Disklavier

I recently traded in my Yamaha U-1 for a Disklavier MX-116.  I 
figured that if I'm never going to learn to play the piano I would 
buy a piano that knows how to play itself:)  I've been looking around 
on the internet for sites with good solo piano midi files of non-
classical music.  Most of the stuff I'm finding doesn't work too well 
on the Disklavier because it's either not piano solo music or the 
piano tracks go throught the speakers instead of activating the 
keys.  I did find some great stuff at Yuko ogish...well you know's 
web site, she's great, and a gentleman in Cincinatti named Bob Mace 
who has a great variety of music played very well.  It looks like 
there's some good stuff in the archives here as well.  Anyone know 
any other internet sites with good classic jazz, ragtime, blues, rock 
etc. that plays well on the Diskies?

     I have two other questions that I'm sure has been answered here 
before but I haven't looked through all the messages yet.  First, 
this little MX-116 is VERY LOUD AND VERY BRIGHT.  Has anyone had any 
luck having these pianos voiced to mellow them out a bit?  I also 
noticed that when the computer activates the sustain pedal it makes a 
rather loud mechanical clunking sound....is this normal?  Does it 
quiet down with age?

     While I'm at it, in my quest to learn the piano, I've come 
across ads for a learning system called David Higginson's 
Professional Chord System (Piano Without Pain).  Has anyone used this 
system and is it worth it?  The people at the local Steinway shop say 
it's great, but then again they're trying to sell it to me so they 
may not be exactly unbiased.  I figure no pain no gain, but who knows.

     Thank in advance to anyone who replies and thanks to the 
moderator for taking the time to oversee this group.  If I can ever 
make it through a recording of my "repitoire" without screwing up too 
badly I'll send some stuff just for laughs.  I can play (sometimes 
and poorly) After the Goldrush (Neil Young) Both Sides Now (Joni 
Mitchell) Surfer Girl (Beach Boys) and Taki It To The Limit (Eagles) 
along with fragments of other songs....also played poorly:)

Talk to you later

Ken Nelson
Racine, WI   USA
Nelken@...

If you are interested in professional Jazz, Blues, Latin or New Age piano
performances, you might want to look at www.pgmusic.com.  They are a
commercial site but I have found them to be inexpensive and well worth the
investment.

Some offerings include:
The Jazz Piano MasterClass (instructional)
Jazz Greats Review The Oscar Peterson Multimedia CD-ROM
Oscar Peterson: Note-for-Note
The Modern Jazz Pianist
The Latin Pianist
The Blues Pianist
The New Age Pianist

Occasionally, I have noticed the pedal thumping on our DGH1B.  I don't know
why it is more noticeable on some MIDI performances than others.  We have a
carpeted floor.  Anyway, you are not alone in this obseveration.

Jack Schueler








"fam62c" <nelken@...> on 01/13/2002 11:30:03 AM

Please respond to disklavier@yahoogroups.com
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            


                                                              
                                                              
                                                              
 To:       disklavier@yahoogroups.com                         
                                                              
 cc:       (bcc: Jack Schueler/SYBASE)                        

 Subject:  [disklavier] Hello Everyone                        
                                                              







     I recently traded in my Yamaha U-1 for a Disklavier MX-116.  I
figured that if I'm never going to learn to play the piano I would
buy a piano that knows how to play itself:)  I've been looking around
on the internet for sites with good solo piano midi files of non-
classical music.  Most of the stuff I'm finding doesn't work too well
on the Disklavier because it's either not piano solo music or the
piano tracks go throught the speakers instead of activating the
keys.  I did find some great stuff at Yuko ogish...well you know's
web site, she's great, and a gentleman in Cincinatti named Bob Mace
who has a great variety of music played very well.  It looks like
there's some good stuff in the archives here as well.  Anyone know
any other internet sites with good classic jazz, ragtime, blues, rock
etc. that plays well on the Diskies?

     I have two other questions that I'm sure has been answered here
before but I haven't looked through all the messages yet.  First,
this little MX-116 is VERY LOUD AND VERY BRIGHT.  Has anyone had any
luck having these pianos voiced to mellow them out a bit?  I also
noticed that when the computer activates the sustain pedal it makes a
rather loud mechanical clunking sound....is this normal?  Does it
quiet down with age?

     While I'm at it, in my quest to learn the piano, I've come
across ads for a learning system called David Higginson's
Professional Chord System (Piano Without Pain).  Has anyone used this
system and is it worth it?  The people at the local Steinway shop say
it's great, but then again they're trying to sell it to me so they
may not be exactly unbiased.  I figure no pain no gain, but who knows.

     Thank in advance to anyone who replies and thanks to the
moderator for taking the time to oversee this group.  If I can ever
make it through a recording of my "repitoire" without screwing up too
badly I'll send some stuff just for laughs.  I can play (sometimes
and poorly) After the Goldrush (Neil Young) Both Sides Now (Joni
Mitchell) Surfer Girl (Beach Boys) and Taki It To The Limit (Eagles)
along with fragments of other songs....also played poorly:)

Talk to you later

Ken Nelson
Racine, WI   USA
Nelken@...



To Post a message to the group, send it to:   disklavier@...

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send it to:
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Todd's family web site was completely rewritten in June 2001 and contains
some fun disklavier content and links to midi sites among other things, The
url is:
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Ken,

In answer to your question about midi sites for the disklavier, I 
highly reccomend www.perfessorbill.com for ragtime & that era.  He is 
a great pianist, all his music is free, & there is lots of it.  Also 
look at www.spencerserolls.com , he transcribes reproducing piano 
rolls to midi.  The few free samples are outstanding.  You have to 
purchase the rest.

My disklavier has the DSR-1 controller & there is an optional setting 
that lets the disklavier play the piano parts no matter what midi 
track the parts are on.  The default setting only looks for piano 
parts in tracks 1 & 2.  Other controllers may have a similar setting.

In your quest for a piano course, my personal favorite is the David 
Sudnow Course.  He teaches you to play by ear using full, lush, adult 
arrangements of standards right from the start, and after the first 
couple of pre-arranged tunes you start arranging your own.  He has 
the track record to prove his method works.  For about $65.00 you 
can't beat the price. 

He is at www.sudnow.com

Good Luck....Greg