DIA FRAMPTON BURNS THE NET WAVES WITH THE PIANO

Posted on Jun 17, 2011 in News & Events, Piano Blog | 0 comments

Did you catch Dia Frampton on NBC’s vocal competition show, “The Voice”? If not, you missed something special. You can still see a recording of her live performance online (Look under the Quarter Finals, Round 1 link on the right side of the page). To just hear the purity of her voice without the distraction of video, check her out on YouTube!

“The Voice” is NBC’s answer to “American Idol” with Carson Daly bringing a little cool-while-slightly-geeky-but-not-cheesy vibe as NBC’s emcee version of Ryan Seacrest. “The Voice” claims that it only focuses on the singer’s voice, and here’s how it did this in the first rounds:

• Auditions happened ahead of time.
• The show started with those who had made it through auditions singing “blind” for 4 mentors. How? The 4 superstar mentors sat in chairs faced AWAY from the singer. As they listened to the singer, if they liked what they heard, they pressed a button which rotated the chair and the mentor to face the singer with a lit-up sign saying, “I want you”. If more than one mentor turned their chair around, the singer got to choose who they wanted to work with.
• Each mentor selected 8 singers. The following week, they paired their 8 up with each other to sing a duet-duel of the mentor’s choice. At the end of the duet, the mentor had to choose the winner. This whittled each of the mentors’ teams down to 4.
• At this point, the singers started singing live and America started to vote. America’s vote identifies one singer who is “safe”. Then the mentor has to choose 1 other singer who is safe and moves onto the next round along with America’s choice, while sending 2 others home.
• Just as an FYI, the 4 mentors are Country Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year, Blake Shelton; hip hop and soul icon, Cee Lo Green; pop megastar, Christina Aguilera and Maroon 5 front man, Adam Levine.

Quiet Dia Frampton started surprising people right off the bat when she chose Blake Shelton as her mentor since she has sort of a Jewel-folk vibe going on.

So what made Dia’s performance last week so special? Many things, but it was the piano that made all the difference! Let’s consider the other major reason before we turn to the significance of the piano:

23-year-old half-Korean, half-Dutch Dia is not the snappiest dresser on the show. She has so far shown up in extremely conservative clothes that don’t really reflect her youthful, fresh spirit. So imagine the surprise when she chose to sing Kanye West’s “Heartless” for her first live performance. While Dia is quite pretty, she is self-admittedly shy, and she hadn’t really stood out prior to her first live performance. Because of this, it seemed like she might be headed home pretty early because she just seemed to lack the chops and presence of some of the other impressive singers on the program like Beverly McClellan, Vicci Martinez and Nakia.

To help her break through her shy demeanor, her mentor Blake asked her if she could play “Heartless” on the piano. She said she could, and he explained that he thought that would give her a distraction and a comfort zone to help her come out of her shell more so she could connect with the audience.

Well, did she ever. She sat at that piano in an innocent white dress with a big black bow and did a rendition of “Heartless” that Cee Lo said was better than Kanye’s original version. And the downloads of the piece off iTunes pretty much told the story before results show that Dia would be voted one of America’s favorites.

In a brilliant move, Dia took her hands off the piano for a stretch of the song and simply sang a capella, letting her incredible and moving voice ring out and rock the house.

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Tuning and Adjustment: Piano Care Tip #11

Posted on Jun 6, 2011 in Piano Care Tips | 0 comments

Pianos are delicate instruments which need professional attention periodically. Basically there are two types of professional piano care: tuning and adjustment. Tuning means correcting the pitch of every note by re-tightening the strings. Each piano string is normally stretched to a pressure of about 90 kilograms (198 ½ pounds), but eventually it will stretch further with use and lose some of its tension, causing the piano to lose its correct pitch.

The strings need to be tuned once or twice a year to restore them to their proper tension. Adjustment involves the entire piano action, keyboard, and pedal movements. Proper adjustment is especially important for grand pianos. Whether the piano will perform properly or not depends on how accurately the adjustment is made. Tuning and adjustment should only be done by an expert. When your piano requires either one, call a specialist.

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Do not place objects on top of the piano: Piano Care Tip #10

Posted on May 26, 2011 in Piano Care Tips | 0 comments

Do not place objects on top of the piano

A heavy object may cause poor tone or noisy vibration if placed on the piano. A vase of flowers may look attractive on the piano, but if it should spill water and enter the piano, serious damage can result. Water will rust the metal parts of the piano and damage the hammer and action. Avoid costly accidents and never place anything except sheet music and/or a metronome on the piano.

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Put your piano where it sounds best: Piano Care Tip #9

Posted on May 25, 2011 in Piano Care Tips | 0 comments

Placing your piano where it sounds best may sound obvious, but requires some thought nonetheless.  Sometimes, it requires some rearranging and creativity as well!

The piano should be placed in a room where the sound will be evenly distributed. A room where all the sound gathers in one spot will produce sound lag and echoes. The best room for your piano is one in which its sound will reverberate to produce pleasant, full-bodies tones without harsh echoes.

Here is another great article on properly placing your piano to maximize it’s sound potential!

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Avoid Sudden Temperature Changes: Piano Care Tip #8

Posted on May 16, 2011 in Piano Care Tips | 0 comments

When a cold room is warmed suddenly, moisture will condense on the piano strings and other metal parts, causing them to rust. Felt parts will absorb moisture, dulling their action and resulting in unclean sound. Be especially careful about sudden temperature changes when moving your piano into a room in a cold northern climate or into an airtight room in a concrete building.

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Beware of Excessive Dryness: Piano Care Tip #7

Posted on May 12, 2011 in Piano Care Tips | 0 comments

Just as Piano Care Tip #6 says to be careful about excessive moisture, excessive dryness can also cause problems, and reek havoc on your pianos!

Too much humidity is a problem, but excessive dryness is an even more serious one, especially where heating or cooling systems are used to create artificially dehumidified rooms. Used in naturally dry climates, the piano has enough natural moisture to prevent excessive drying. However, if the air becomes too dry, the wooden and felt components will shrink. In extreme cases, the soundboard, joints, and other laminated sections may even come apart, even though they have been glued together carefully. Slight distortion of the parts may cause noise, and the tuning pins may work loose, making it difficult to keep the piano in tune. To avoid excessive dryness, it is best to keep some kind of leafy plant or a humidifier in the piano room.

Don’t forget to get your piano fix at the HoustonPianoCo YouTube Channel, and visit HoustonPianoCompany.com for everything else piano you need!

Proper Conditions Mean Better Sound: Piano Care Tip #4

Posted on May 9, 2011 in Piano Care Tips | 0 comments

Proper ventilation is also important. Generally speaking, a relative humidity of between 50 and 60 percent is ideal for pianos. The use of materials such as wood, felt, and cloth in piano construction means that many parts are quite delicate. If not properly cared for, they can be damaged easily.

Don’t forget to visit HoustonPianoCompany.com for more helpful piano information!