one of their Christmas albums instead.

If it is the original music from the Masters that you are looking for, then this is not it for you. The style is bland and I wished that it had kick, as the original interpretations do. I would not suggest this. I wished that I had read reviews before purchasing this.

I loved it, made Halloween more enjoyable,I look forward to using it again next year.

I found this to be a really good CD. AS a huge fan of Halloween I wanted something I could play at work w/o totally freaking out my co-workers. It has the perfect amount of scare quality. Of course, I am a huge Steamroller fan!

Reviews

I listen to Michael Dulin's "Timeless" CD nearly every morning as I read and relax, journal and watch the birds outside my window, drink my tea or coffee and prepare to take on the day. This music is especially soothing and non-intrusive, the perfect background to what I do to center myself in the morning. I love his creative touches to familiar classical pieces and they do not take away but, rather, enhance, the already gorgeous compositions.

What beautiful music! This is one cd you never tire of. Every song flows into the next which won't interupt the wonderful feelings you receive when listening. Perfect for meditation!

This is an amazing compilation of music. Clare de Lune is one of my all-time favorite pieces but this whole CD is amazing.

WOW, THIS BEAUTIFUL MUSIC CD IS WONDERFUL, I HAD A BETTER TIME LISTENING TO IT THAN WATCHING BROTHER THEODORE'S LIVE SHOW AT THE 13TH STREET THEATER IN NEW YORK CITY'S GREENWICH VILLAGE. GREAT CD, PERFECT TO MAKE LOVE BY...WITH THE LIGHTS DOWN LOW & A BOTTLE OF MOET WHITE STAR CHAMPAGNE.

WOW! I first heard Michael Dulin on the internet and became a fan. His arrangements are so fresh and transcending. I feel like I'm listening to his soul journeying through each piece. Thank you, Michael, for allowing me to journey with you.

Reviews

The music of Satoh is atmospheric and easy-listening. It is tonal, often sweet and at times saccharine even, and based on simple harmonies and harmonic progressions. The liner notes (by pianist Margaret Leng Tan herself) compare "The Heavenly Sphreres are Illuminated By Lights" (1979), with its wordless and sinuous melismatas, to the famous coloratura aria in Villa Lobos' 5th Bachianas Brasileira, and they are right: it is Villa Lobos in the New Age era. But, as simplistic and going-for-effect immediate effect as it does, it is, well, effective and does elicit a certain entrancement. I liked very much the minimalism applied to folk music that pervades "Birds in Warped Time II" for Violin and Piano from 1980. You get again a long and sinuous melody on the fiddle, with many glissandos and wide vibrato, seeming straight out of some far away Japanese countryside, over a continuous, shimmering piano ostinato straight out of Glass or Ten Holt. But around the 5 minute mark the violin melody moves to more chromatic glissandos and somber moods very much evocative of Enescu's 3rd Violin and Piano Sonata or Impressions d'Enfance, I find. But it is the kind of piece whose atmosphere, I feel, would gain from being developed over the time span of an hour or more, in a Morton Feldman fashion. Here, its 11 minutes are almost too short. In "Incarnation II" for Piano solo from 1982 and Litania for Two pianos from 1973 (both "with digital delay", whatever that - unexplained by the liner notes - may be), Satoh appears as an heir to Cowell in such atmospheric pieces as the Three Irish Legends ("The Tides of Manaunaun", "The Hero Sun","Voice of Lear"). Although, unlike the American composer, Satoh is content to stick with the time-honored approach of striking the keys individually (rather than depressing them in clusters or directly strumming or plucking the strings), his music is, like Cowell's, motioned by a slow-moving ebb and flow of continuous sound evocative of the deep rumble of the universe. For "Incarnation", think of the opening of Rheingold for minimalist piano, and you won't be too far. "Litania" is even more impressive because it is constantly louder and angrier. It is the music Kubrik could have used in 2001 when astronaut David Bowman is hurled into the other dimension (but he used Ligeti's Lux Aeterna for that). It could be music to accompany the telluric upheavals that caused the disappearance of the dinosaurs (and Walt Disney used Stravinsky's Rite of Spring for that). Leng Tan maintains that the piece's "penchant for sonic violence" "invites comparisons to the Polish avant-garde composer Krzystof Pendrerecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima", and I agree, although Penderecki's harmonic progressions are more complex. In the fast vibrations of repeated notes, Ligeti's Continuum for harpsichord also came to mind. Anyway, these to pieces may not be extremely elaborate, but ultimately highly atmospheric and fascinating. I have another version of Incarnation II by Joanna MacGregor (Play, see my review), although it is not entirely clear if it is the same. Leng Tan mentions that it "is presented here in an updated, extended performance of the original 1977 composition". It also here has a duration of 18:15 minutes, against 7 for Mac Gregor, although this may have to do with how many repeats of each section both pianists apply (hard to tell without a score and with music that "moves on" so slowly and imperceptibly). Interpretively, MacGregor is more powerful, but Leng Tan's vibration (the piece is a long tremolo with slow harmonic progressions) is faster. Both approaches work for me, but given the atmospheric nature of the piece, length and the sense of time slowly unfolding are a preferable option. The contrast couldn't be greater with "A Gate into the Stars" for solo piano from 1982. Here, the textures are sparse, one note here, one note there, a simple, wistful melody, the kind of thing you'd think was improvised in the middle of the night in an silent Buddhist cloister (are there Buddhist cloisters ?). Music to put you gently to sleep, really. Play it to your babe and see if it works. Very pretty. For the better or - and - the worse, it is the term "pretty" that most often came to my mind while listening to this disc - not with Litania, though. There, it was "impressive". The liner notes claim that this New Albion release, from 1988, was the first recording in the West of the music of Somei Satoh. The artists participated in the premiere performances of Satoh's music in the US in 1984 and 1985. My only regret is that this is not the complete piano music of Satoh: the liner notes mention "Hymn for the Sun" (1973) and "Cosmic Womb" (1977) (the latter, Leng Tan plays on Margaret Leng Tan: Sonic Encounters: The New Piano - Works of John Cage / Alan Hovhaness / George Crumb / Somei Satoh / Ge Gan-Ru. The CD is 63 minutes long, which is more than acceptable, but more could have fit.

"What are you playing?" she asked. "It's driving me insane" as we drove down Ocean Blvd in my 1969 convertible Mustang. "It's Margaret Lang Tan playing Somei Satoh" I replied as I hit the eject button on the CD player saving the music for myself later on...Do you want to hear something different? Profound? Cosmic? er...Zen? This is the CD for you but be careful who you play it with. Somei Satoh has several hard to find CD's all in a modern multi-cultural (East meets West) minimal Classical music with tape loops & sound effects. Highlights are: "The Heavenly Spheres Are Illuminated By Lights" which sounds like the western theory of Universal Big Bang meets Zen Buddhism philosophy using prepared piano with tape loops giving birth to the human voice. "Birds In Warped Time II" again uses prepared piano with tape loops setting free Jonathan Living Seagull expressed as a violin. If you like this CD, check out other Margaret Lang Tan or Somei Satoh CD's.

Reviews

This CD has impressive sound. I find however that as a music lover, the packaging is severly lacking. There are absolutely no notes that come with this CD. For instance the allegretto from symphony no 7 is truncated, but there is nothing indicating that it is the case, or why. I think for the price, the company should have been more serious. Clearly this CD is more about being a showcase for DTS and a 5.1 surround system - where it succeeds - than it is about satisfying music lovers, where I think it fails.

Reviews

very good piano bench, very compact and portable. love how thick the padding is compared to other benches i've seen for almost the same price. only gripe about it is the highest setting not being high enough. i added the biggest rubber feet for furnitures i could find from the stores to make it a bit taller (adding more rubber to the existing rubber). recommended product nonetheless!

Highly recommend this keyboard bench !!! Its both very sturdy and easy to assemble!!!And for the price ,it was a steal!!!

Its the right height, goes very well with the Yamaha NP-60 that I bought along with it.

We have a desk space built into a closet which holds our computer. We needed a chair that could be put away but still comfortable. I found this bench and decided to try it. This a perfect solution for us and the bench is comfortable to use. At first I did not have high hopes but I am considering ordering another for my desk chair.

I was a little worried after seeing a few of the complaints that the bench wasn't tall enough, or was too unstable, but I was really happy with this bench. It's at perfect height, in fact I've sat on many a piano bench that were lower than this one (at its heighest height). The bench is also plenty stable. I'm not a kid (at least in body) and it supports me just fine, no wobblying. The cushion is also plenty comfortable. Readjusting the height involves taking out a bolt with washers, which is no big deal. But luckily, you don't need to readjust the height in order to collapse the bench down if you need to transport it.

Reviews

This product provides the hardware to allow the electronic keyboard to feel like you are playing a 'real' piano and, therefore, adds tremendously to the playing experience.

So, what does a piano have that a keyboard generally doesn't? Simple answer: pedals. This adds three pedals to the high end home keyboards. Yamaha gives you a small portable style pedal that only does full sustain with the YPG-635. This unit gives you full piano pedal function. Installation is a snap, provided you are using the original Yamaha stand. There are holes in the sideboards that are filled with little rubber plugs, and four screws come with the pedal kit that mount it to the side boards once you remove the plugs. There are two screws (and little sleeves) that mount the pedal assembly to the cross piece. The wood is "machined" and fits the stand fairly precisely. The wire is long enough to stay out of the way and there are wire guides that should be mounted to the wire before the paper adhesive covers are removed. The left pedal is a soft pedal. Right is a sustain, and the middle is a "sostenudo" if I have that correct. In any case, if you have chorded and want that chord to be sustained, and then want to play a progression, and want the subsequent chords not to be sustained even though the first chord is sustained, you play and hold the first chord, then press the pedal, then play your other chords, and it sustains any chords that are being held when you first press the pedal, and does not sustain chords that are played after you press the pedal. In other words, notes that are being held when you press the pedal are sustained, and notes played after you press the pedal are not sustained. The sustain mimics a piano - it won't sustain forever even if you don't release the pedal - eventually it decays, just like a piano does. I'm told that one of the pedals makes some muting alterations to some of the registers - the trumpet sounds like it is muted, not just quieter, or something. I have not had a chance to investigate and am more interested in the YPG-635 as a piano than as a keyboard. The attachment to the keyboard is a special connector. The pedals have a piano pedal feel. I like the YPG-635 - the action is amazingly faithful to a real piano - it feels like you are playing a hammer action - better than any electric I've tried, including those that cost more - and those that cost less. This adds pedals to complete the piano experience. The instructions talk about adding the pedal assembly early in the stand assembly process but it should be no trouble adding the pedal assembly to the piano even thought he assembly is complete. My daughter and I put the whole thing together in just a few minutes. Putting this on should take 20 minutes, of which 10 minutes is finding the phillips screw driver. It takes a #1 and a #2 phillips to do the job correctly. The pedal height is easily adjustable. Loosen the two screws and move the pedals up or down, then tighten them. When I ordered this device it was supplied by 8th Street. They shipped it promptly (had they delayed a day it would have missed xmas) and it was shipped in the original packaging, which required a little dancing as we got home since wife did not know she was getting a piano for Christmas (the piano was purchased locally - it is a tiny bit too heavy to ship).

please notice that at this date nov,19 2008 the item price is wrong at 602 dolares and should be something between 60 thru 70, please correct

Reviews

Boy can this thing take some beating on! The little guys bangs on those keys with anything in his hand. No nets, no broken notes, nothing. He tips right over, CRASH! and everything still works great.

My son took an interest in my mom's piano at only a couple months of age. I searched local stores and the internet for a "real" piano. I wanted something simple: black and white keys, not electronic/battery operated, just something that resembled a real piano for my son to bang on. This fit the bill perfectly. I got my son this for Christmas and is now 5.5 months old and he loves it. It is the perfect height for him to sit and play away. I also love the bring shiny red color. It is bright, fun, gender neutral, and classic looking. When I read some of the reviews, some people were disappointed in the piano's sound. It is does not sound like a "real piano", but for a $50 toy, I did not expect it to. Real pianos cost thousands of dollars. It has the chime-like sound of a toy, but is not at all obnoxious sounding. If you are looking for a fun, classic toy, I highly recommend this piano.

My 2 year old granddaughter walked up to this piano and was just looking at it, she started to move it and the top came off. It looks durable, but maybe not so.

Elyssa, my 11 month old granddaughter loves this piano. It has a true to life sound. The only negative thing I can say is that it turns over easily. She pushes on it or holds on to it to stand and it topples over. I keep it pushed back against the wall for her. Overall I am very pleased with this product.

My parents bought this piano for my son's third birthday. When it arrived, one note was out of tune so I returned it - it was painful to listen to. Otherwise the piano looked nice and seemed sturdy, so I ordered the piano again. This time there were several keys that were slightly out of tune, but we thought it was good enough given it is intended for young kids. Then we discovered the song book and color strip were missing, so I had to return it again. This time I didn't bother to reorder it. The other thing I take issue with, is that Schoenhut makes a big deal about German music rods, it's long history and traditional manufacturing techniques. Their website has a section on it's factory in Florida, but the pianos are made in China and the company clearly doesn't have its quality under control. I don't have a problem buying Chinese products in general, but I think Schoenhut is misleading its customers.

Reviews

My 18 month old daughter recieved this as a gift. I was concerned, because the box said ages 3+, but she enjoys it very much. The finish is fantastic on it... I can actually see reflections in it. It is very sturdy and she has a lot of fun "playing" it. The color coded strip and book that comes with it will be nice when she is actually old enough to learn piano, but until then I put it up so it doesn't get torn up. I would highly recommend this piano if you are wanting to pass down a music talent to your child. It is a beautiful peice of furniture and would be a great herritage item to pass down from generation to generation.

Very nice looking - my 3yo daughter really enjoys it. It is a toy however and not something that will teach them piano sounds. Mine arrived with a broken key which I am trying to resolve but overall it is a nice toy. It would be nicer if it did sound more like a real piano instead of a toy.

I bought his piano for my 16 month old granddaughter. She plays this every day. I was glad that I read many reviews. The quality is just perfect, I would not really consider this a toy. My son and daughter-inlaw did not add the colored stickers that it comes with because she is to young. However where she loves it so much I don't think it will be long before she is reading the numbers and following the song book. Her male cousins 4,7,9, also would not leave it alone! Enjoy

I love the look of the piano. I was about to buy my daughter a keyboard at ToysRus but my wife found this on amazon on sale. My only issue, it might be obvious to some one else who knows more about pianos, but I thought it was going to have a piano sound. Since it uses metal bars it has a different sound. I still like it and my 1 year old has lots of fun playing it. Eventually I'm sure she will learn fine regardless of how I feel what the piano sounds like. The build quality is great and their customer service is great too. One of the keys were not playing because of a shift during shipping and they emailed me instructions on how to fix it. Very simple.

I purchase this for my 4 year old niece and she totally loves it. Very strongly build. Nicely painted. An excellent purchase for a child who loves to play music.

Reviews

I bought this piano for my grandson's second birthday, as he loves! Nana's big piano, but we live in different states. It was his favorite gift and he has learned to "play" gently already. It is a beautiful piano and the sound, while not piano quality, is okay.

Reviews

Thanks for purchasing the Rollup Piano. In one week I received it at home

Stay away... Hardly useful in the least. I was looking forward to this item as a portable practice tool. Within 30 seconds of receiving it, I knew I made a serious mistake. Given this vendor's return policy, I feel like I've been robbed. Like I said, stay away! Buyer beware.

For a real pianist, the keyboard offered limited help as a practice tool on the road. Hard to negotiate without the elevated black keys. Would be better if shifted down an octave, since those highest notes are not so useful and sound progressively more electronic/less real as they go up. In addition, the seller did not respond when I emailed immediately after receipt to let them know that one note was not sounding.

Reviews

Purchased this for information about piano's and the piano purchasing process. Very informative in this and other areas pertaining to piano's. A great guide for both the piano enthusiast and new purchasers. A "must read" if you are new to piano's and the buying process.

People who don't have a piano would probably be surprised to learn that buying a piano is as treacherous and intimidating an undertaking as buying a car--with many of the same perils: the expectation that negotiating a final purchase price is routine; a lack of clear data on the "real" wholesale or retail prices of pianos; and sales tactics that would make a used car salesman blush. For years, the major purchasing guide for consumers was Larry Fine's "Piano Book." But while annual price guide supplements for that volume were published yearly, the main text had not revised in many years. The "Acoustic and Digital Piano Buyer" is thus a long-awaited and much needed update. The content of the book has been radically revised, and in my opinion, for the better. Much of the original Piano Book was devoted to rather dense and technical discussion of piano construction, understandable given Fine's background as a piano technician, but often more confusing or irrelevant than helpful. The Piano Buyer gives just the right amount of detail so that readers can understand the difference between the actions of an upright and a grand piano, say, or understand what a salesperson is saying to them about laminated vs. solid wood soundboards, but not so much detail that it is overwhelming. Other changes to the Piano Buyer that are highly welcome include a chapter on considerations of how to situate your piano in your room for the best acoustic qualities, and a greatly enlarged section on digital pianos and computer models of piano sounds. This emphasis is much needed, as sales for digital pianos have increased greatly over the past few years, whereas acoustic piano sales have declined sharply. The Piano Buyer retains, however, many of the still-relevant sections of the Piano Book; for example, the chapters on dealing with salespeak and buying a used piano. And, of course, the Piano Buyer still includes the absolutely essential pricing guide for all new pianos sold in the U.S. at this time. Having this guide by your side while you are negotiating to purchase a piano will save you many times over the purchase price of this book. Which raises a relevant question: As pointed out in other reviews, the Piano Buyer is available online. Why, then, should anybody buy this book? I can think of a couple of compelling reasons. First, and maybe it's just me, but I find navigating online books to be quite cumbersome. Flipping through pages and finding what you want takes a lot longer with an online version than a hard copy, and it's MUCH harder to simply leaf through pages to pick out interesting tidbits. Second, unless you want to be hauling a laptop with you to various piano stores, and/or you want to be able to stare at a larger reading space than what you get with a Blackberry, the hard copy version will be infinitely easier to cart around with you while you're piano shopping, and--trust me on this--you *will* want to have this with you while you're shopping. People shopping for a piano for the first time often voice the shell-shocked sentiment that they had no idea that it would be so difficult to sort through the various sales pitches and hard-sell pressure they encounter to find the right piano for them at the right price. The "Piano Buyer" is one of the best resources out there to help you make an educated decision and arrive at a fair price.

The Piano Buyer is the new name for Larry Fine's annual Supplement to the Piano Book which has been published for around the last 20 years. The Piano Buyer includes many new topics not previously covered in the older supplements. Among these are a lengthy section on digital pianos and hybrid pianos (which I did not read since I'm not interested in them) and many separate articles of great interest to pianophiles that will change each time the Piano Buyer is published. This edition included articles on room acoustics, differences in tonal quality among top tier pianos, thoughts of a master rebuilder, increasing quality of Chinese pianos, among others. For many people, I think the most important sections of the book are the price lists, rankings, and specific manufacturer news. Fine calculates an SMP(suggested maximum price) based on a uniform markup from the dealer wholesale cost. This is much more useful than the MSRP, which is determined by the manufacturer and is essentially meaningless. And I think they are the only up to date (revised every 6 months) lists of their kind anywhere. The rankings by tiers are always controversial (pianists tend to defend their own choices with their lives) but IMHO they are the fairest, most evenly balanced and thoughtful rankings anywhere. They are not based only on Fine's opinions but include opinions of many techs, pianists, and other industry people. Whether you're looking to spend 2K or 200K, you'll find useful advice. Fine is particularly careful to explain his methodology and terminology. Simply the best book of its kind by far.

If you're in the market for a piano then this book is a must have. Several years ago I purchased my first piano. But I didn't have the benefit of the advice of this book or its predecessor, The Piano Book. Big mistake. I ended up buying a piano with some big problems and before I got rid of it and got a decent piano in its place I ended up spending a couple thousand more than I should have - all because I was an uneducated consumer. Since then, I've read The Piano Book and this new publication. Now I have the benefit of knowing what to look for and an idea of what various pianos, both new and used, should sell for. A welcome addition is the guide to digitals. I am a digital piano and organ tech and I can tell you that there is a difference in quality and support between the various brands out there, so even if you're considering a digital you need to know what is contained in this book.

When making a large purchase, one wants to be informed. Here is a book for for all those who may shop for pianos, as well as those who are interested or obsessed with those glorious instruments.... the pianophiles as they say. This book is money well spent when making a huge purchase such as a piano. Every brand imaginable is described. i find it absolutely fascinating as well. ..definitely 5 stars!