Charles Walters uprights sound as good or better than some grands. The cost of low end baby grands gets you an excellent hand made upright and top quality materials. Something to consider. And grands do take up much more space.
I will tell you what is really the best. It only depends on how much money you have. If you are poor, get a digital piano Not poor, get an upright Rich, get a baby grand Very rich, get a grand Filthy rich, get all of them
acctually if you're good at piano, and want to get a baby grand, i don't belive you have to be rich to get one. Steinway b-211 costs about 40 000 dollars, but that is the best of the best of baby grands. you can get a yamaha baby grand for about 14 000 dollars. wich is actually cheaper than some uprights.
He is right in what he says, but I believe Chopin preferred upright pianos. This is because whereas the grand projects sound into the room, with an upright the sound is directly in front of the player.
@@dojagi1461 Yes absolutely. Trills are harder to play on an upright, that's the only difference really, but there is no difference in technique between playing a grand or upright.
who wouldn't love to have such a beautiful instrument not to mention furniture in one's home. I just got back into piano playing, I only played as a child/teenager, pretty much gave it up for raising my children, let them have lessons on my In-laws old upright that was almost rotten with age, but they got the 'general idea', and were working on getting good, then THEY discovered boys and it was all over. That upright went into the burning barrel, literally. I'm now 57 years old, yearning for a piano, but just dont have the funds, and someone donated an old spinet to salvation army and I got it for 15 dollars. It seems to be in fair condition, needs tuning of course, but I can get decent sound and relearn to play. I'm being 'serious' now and learning all the things I didnt (like scales and arpegios), (soon as my books come in), and I'm loving just having my fingers touch 'keys' once again. It was my first love, and I feel like I have been reborn when I sit down and try to play. I'm slow, I'll never be a master, I'll be blessed to be able to play 1/2 as good as the gentleman on the video plays. But God granted me a 15 dollar gift because I could never buy a nice upright nor baby grand, just not in the budget. God does find ways though.
Hey i hope you got your Piano. I returned to the piano a couple of years through simliar circumstance. I managed to Get a good fully working Baby Grand by Mornington and Westson with a great history of constant use and service. I cost me nothing at all! apart from the transport. Where did i get it? On Gumtree the "Freebies"!! theres about seven or so a week here in the uk with a Grand or a baby grand coming up about once a month. The lady said she'd had about 300 inquiries!! to the ad. But I got it. So it is possible. Free uprights are very common here so i might get an upright for my other room at some point. So long as its all working. Then its definitely worth the hassle of "chasing" one. I dont play mine that much. But its a Boss peice of furniture. :)
@@zakittyslair Kawai sounds great. I have one but I bought from shop, a fourth hand around 40 years old reddish medium height upright piano when the time I bought it for the sake of practices to score better in piano exams. It cost me MYR3900 in year 2003. But now it gets like something rotten in the wood after more than 10 years ownership? Ah I need restoration services since the piano is still sounding great.
Even a decent spinet can offer a gratifying playing experience. It's keeping the spinet decent that is the bigger challenge. They were made to be inexpensive to build, inexpensive to buy, even inexpensive to move, but they are piano servicers' nightmare.
Yeah. I wanted to hear the sound of the two, not listen to him gab. I was just curious though. I have a Yamaha Clavinova CVP-609 digital piano. I'm very happy with it.
Mitch Vermeulen Except that there is a huge variety of baby grands and upright pianos, each with different sound...... you would never get a good comparison just by listening to a couple.
I weighed the same pros-cons with our small-ish LR. I decided on a baby grand for exactly what Robert said. Considering windows and the sofa, I couldn't find a wall where the upright would easily fit. The baby grand is 4'7" and it looks and sounds wonderful!
Unless your home is huge and all your walls are hung with expensive artworks, taking up wall space is usually less of an issue than taking up floor space.
I think he made some very valid points, but I believe the style of music you tend to play is a major factor. If you mostly play pop, blues, r&b/soul, rock, boogie woogie, or even jazz to an extent, I would think an upright would suit someone just fine given this information. Obviously if a person plays classical, or anything that involves a lot of tonal and dynamic intricacies, a grand or baby grand would be preferable to satisfy those. My opinion, anyway.
Even brands do too. For my own preferences, I would recommend playing most Mozart's piano pieces on Yamaha and Beethoven's on Kawai =) This is because of the sound quality these pianos differ.
What a thorough video. Thank you! We invested in a 1917 Steinway B which was fully remanufactured. I will say that with the inside of our home urethaned wood, with urethaned wood floors, the result was too bright a sound. We needed to have the hammers replaced and voiced a bit to get a warmer sound and we are happy with the result. Thank you very very much for taking the time to share your knowledge. Regards:)
"and now I'll casually play some magnificent Schumann" omg I really want a grand piano that sounds like that but I can only imagine how much that piano costs.
As usual, another very informative video. Love you're videos. Yes, who doesn't love the sound of a grand? But, I have to disagree with you about the issue on volume (2:16). Yes. uprights backs are to the wall, but on just about all uprights you can open the lid just like you do on a grand to get more volume. As for sound, If you are playing Chopin or Schumann, then it is the Grand all the way, but If I were to listen to a Joplin, James P. Johnson, or a stride tune, I'll take the sound of the upright all the way. Sure they sound great on a grand, but they just sound more righteous on an upright. My advice is, if you can afford a Grand, get yourself an upright too and enjoy both...LOL!!!
the last place I would put an upright piano is against the wall! It takes up less space than a grand right in the middle of the living room. Just put an attractive cloth over the back, and viola! Most of your videos are great, but you are really down on uprights, and they can be so smokin'! (I play a 6' steinway grand.)
+Kelpy ~ Hey there, Kelpy, if you move your curser over to the far right, on your post, a drop-down will ask if you want to edit or delete your post. Oh, and I couldn't agree with you more, those big harped, old upright pianos can have great sound. I too play a 6-foot grand, a Weber grand made in 1915. :-)
The wall can actually function as a sounding board to broaden the spread of the sound. Some flatscreen entertainment systems are also based on this and have speakers that face the wall. I think, if you went around to homes with upright pianos or even to churches and community halls that have them, you'll find most are up against a wall simply for convenience sake. Let's face it, if you really want to listen to an upright, you would remove the front panel.
A large upright with its soundboard a few feet away from a wall, around the distance a grand’s soundboard is from the floor, and opening the bottom panel to let lots of the bass come out can make a large upright sound very similar to a grand. Regularly play a Steinway B and practice on a Baldwin 6000 upright piano, and it sounds like another grand when I play it in this configuration.
The length of the keys is a very important point. I've struggled playing some tunes since i have small hands (thus, short fingers) and if i have to play fast arpeggios that include black and white keys is way harder cause you're probably gonna play the white keys right next to the black ones and it's a kinda hard thing to do, at least FOR ME.
Surely one of the factors is the size and type of room. Even in an averaged size living room even a baby grand would be too loud, whereas, say in a large hall an upright wouldn’t be loud enough to fill it with sound. And if you in an apartment ...well, get a good digital with headphones!! 😆
How do I go from Steins Gate:0 to watching mozart, to reading about pianos, to watching Your Lie in April, then going back to learning about pianos and the difference between an "upright" and a grand piano. Anyways... 2019 anyone?
21 st Dec. 2018. Upright vs Baby Grand. Great. Explained very nicely & Convincing. Voice is so good with Proper Pawses. Nice video shooting. Thank you so much.
very informative - i never considered the gravity factor. I had just assumed an upright was much less different than a grand. I think I'll always try to stick with a grand if i can.
***** well some old ones are in very bad shape, luckilly mine isn't. it holds tune for like 5 months and after that period you can hear some mistakes, but for my piano that's good. well of course i want a grand, but but the grand i want costs 180 grands:P
that;s a beautiful thing to do. i got mine for free just because the person who gave it to me said that we just click together:P. I'm so happy with mine:D. so what you're saying is that the piano isn't old anymore because verything is replaced?:P
The upright piano that I practice on is a family heirloom. I only had to tune it once and it still sounds good. Of course it’s a Baldwin studio grand upright.
Here is some advantages and disadvantages of both. Grand Piano(Good): Plays well. Has great sound. Lasts for a lifetime. Grand Piano(Bad): Hard to fit in a normal home. Can not be played in school. Takes time to learn. Upright Piano(Good): Easier to fit through normal homes. Plays somewhat good. Can be played in school. Upright Piano(Bad): Takes time to learn. Only the sustain pedal works. Can not play fast speeds of notes. Hope you enjoy.
at 3:07, you were demonstrating the repetition lever, which is found only on grands. The lever catches the hammer and quickly resets the action when you lift the key up a little bit, allowing the key to be played quickly.
Love your grand pianos demos and explanations. I am deciding to buy a 2nd hand Yamaha GB1K, C1 or GC1, but still space is my concern. Need to re arrange my furnitures. Thank you very much:)
Hi robert it's me again, anytway, i guess as far as classical and ragtime and late 20's Jazz i like the tones and the timing, mannn,,,talk about a revelation, to finally find this out 40 yr's later. I was thinking,,,, wooooow ,no wonder it sound's sooo good when he plays bethena or some of the other's piece's on the album.
Used to have an amazing sounding upright for the size of it. Also, pressing the una chorda "silent" pedal did shift the entire sound board (and hence tonal colour). He is just wrong. Depends on the upright.
Afaik there are no uprights on the market that shift the action with the una corda pedal. Some old uprights with vertical strings had a kind of una corda pedal. But with the design used in uprights for decades it is not possible to shift the action because it is connected to the frame.
@@ampac It's rare, but not technically impossible to implement. Maybe the cost of doing this is such that one begins to consider a grand piano if one cares about such subtleties.
Two things you left out: On some grand pianos the middle pedal is sostenudo which is rarely needed except for pieces like Adensales Warsaw Concerto. Also on a grand piano you have tone control with the manner in which a note is played. I found this most useful playing Rachmaninoff's 18th variation from a Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini.
I asked myself the same question. The answer was to buy the best upright in the world (Bosendorfer 130 CL), better than many grands, less expensive than a 2nd hand grand even from a prestigious manufacturer such Steinway, Bosendorfer etc. My upright is a real dream !
First of all I loved the way you played. I really felt the emotion in the piece you played, and I felt inspired. Bravo! Thank you so much for this video. I'm not trained at all, but I learned to play some piano by practicing alone, and watching youtube videos after youtube became a thing. I've envied those professional pianists and I've always wondered why I could not the that color change they were getting. I never owned a grand. I just own a keyboard, and my sounds were not even a match to that great grand piano sound. I always thought I could just hit the keys softer, but it wasn't it working. Recently I decided to get the closest thing to a grand piano I could afford, and that was a real life extensively recorded and sampled grand piano from xlnaudio dot com. I use my cheap casio as a controller, but I plan to buy a weighted controller. I found the sustain pedal, and then I noticed the 2 additional pedals in the program. That's how I ended up here in your video haha. That's what I had been looking for all of my life. That soft pedal. Thanks a lot for the educational video. I always did think the grand piano or baby grand had a more well rounded sound, but now I see why. Now that I think about it, every upright I've seen was set against a wall. Maybe one day I'll be able to get me a baby grand who knows.
But I like the more soft tone the upright gives. With a grand it doesn’t change its just more quiet. Also not all uprights make the action closer like you said, some put some type of foam on the strings!
Actually all uprights have a pedal that brings the hammers closer to the strings it's the very left pedal calld the half-blow pedal. As for the midel pedal that lowers felt between the hammers, and strings that pedal is mostly used to make the piano quieter when practicing because it almost mutes the sound. For this reeason it's also referred to as the practice pedal or the mute pedal🎹🎶
Thanks for sharing this informative clip :) I wish I can have my own grand piano one day. I tried shigeru kawai grand piano and I can feel the significant "difference" of it! What is the name of the Schumann piece played at 5.04?
The middle pedal on a grand locks the dampers for the currently pressed keys in the raised position, while the other dampers will function normally (controlled by each key and the right pedal). This means that you can play a "background" chord and press the middle pedal. Then you can play other keys with normal function of the dampers. The "background" chord strings will be undamped until you release the middle pedal. I have never seen an upright with this kind of middle pedal.
+Luke Jameson Yes that is what it does. This pedal is very useful when playing Debussy's piano works; however, it is not necessary. Debussy himself only had two pedals on his piano. The sostenuto pedal is an American addition to the piano.
I have an odd twist to my (please remain seated) comment: The Brill Building at 47th & Broadway, NY. The concept of place with small rooms, each with an upright. And Carol King & Neal Sedaka plugging out hit songs. I know it sounds crazy, but I like the image of a songwriter playing a piano "in his/her face". BTW, if you get a chance to see Beautiful, its thrilling!
@monterrey1952 If budget and space aren't a problem, a baby grand is better than an upright, all things being equal. Avoid baby grands that are less than 5 feet or 150 cm long. Baby grand pianos have a superior action, true pedal functions and project sound into the room instead of into the wall. As for which is better, a Steinway or Petrof, it depends upon the specific piano, particularly if it is used.
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Great informative video, this on was critical for me, because I could not decide between a 52" uprigth piano or baby gran, I dont have space or budget problem, my probles is I am novice in piano, Do you recomend me to buy a petrof or stainway not baby grabd piano, the next level? because I am going to retire as physician and surgeon this month and plan to learn and play piano the rest of my life. Best regards from Monterrey Mexico
It is perfectly OK to put an upright piano in the middle of a room, and the right placement will fill the room with sound. It does not have to stand against a wall. The soundboard side is not as pretty as the case of a grand piano, to be sure, whose soundboard points towards the floor. My mom covered the back of an upright piano with vinyl and it sounded very little different from the way it did without the vinyl, and looked nicer. At the same time, nobody would go to the trouble of building grand pianos if there weren't something extra to be had from them, and there is. The larger grand pianos have longer bass strings than the most common upright pianos for a better tone. There is faster repeat action due to gravity assist of the mechanism, there is commonly a sustain pedal mechanism that is rare in upright pianos, there is commonly a true una corda pedal mechanism that is not feasible in upright pianos, and the full soundboard is easily exposed on the works side without removing the music desk. But there are poor quality grand pianos and wonderful uprights, and an individual instrument ought to be chosen in person. It's even possible to get a very tall old fashioned upright piano rebuilt and it can sound absolutely wonderful because it has room for long bass strings. I was glad to have such a piano, with moderate servicing arranged for, to learn on when I was a teen, quite a few decades ago. Also, in the 14 years since this video, digital piano technology has continued to improve, to the point that a lightweight electronic instrument can boast a sound and feel close to that of a grand piano, especially with an external amplifier.
Thanks Robert, you have convinced me to buy a grand piano. I recently purchased a Baby grand Vose & Sons from the 1930's and it led me to meet a fantastic piano technician (now a friend) named Robert (irony :)....). I am proud to own a true american piano that sounds and feels really good. There is still some restoration job to be done but it's already a success even on the purely financial aspect :)
It's mechanism has been sent to a shop (Oliver White.. ever heard of him?) and will come back to me soon. The hammers were the original ones (they were in good shape, but there was nothing to sand off anymore to correct the tone) so all of them had to be replaced. That was the only thing, really, everything else seems to have witnessed great care and delicate yet straightforward craftsmanship.
this explains why it is SOOO MUCH EASIER for me playing my digital piano (mimics the action of a grand) i make so many damn mistakes on an upright. i was beginning to think i was a really bad player, now i am playing flawlessly and able to do advanced techniques that i kept screwing up on an upright. hell, i don't care of the baby grand is ghetto, i am getting one the next time i buy a real piano. the action alone makes it worth it. lol
I played on synthesizer for many years too. You can get away with techniques you wouldn't be able to on an acoustic. I've met many famous musicians that can't play on an acoustic like they play on synth. I won't name them haha I was actually shocked. I've also noticed their left hand suffers. Possibly because of the programming they have to do during performance with left hand. Definitely learn on acoustic if you can.
Mimics. Like a clown i should add. That uprights tend to have hard action, take off the lid and put the hammers closer to the strings jamming them there with something. That's whati did myself because it was impossible to exercise high speed complex compositions, hands get tired before i even do, and when i became advanced i guess they get tired way before i will get tired.
I totally disagree. I've played acoustic and digital both. I hate digitals. They sound terrible to me. You can't get a lot of sound or volume and feel and touch, response is so different. To me it's more difficult to play and I make so many mistakes. They are just terrible in my opinion
Okay, I may have faltered by saying "moving closer to the action." On my upright, it shifts the action so the hammers are closer to the strings. The keys sink down rather than moving side to side.
I'm progressing in my music studies. I'm beginning to notice the limitations on my console Wurlitzer. Just like you mentioned the repeated notes can only be played so fast. It's a wonderful piano though. It sounds more like a baby grand. The bass is rich for a vertical. The sound rings beautifully. But yes I'll have to consider a higher performing piano when my skills demand it eventually.
I believe that the "Concert grand piano code has been cracked". I'm not a pianist or an instrument inventor so be easy on me. I think about 15 or more years ago i saw that a Japanese inventor made an upright piano that really approximates the tone of a concert grand piano. I'm an electric guitar and bass player. So i'm in no way claiming to be skilled in this field. But i gotta say, this thing sounded REALLY good !!!
i agree i have a baby grand my self you have to experience it. it just has so much tone depth and colour to the music you play i would never want to go back to a upright since i have had my baby grand
+piano gam i wish i had a baby grand but my digital piano mimics the action of one and it is SO much easier to play. i will never go back to an upright again either. i made so many playing mistakes on them. i play so much better now :)
+datura1983 You should hit up piano movers and storage owners... sometimes they get a people who just want to get pianos out of their house after a relative moves on or where one of those people who didn't know how to play and originally bought a Grand for decoration. And piano storage place get people who give up on wanting to pay for the storage of a piano and abandon them for the storage or mover to sell. Many of these movers and storage places will sell a "Grand for under a grand" to clear them out. But, if you go this route, you definitely need to bring someone with you who can tell you if what you are buy is solid or might need work on it. My buddy picked up a pretty sweet Lester Grand for $800 including delivery. He had to pour about $200 more for light repairs and tuning but the thing sounds great.
On uprights, it might as well not be there. It makes it easier for you to play soft by just moving closer to the action, so you can't accelerate the hammer enough, which is the whole point in playing soft. On uprights, the middle pedal is a bass sustain, rather than a sostenuto. That does change the color of the sound, because the un-damped bass strings will vibrate. It doesn't do it the same way a grand does though. Not even close.
"Buy a grand piano, you'll never regret it." Unless you move. :)
Kevin15047 eh. it can be turned on its side and moved on a four wheel dolly (held in place) by people. not so bad :)
how did they get it in?
Charles Walters uprights sound as good or better than some grands. The cost of low end baby grands gets you an excellent hand made upright and top quality materials. Something to consider. And grands do take up much more space.
Scawt Alanxender they built the school around it
I dont have place and I dont have money for grand piano, what are you talking about ?
I will tell you what is really the best. It only depends on how much money you have.
If you are poor, get a digital piano
Not poor, get an upright
Rich, get a baby grand
Very rich, get a grand
Filthy rich, get all of them
Except that if I'm very rich and get a grand, I'll actually lose 15.
acctually if you're good at piano, and want to get a baby grand, i don't belive you have to be rich to get one. Steinway b-211 costs about 40 000 dollars, but that is the best of the best of baby grands. you can get a yamaha baby grand for about 14 000 dollars. wich is actually cheaper than some uprights.
@@trkk7047 14000 dollars could be the downpayment for a fricking house
@@Mr850man You sound like the kind to get an E-piano
@@trkk7047 sorry for buying a house instead of a piano
Who knew Luke Skywalker played piano?
I thought it was Gene Roddenberry
My first thought is this guy looks like Mark Hamill
Jon Favreau did
@@deusvult6900 Lol I always thought he had that Mark Hamill look
This guy is Luke skywalker? Where is the light saber?
He is right in what he says, but I believe Chopin preferred upright pianos. This is because whereas the grand projects sound into the room, with an upright the sound is directly in front of the player.
Hello! Can anybody tell me if it is possible to play all Beethoven sonatas on a good upright piano?
@@dojagi1461 Yes absolutely. Trills are harder to play on an upright, that's the only difference really, but there is no difference in technique between playing a grand or upright.
Chopin didn't know anything about pianos ask Paul McCartney
@@gazorbo is this a joke?
@@dojagi1461 you can play it on a 500 USD digital piano
0:54-0:56 The only part in the video i paid attention to.
Himanshu Gaur
I wasn’t cringe at all, just a little...interesting.
*lip smacking intensities*
I don't play piano and I'm not shopping for one but this was really interesting..
Do you play now?
who wouldn't love to have such a beautiful instrument not to mention furniture in one's home. I just got back into piano playing, I only played as a child/teenager, pretty much gave it up for raising my children, let them have lessons on my In-laws old upright that was almost rotten with age, but they got the 'general idea', and were working on getting good, then THEY discovered boys and it was all over. That upright went into the burning barrel, literally. I'm now 57 years old, yearning for a piano, but just dont have the funds, and someone donated an old spinet to salvation army and I got it for 15 dollars. It seems to be in fair condition, needs tuning of course, but I can get decent sound and relearn to play. I'm being 'serious' now and learning all the things I didnt (like scales and arpegios), (soon as my books come in), and I'm loving just having my fingers touch 'keys' once again. It was my first love, and I feel like I have been reborn when I sit down and try to play. I'm slow, I'll never be a master, I'll be blessed to be able to play 1/2 as good as the gentleman on the video plays. But God granted me a 15 dollar gift because I could never buy a nice upright nor baby grand, just not in the budget. God does find ways though.
Hey i hope you got your Piano. I returned to the piano a couple of years
through simliar circumstance. I managed to Get a good fully working
Baby Grand by Mornington and Westson with a great history of constant
use and service. I cost me nothing at all! apart from the transport.
Where did i get it? On Gumtree the "Freebies"!!
theres about seven or so a week here in the uk with a Grand or a baby
grand coming up about once a month. The lady said she'd had about 300
inquiries!! to the ad. But I got it. So it is possible. Free uprights
are very common here so i might get an upright for my other room at some
point.
So long as its all working. Then its definitely worth the hassle of
"chasing" one.
I dont play mine that much.
But its a Boss peice of furniture. :)
I did a Kawai
@@barkerbiz Wow. Never know UK about that! Free pianos? =O
@@zakittyslair Kawai sounds great. I have one but I bought from shop, a fourth hand around 40 years old reddish medium height upright piano when the time I bought it for the sake of practices to score better in piano exams. It cost me MYR3900 in year 2003. But now it gets like something rotten in the wood after more than 10 years ownership? Ah I need restoration services since the piano is still sounding great.
Even a decent spinet can offer a gratifying playing experience. It's keeping the spinet decent that is the bigger challenge. They were made to be inexpensive to build, inexpensive to buy, even inexpensive to move, but they are piano servicers' nightmare.
I wish you would have done some side by side comparison
Yeah. I wanted to hear the sound of the two, not listen to him gab. I was just curious though. I have a Yamaha Clavinova CVP-609 digital piano. I'm very happy with it.
Mitch Vermeulen Except that there is a huge variety of baby grands and upright pianos, each with different sound...... you would never get a good comparison just by listening to a couple.
indeed, no 2 pianos are "perfectly" the same in sound, just incredibly close.
dwalters98 They are not even close. It's huge difference in sound from one piano to the next. Voicing and design decide how the sound is.
That's why I always thought the soft pedal was broken!!
Lol! Same! And I play the piano and didn't even know that. I just assumed the pedals were the same on all pianos.
I weighed the same pros-cons with our small-ish LR. I decided on a baby grand for exactly what Robert said. Considering windows and the sofa, I couldn't find a wall where the upright would easily fit. The baby grand is 4'7" and it looks and sounds wonderful!
how did i end up here i was just looking for cooking recipes
Oh my god Mark Hamill is that you?!
its omg not oh my god
+Claudia Hecht Oh my god
+Fyreee oh my God. I think it is!
Oh my god. Luke Skywalker!
oh my god! what the fuck??? I'm laughing my ass off, rolling on the floor laughing. *shake my head*
Unless your home is huge and all your walls are hung with expensive artworks, taking up wall space is usually less of an issue than taking up floor space.
I think he made some very valid points, but I believe the style of music you tend to play is a major factor. If you mostly play pop, blues, r&b/soul, rock, boogie woogie, or even jazz to an extent, I would think an upright would suit someone just fine given this information. Obviously if a person plays classical, or anything that involves a lot of tonal and dynamic intricacies, a grand or baby grand would be preferable to satisfy those. My opinion, anyway.
Dude, I'm 18 and although it would be nice to have a steinway grand to play chopin that is not in my budget 😂.
Even brands do too.
For my own preferences, I would recommend playing most Mozart's piano pieces on Yamaha and Beethoven's on Kawai =)
This is because of the sound quality these pianos differ.
Oh I think Medieval and Baroque musics to be played on upright is fine too.
And as for Romantic musics, grand pianos will be the best.
What about New age music?
@@tommy3763 Get Essex
You never age!!!! Wow! Listening in 2021.🌹🌹🌹
The beautiful Schumann piece at 5:40 is part of the Carnaval works and it is called "Chopin" Op. 9 No. 12
I go crazy for these videos, no matter how old they are. Thank you Robert!
What a thorough video. Thank you! We invested in a 1917 Steinway B which was fully remanufactured. I will say that with the inside of our home urethaned wood, with urethaned wood floors, the result was too bright a sound. We needed to have the hammers replaced and voiced a bit to get a warmer sound and we are happy with the result. Thank you very very much for taking the time to share your knowledge. Regards:)
"and now I'll casually play some magnificent Schumann" omg I really want a grand piano that sounds like that but I can only imagine how much that piano costs.
Yeah this Mark Hamill look alike forgot to mention that babygrands and grands can cost more than cars...
Do you know what that piece is called pls? I love it so much
@@platitudeomenw441 it's called Chopin and it's a piece from Schumann's carnaval
@@georgel2201 thank you! I forgot all about this lol
The hammer action is a huge factor ! You won't be a beginner forever and at some point you will need a piano that can help you preform at a high level
👍 👍 Youre right 👍 👍
As usual, another very informative video. Love you're videos. Yes, who doesn't love the sound of a grand? But, I have to disagree with you about the issue on volume (2:16). Yes. uprights backs are to the wall, but on just about all uprights you can open the lid just like you do on a grand to get more volume. As for sound, If you are playing Chopin or Schumann, then it is the Grand all the way, but If I were to listen to a Joplin, James P. Johnson, or a stride tune, I'll take the sound of the upright all the way. Sure they sound great on a grand, but they just sound more righteous on an upright. My advice is, if you can afford a Grand, get yourself an upright too and enjoy both...LOL!!!
Yes!
I love the infectiousness of this guy's good humour!
the last place I would put an upright piano is against the wall! It takes up less space than a grand right in the middle of the living room. Just put an attractive cloth over the back, and viola!
Most of your videos are great, but you are really down on uprights, and they can be so smokin'!
(I play a 6' steinway grand.)
thanks, you are right! I meant 6', how embarrassing!!
+Kelpy ~ Hey there, Kelpy, if you move your curser over to the far right, on your post, a drop-down will ask if you want to edit or delete your post. Oh, and I couldn't agree with you more, those big harped, old upright pianos can have great sound. I too play a 6-foot grand, a Weber grand made in 1915. :-)
+Kelpy some uprights are unstable as fuck so gotta be careful not to hit it in the front or bad shit is gonna fall
+toothless toe you're right! I changed it to six foot (')! thanks!
The wall can actually function as a sounding board to broaden the spread of the sound. Some flatscreen entertainment systems are also based on this and have speakers that face the wall. I think, if you went around to homes with upright pianos or even to churches and community halls that have them, you'll find most are up against a wall simply for convenience sake. Let's face it, if you really want to listen to an upright, you would remove the front panel.
A large upright with its soundboard a few feet away from a wall, around the distance a grand’s soundboard is from the floor, and opening the bottom panel to let lots of the bass come out can make a large upright sound very similar to a grand. Regularly play a Steinway B and practice on a Baldwin 6000 upright piano, and it sounds like another grand when I play it in this configuration.
I love my baby grand ❤️ I also have an upright aswell and a electric keyboard
Great video. It was released many years ago but it is the clearest explanation of choosing the proper piano I have heard (even recently).
The length of the keys is a very important point. I've struggled playing some tunes since i have small hands (thus, short fingers) and if i have to play fast arpeggios that include black and white keys is way harder cause you're probably gonna play the white keys right next to the black ones and it's a kinda hard thing to do, at least FOR ME.
Thank You for your efforts. I love the full genuine sound of a Grand Piano.
Surely one of the factors is the size and type of room. Even in an averaged size living room even a baby grand would be too loud, whereas, say in a large hall an upright wouldn’t be loud enough to fill it with sound. And if you in an apartment ...well, get a good digital with headphones!! 😆
How do I go from Steins Gate:0 to watching mozart, to reading about pianos, to watching Your Lie in April, then going back to learning about pianos and the difference between an "upright" and a grand piano.
Anyways...
2019 anyone?
Steins gate - - - - - - > Steinway?
Your Lie in April - - - - - - > classically music-trained musicians?
=D
Robert as always you offer interesting insights. If I could own either I'd have either for the weighted action that they would afford in my practice
really makes sense and explained it fairly clearly!
I don't care if my piano is not a grand piano. As long as it is in tone, I know I'm good.
Unfortunately professionals don’t have that luxury- we will all tell you a grand is necessary
@@evanlittle3473 grand pianos arent necessary just a huge gap in pockets and bank accounts
@@npgnibalabe1552 depends on the music you are playing, and your preference in sound, but yeah🎹🎶
@@evanlittle3473 A professional who travels might be asked to play on an upright piano sometimes.
Thanks for this informative video,was very helpful! Thanks for sharing this video.
That Schumann you played was just so beautiful ….
I've always liked the style of uprights more.
I can't even play the piano or do I have any serious interest in learning, but I'm a lover of music so these videos are absolutely fascinating to me.
That's great to hear!
Ah, that's why my digital will never achieve the same effect, and I finally figured out the pedals, thank you!
For some it’s about character, not about harmonics or bass. I’d prefer an old upright saloon piano because it has a unique sound.
21 st Dec. 2018. Upright vs Baby Grand. Great. Explained very nicely & Convincing. Voice is so good with Proper Pawses. Nice video shooting. Thank you so much.
very informative - i never considered the gravity factor. I had just assumed an upright was much less different than a grand. I think I'll always try to stick with a grand if i can.
in my opinion, which this is, some upright pianos are better than some grands
and my piano is like a hundred years old
***** well some old ones are in very bad shape, luckilly mine isn't. it holds tune for like 5 months and after that period you can hear some mistakes, but for my piano that's good. well of course i want a grand, but but the grand i want costs 180 grands:P
that;s a beautiful thing to do. i got mine for free just because the person who gave it to me said that we just click together:P. I'm so happy with mine:D. so what you're saying is that the piano isn't old anymore because verything is replaced?:P
Yes, especially digital uprights with the price of $2000 or more
The upright piano that I practice on is a family heirloom. I only had to tune it once and it still sounds good. Of course it’s a Baldwin studio grand upright.
Very well explained! Thank you!
I learn a lot from your videos, thank you
Here is some advantages and disadvantages of both.
Grand Piano(Good):
Plays well.
Has great sound.
Lasts for a lifetime.
Grand Piano(Bad):
Hard to fit in a normal home.
Can not be played in school.
Takes time to learn.
Upright Piano(Good):
Easier to fit through normal homes.
Plays somewhat good.
Can be played in school.
Upright Piano(Bad):
Takes time to learn.
Only the sustain pedal works.
Can not play fast speeds of notes.
Hope you enjoy.
Thank you for info
What do you mean by can and can’t be played in school I don’t understand
@@charlesblack1972 maybe his school is too small to fit a grand...
I agree with can’t play fast speeds like the grand piano it’s not smooth as the grand one when I play
What do you mean it takes time for a grand piano to learn? Upright pianos do not have all the capabilities of grand pianos.
Great presentation!
Such a wonderful explanation. Thank you!
at 3:07, you were demonstrating the repetition lever, which is found only on grands. The lever catches the hammer and quickly resets the action when you lift the key up a little bit, allowing the key to be played quickly.
Love your grand pianos demos and explanations. I am deciding to buy a 2nd hand Yamaha GB1K, C1 or GC1, but still space is my concern. Need to re arrange my furnitures. Thank you very much:)
I love your videos!!!!
Hi robert it's me again,
anytway, i guess as far as classical and ragtime and late 20's Jazz i like the tones and the timing,
mannn,,,talk about a revelation, to finally find this out 40 yr's later.
I was thinking,,,, wooooow ,no wonder it sound's sooo good when he plays bethena or some of the other's piece's on the album.
Used to have an amazing sounding upright for the size of it. Also, pressing the una chorda "silent" pedal did shift the entire sound board (and hence tonal colour). He is just wrong. Depends on the upright.
Afaik there are no uprights on the market that shift the action with the una corda pedal. Some old uprights with vertical strings had a kind of una corda pedal. But with the design used in uprights for decades it is not possible to shift the action because it is connected to the frame.
@@ampac It's rare, but not technically impossible to implement. Maybe the cost of doing this is such that one begins to consider a grand piano if one cares about such subtleties.
Great playing!!
Nice! Thank you for the clarification.
Two things you left out: On some grand pianos the middle pedal is sostenudo which is rarely needed except for pieces like Adensales Warsaw Concerto. Also on a grand piano you have tone control with the manner in which a note is played. I found this most useful playing Rachmaninoff's 18th variation from a Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini.
I asked myself the same question. The answer was to buy the best upright in the world (Bosendorfer 130 CL), better than many grands, less expensive than a 2nd hand grand even from a prestigious manufacturer such Steinway, Bosendorfer etc.
My upright is a real dream !
First of all I loved the way you played. I really felt the emotion in the piece you played, and I felt inspired. Bravo!
Thank you so much for this video. I'm not trained at all, but I learned to play some piano by practicing alone, and watching youtube videos after youtube became a thing. I've envied those professional pianists and I've always wondered why I could not the that color change they were getting. I never owned a grand. I just own a keyboard, and my sounds were not even a match to that great grand piano sound.
I always thought I could just hit the keys softer, but it wasn't it working. Recently I decided to get the closest thing to a grand piano I could afford, and that was a real life extensively recorded and sampled grand piano from xlnaudio dot com. I use my cheap casio as a controller, but I plan to buy a weighted controller.
I found the sustain pedal, and then I noticed the 2 additional pedals in the program. That's how I ended up here in your video haha. That's what I had been looking for all of my life. That soft pedal.
Thanks a lot for the educational video. I always did think the grand piano or baby grand had a more well rounded sound, but now I see why. Now that I think about it, every upright I've seen was set against a wall.
Maybe one day I'll be able to get me a baby grand who knows.
But I like the more soft tone the upright gives. With a grand it doesn’t change its just more quiet. Also not all uprights make the action closer like you said, some put some type of foam on the strings!
Actually all uprights have a pedal that brings the hammers closer to the strings it's the very left pedal calld the half-blow pedal.
As for the midel pedal that lowers felt between the hammers, and strings that pedal is mostly used to make the piano quieter when practicing because it almost mutes the sound. For this reeason it's also referred to as the practice pedal or the mute pedal🎹🎶
Thanks for sharing this informative clip :) I wish I can have my own grand piano one day. I tried shigeru kawai grand piano and I can feel the significant "difference" of it! What is the name of the Schumann piece played at 5.04?
The middle pedal on a grand locks the dampers for the currently pressed keys in the raised position, while the other dampers will function normally (controlled by each key and the right pedal). This means that you can play a "background" chord and press the middle pedal. Then you can play other keys with normal function of the dampers. The "background" chord strings will be undamped until you release the middle pedal. I have never seen an upright with this kind of middle pedal.
On my spinet, the middle pedal just raises the dampers on the lower 2 octaves or so.
Yup, that middle pedal to my knowledge is unique to grands but only certain grands. The pedal is called the sostenuto pedal.
+Luke Jameson Yes that is what it does. This pedal is very useful when playing Debussy's piano works; however, it is not necessary. Debussy himself only had two pedals on his piano. The sostenuto pedal is an American addition to the piano.
I like the uprights for variety of tones they offer..
Its very useful, but you should mention about the different between the middle pedal of the grand and upright pianos
This is why I have the Yamaha Arius YDP-181. Best of both worlds.
I've been very happy with my Sohmer console piano.
So am I !
I have an odd twist to my (please remain seated) comment: The Brill Building at 47th & Broadway, NY. The concept of place with small rooms, each with an upright. And Carol King & Neal Sedaka plugging out hit songs. I know it sounds crazy, but I like the image of a songwriter playing a piano "in his/her face". BTW, if you get a chance to see Beautiful, its thrilling!
Valuable information!
@monterrey1952 If budget and space aren't a problem, a baby grand is better than an upright, all things being equal. Avoid baby grands that are less than 5 feet or 150 cm long. Baby grand pianos have a superior action, true pedal functions and project sound into the room instead of into the wall.
As for which is better, a Steinway or Petrof, it depends upon the specific piano, particularly if it is used.
Great information thank you.
Good video robert.. I'm going to buy a yamaha c3.. what do you think? Or maybe yamaha G5 because it's longer?
Brilliant!
this guy reminds me of nelix off star trek voyager
uuuuuggggggghhhhh, don't say that
mattastic
AHH YES, THAT'S MY FAVORITE SERIES OF MY CHILDHOOD, THE WORLD'S BEST TV SHOW EVER MADE. NOTHING WILL BEAT IT EVER & EVER & EVER. I THANK SO MUCH THE CREATORS OF THIS LEGENDARY TV SHOW FOR BRINGING THESE WONDERFUL CHARACTERS OF THIS SHOW & ITS MUSIC AND ITS EFFECTS TO MY WHOLE LIFE, MY WHOLE WORLD 💕💗💝💞💖💓💘❤️💚🖤🧡💙💛💜 😭😭😭😭😭
I'M SERIOUS!!!
I LITERALLY FEEL SO NOSTALGIC RIGHT NOW.....
STAR TREK VOYAGER...1995-2001...
I REMEMBER WHEN SEVEN OF NINE WAS WITH HOLO-CHAKOTAY PLAYING ON A HOLOGRAPHIC PIANO (SEASON 7 - HUMAN ERROR)...
ALL THE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AS WELL AS THE BEAUTIFUL BACKGROUND MUSIC BY DAVID BELL, JAY CHATTAWAY & THE INTRO THEME BY JERRY GOLDSMITH
Great information!!
Very interesting Sir!
Love this
Great informative video, this on was critical for me, because I could not decide between a 52" uprigth piano or baby gran, I dont have space or budget problem, my probles is I am novice in piano, Do you recomend me to buy a petrof or stainway not baby grabd piano, the next level? because I am going to retire as physician and surgeon this month and plan to learn and play piano the rest of my life. Best regards from Monterrey Mexico
Good and important informations , thanks
@MisterBankz well... I think the most important thing about the piano is the sound....
Dude. You are a badass. Kudos.
It is perfectly OK to put an upright piano in the middle of a room, and the right placement will fill the room with sound. It does not have to stand against a wall. The soundboard side is not as pretty as the case of a grand piano, to be sure, whose soundboard points towards the floor. My mom covered the back of an upright piano with vinyl and it sounded very little different from the way it did without the vinyl, and looked nicer.
At the same time, nobody would go to the trouble of building grand pianos if there weren't something extra to be had from them, and there is. The larger grand pianos have longer bass strings than the most common upright pianos for a better tone. There is faster repeat action due to gravity assist of the mechanism, there is commonly a sustain pedal mechanism that is rare in upright pianos, there is commonly a true una corda pedal mechanism that is not feasible in upright pianos, and the full soundboard is easily exposed on the works side without removing the music desk. But there are poor quality grand pianos and wonderful uprights, and an individual instrument ought to be chosen in person. It's even possible to get a very tall old fashioned upright piano rebuilt and it can sound absolutely wonderful because it has room for long bass strings. I was glad to have such a piano, with moderate servicing arranged for, to learn on when I was a teen, quite a few decades ago.
Also, in the 14 years since this video, digital piano technology has continued to improve, to the point that a lightweight electronic instrument can boast a sound and feel close to that of a grand piano, especially with an external amplifier.
Thanks Robert, you have convinced me to buy a grand piano. I recently purchased a Baby grand Vose & Sons from the 1930's and it led me to meet a fantastic piano technician (now a friend) named Robert (irony :)....). I am proud to own a true american piano that sounds and feels really good. There is still some restoration job to be done but it's already a success even on the purely financial aspect :)
How is it now?
It's mechanism has been sent to a shop (Oliver White.. ever heard of him?) and will come back to me soon. The hammers were the original ones (they were in good shape, but there was nothing to sand off anymore to correct the tone) so all of them had to be replaced. That was the only thing, really, everything else seems to have witnessed great care and delicate yet straightforward craftsmanship.
Thanks. Very good and helpful video. Got to agree with the whole lot :) said here!
This video should be retitled "Why Baby Grand Pianos are better than Vertical Pianos"
a grand piano is like more then half the size of my room. I prefer the upright, just as long as it plays music, it's fine.
Excellent
this explains why it is SOOO MUCH EASIER for me playing my digital piano (mimics the action of a grand) i make so many damn mistakes on an upright. i was beginning to think i was a really bad player, now i am playing flawlessly and able to do advanced techniques that i kept screwing up on an upright. hell, i don't care of the baby grand is ghetto, i am getting one the next time i buy a real piano. the action alone makes it worth it. lol
I played on synthesizer for many years too. You can get away with techniques you wouldn't be able to on an acoustic. I've met many famous musicians that can't play on an acoustic like they play on synth. I won't name them haha I was actually shocked. I've also noticed their left hand suffers. Possibly because of the programming they have to do during performance with left hand. Definitely learn on acoustic if you can.
Mimics. Like a clown i should add. That uprights tend to have hard action, take off the lid and put the hammers closer to the strings jamming them there with something. That's whati did myself because it was impossible to exercise high speed complex compositions, hands get tired before i even do, and when i became advanced i guess they get tired way before i will get tired.
I totally disagree. I've played acoustic and digital both. I hate digitals. They sound terrible to me. You can't get a lot of sound or volume and feel and touch, response is so different. To me it's more difficult to play and I make so many mistakes. They are just terrible in my opinion
I bought both
Hi, mind if you tell me which piece you were playing by Schumann when you were demonstrating the soft pedal please? Thank :) - PS Wonderful playing!!
Okay, I may have faltered by saying "moving closer to the action." On my upright, it shifts the action so the hammers are closer to the strings. The keys sink down rather than moving side to side.
Good info. Thanks.
He played the theme/piano pieces so confidently because in that time there was no copyright claims issues.
We just bought a baby grand. Challen. 60's. Will be fun.
What do you think about the Yamaha GC1? Still worth it or its better a very good upright piano?
the last song was Chopin - Ballade No. 1
I'm progressing in my music studies. I'm beginning to notice the limitations on my console Wurlitzer. Just like you mentioned the repeated notes can only be played so fast. It's a wonderful piano though. It sounds more like a baby grand. The bass is rich for a vertical. The sound rings beautifully. But yes I'll have to consider a higher performing piano when my skills demand it eventually.
To me limitation is when you play a digitial. I don't care what they tell you.
Thanks for your patience, very didactic for a dilettante :)
I believe that the "Concert grand piano code has been cracked". I'm not a pianist or an instrument inventor so be easy on me. I think about 15 or more years ago i saw that a Japanese inventor made an upright piano that really approximates the tone of a concert grand piano. I'm an electric guitar and bass player. So i'm in no way claiming to be skilled in this field. But i gotta say, this thing sounded REALLY good !!!
This guy hasn't aged a day since this video.
Thank you!
i think he just like grand pianos better
Matrocious Who wouldnt...
i agree i have a baby grand my self you have to experience it. it just has so much tone depth and colour to the music you play i would never want to go back to a upright since i have had my baby grand
+piano gam i wish i had a baby grand but my digital piano mimics the action of one and it is SO much easier to play. i will never go back to an upright again either. i made so many playing mistakes on them. i play so much better now :)
+datura1983 You should hit up piano movers and storage owners... sometimes they get a people who just want to get pianos out of their house after a relative moves on or where one of those people who didn't know how to play and originally bought a Grand for decoration. And piano storage place get people who give up on wanting to pay for the storage of a piano and abandon them for the storage or mover to sell. Many of these movers and storage places will sell a "Grand for under a grand" to clear them out. But, if you go this route, you definitely need to bring someone with you who can tell you if what you are buy is solid or might need work on it. My buddy picked up a pretty sweet Lester Grand for $800 including delivery. He had to pour about $200 more for light repairs and tuning but the thing sounds great.
@@datura1983 I will no go back to a digital. To me you are go backwards when you do.
On uprights, it might as well not be there. It makes it easier for you to play soft by just moving closer to the action, so you can't accelerate the hammer enough, which is the whole point in playing soft. On uprights, the middle pedal is a bass sustain, rather than a sostenuto. That does change the color of the sound, because the un-damped bass strings will vibrate. It doesn't do it the same way a grand does though. Not even close.