So what to do now? I’m faced with the situation where I need to reinvent myself on the piano. Going from a small upright with a dodgy action to a Stuart is roughly equivalent to moving from a 1958 Volkswagen Beetle to a 2008 Rolls Royce – just how do I drive the bloody thing?
Therein, of course, lies the challenge for me, and, I suspect, all who play one of these instruments. The challenge is to rise to the occasion, or in more practical terms, rise to the instrument. Like driving a new car with all the latest technological bells and whistles, you have to learn how to use them and integrate the whole package with them so as to use them to their fullest advantage. Over the next few sessions, I’ll discuss some of the more important ones:
1) The four pedals
2) Resonance and sustain
3) Dynamic range
4) The extended keyboard