Hello, All, We have a Mason & Hamlin BB this semester as part of a program by M&H to loan a piano to universities so that they may evaluate M&H pianos and become more acquainted with the brand. They are soliciting input from the school of music regarding how well the piano was received by students and faculty. I thought this could be a good educational opportunity for our students and faculty in how to go about evaluating pianos. Have any of you made up some sort of form to help pianists evaluate pianos? Do any of you have some suggestions for questions that might help teachers focus on the issues that are important to them. I'm thinking specifically of when pianists go to music stores or factories to pick out a specific piano for use at the university. As technicians we look at a piano differently than players. What questions would help players in evaluating/selecting pianos? What criteria should players be listening for? Are there questions that would help them focus on certain issues that would help them make comparisons? Some questions that I have come up with off the top of my head are: What is your overall opinion of the piano? Are there areas that sound stronger/weaker? Are there keys that don't work properly? How is the repetition? Can you control soft playing? Do the pedals operate properly? I don't know if any of these questions are really that good, but I hope you can get an idea of the direction I'm wanting to go with this evaluation project. In the end I would like a short set of questions that students and faculty could answer. The answers would give me and the manufacturer an idea of how the piano was received and it might educate educators about picking out and evaluating instruments. Richard West, University of Nebraska
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