Today I’m introducing a new feature here at Miss Music Nerd: Keyboards of the World!
When I travel, I tend to take pictures of pianos and organs wherever I find them. So I figure, why not post them here? Some of them will be the ones I’ve been lucky enough to play myself. Others might be the poor, neglected ones that sit unplayed and out of tune in museums. 🙁 Pianos are not pieces of furniture, people! They exist to be played! But if that’s not going to happen, at least they can be admired across these wide internets.
The first entries in the collection appear below. Henceforth, I’ll keep the keyboard collection linked in one of the sidebars, and I’ll add to it as I collect more.
And, you can help add to the collection! Take the Miss Music Nerd Keyboard Challenge! Send me your keyboard pics! Pianos, organs, harpsichords, clavichords — all are welcome! Be sure to include the location and any interesting backstory you have.
The official Miss Music Nerd digital piano, which does double duty as a cat perch:
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Here’s the same piano in travel mode:
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The following four ‘boards live at Casa Loma, a cool old mansion in Toronto:
Casa Loma Organ (for looks only — I don’t think it’s hooked up to its pipes right now 🙁 )
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Casa Loma Grand Piano
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Casa Loma has a couple of square pianos — a type of piano that was very popular in 19th-century parlors and drawing rooms.
Casa Loma Square Piano 1
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Casa Loma Square Piano 2
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This concludes the first installment of Keyboards of the World! Don’t forget to send me your international keyboard pics!
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Thanks — you make the world a better place! 🙂
No need to email – I posted about the arrival of my very own set of keys just this week. You may snag any pic you want:
http://treesflowersbirds.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/showing-off-saturday/
I am now re-teaching myself to play and while I was going through the basics my son sat down with me and by the end of the weekend he had mastered I’m A Little Teapot and could play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by memory. My goal is to get back to playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise.
Got my ticket in the mail today – see you next week!
Help me, Miss Music Nerd, you’re my only hope.
Square, upright, grand, baby grand, toy? Can you explain these keyboard shapes? What gives? Any niche repertoire?
What’s the history of styles and fads? What has driven the change? Cost? Aesthetics? Acoustics? 3-D Space? Materials/Technology?
And the Juicy Juice – any interesting eccentrics, recluses, mad scientists, libertine aristocrats, wild revolutionaries, run-of-the-mill scoundrels, free-thinkers or wild women amidst the annals of keyboard design history?