Piano in Pop Music

Posted on May 16, 2012 in Piano Blog | 0 comments

Pianos: The Transition from Classical to Contemporary

Pianos are seen by many today as instruments used primarily in classical and orchestral settings. The sound of a piano rarely finds its way into popular music today, save for a few performers who use it prominently like Adele and Coldplay, who provide inspiration to many people who are learning to play piano. Even in these cases, the piano typically plays more of a supporting role in the composition of music, taking a back seat to the guitar. One popular band has challenged this rule, often replacing the guitar as the lead instrument entirely. Keane, an alt-rock band formed in the UK, uses electric and acoustic pianos along with different distortion and modulation effects to create a unique and enjoyable sound that aims to make the piano relevant once again in modern, mainstream music.

Everybody’s Changing

Popular music is constantly evolving, but the makeup of the prototypical rock band has remained largely unchanged for the past sixty years or so- a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a singer. Keane has mostly done away with the guitar, and replaced it with a digital piano (a Yamaha, to be precise, but more on that later). While it could be argued that Keane isn’t a traditional rock band, it’s undeniable that pianos, both acoustic or electric, are finding their way into more and more songs these days. Examples of popular songs that prominently feature a piano or keyboard are “Apologize” by OneRepublic, “How to Save a Life” by The Fray, and of course, “Someone Like You” by Adele. All of those songs spent an appreciable length of time on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, lending credence to the sentiment that pianos are finding their way back into mainstream music.

A Method to their Music

Keane’s use of the digital piano has earned them a reputation as “the band with no guitars”. Despite the exclusion of such a major instrument, they’ve found a great deal of success using delay and distortion effects applied to the piano. What you end up with is a unique and unmistakable sound that, when combined with Tom Chaplin’s vocals, give Keane a style of their own. Tim Rice-Oxley, the primary “keyboardist” of the band, often uses a Yamaha CP70B Electric Grand Piano for their performances. The CP70B was quite popular in the 70’s, being used by Stevie Wonder, ELO, Genesis, Journey, Boston, and more. Like many Yamaha acoustic pianos the sound is warm and smooth, which makes it particularly effective for alternative rock. Tom Chaplin, the lead singer, has been known to favor the Hammond XK2 Drawbar Keyboard when playing. Both instruments are fed through a computer that gives them their characteristic sound while still retaining their original “character”.

Why I’m Keen on Keane

It’s a well-known fact that music is a very subjective and personal experience. What one person enjoys may not necessarily suit another. I personally enjoy music with meaningful lyrics, which is one of the reasons that Keane is so appealing to me. Music can have a profound effect on one’s mood, and I generally like to keep myself in a good mood. Keane’s music is fantastic when you’re looking to relax or wind down. Their use of piano creates an interesting contemporary/classical hybrid sound that is hard to find in modern music. The song “Somewhere Only We Know” is arguably their most popular song, and has been used in shows such as Glee, The O.C., and Grey’s Anatomy. One of my personal favorites, “Everybody’s Changing”, was used in a scene in “Scrubs”. If you haven’t given Keane a listen yet, look them up! If you enjoy the piano, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy their music.

If Keane or any other band inspires you to learn to play piano, out of all the music schools in Houston the HPC School of Music is sure to be the best environment to learn and have fun at the same time. If you are already learning, you may be wondering where to buy a piano. Our showroom has a wide spectrum of piano models available for you to buy or rent.

More resources:

Information about the setup they use.

Article on the Yamaha CP70 they use. Plenty of pictures and info.

An interview with members of the band.

The obligatory link to their band page on Wikipedia.