add me to the list! ^^

Hi guys, I've not been around for quite some time, it's quite busy and things went so allegro I couldn't spare any time here.

I need some help here actually , my grade 6 piano exam is on the 5th of July and the gap is less than a month. Recently, I find it difficult to play all my 3 pieces smoothly, I think I played so well at home with my own piano... And then when I played it to my teacher, I was criticized so badly that I hardly thinks I deserves it, well at least some....

And I know what are the problems now, I think it's the piano problem. My house's Kawai piano has lighter touch, it's so much simpler to drive a song, I can played it so softly easily and so loudly easily too. While my teacher's Yamaha piano model has heavier keys, I always pressed so hard on the keys to make it loud, my teacher always complained my songs not in the right dynamic. And when I played a piece which is in the Romantic period and it's in the shape of right hand melody with left hand accompaniment. My left hand accompaniment were always equivalent dynamic or rather louder (sometimes) than my right hand melody.

I can't overcome this problem. I were always being told to keep the left hand soft as it's only accompaniment.

But problem is, I can do it well in home, I could keep the left hand soft and the right hand melody as how it should be played, but when I goes to the music centre and played my teacher's piano, I simply can't.

It's very hard and I'm worrying about the exam, if I were given a piano like my teacher's, I am so dead. So once again the problem is my house's piano key is lighter and my teacher's piano is heavier than mine. How do I solve this?


tl;dr version :
My teacher's piano key is heavier than my own piano. I'm used to my own piano which is very light but when I played my teacher's piano my song became so terrible. The left hand accompaniment usually played equally loud to the right hand melody or sometimes even louder. I am afraid I will be given a piano like my teacher's which has heavy keys in the exam, and then I would be dead. How do I solve this? please.

You can request to feel the piano touch before the exam starts but don't take too long time.

It is easy to solve this problem. It is definitely not piano problem Use your ear to listen every single note you play and the tone you make. Let your ears become the judge. If you think it is too soft, play it with more force. If you think it is too loud, play it softer.

In your mind, you set a rule that I should use XXX force when I play this piece and I should use that force when I play another piece. A programmed playing. When you enter the exam room, different environment and different model of piano. Do you think it works? Those can make it sounds differently so let your ears to judge. If not, what are your ears for?

You should always ask yourself during practice. What is the tone I want? Think the sound before you play. Maybe you can try to look at the score without playing but think about the music. Sing it in your mind and feel the music.

For your Romantic period song, keep this in your mind. Bring out your melody line and sing it.

This post has been edited by christellia: Jun 13 2011, 01:24 AM

between yamaha and kawai pianos;-
kawai should feel heavier than yamaha - dif action geometry piano design
kawai should sound more mellow than yamaha - although both are consider to be bright.

the newer version of the yamies 'YUS series' have a different design and materials.
- dif action geometry design with heavier touch as compared to the entry level 'J and/or L series" and popular 'U-series".
- have different hammers and additional tuning, regulation and voicing at the factory before export.
- fitted with German Roslau strings instead of the japanese piano wire produces a more mellower tone, only on the YUS5.

unless you played on the 'YUS series', i am suprise you mentioned the yamaha felt heavier than your kawai. i'll suspect that the yamaha piano maybe out of regulation thus the mechanism i.e. whippens, hammers and dampers, are not working as one and create stiff/heavy touch. or, the springs in the mechanism are over done, which commonly found in many reconditioned pianos, may result to stiff feeling.... or, many many or....

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 13 2011, 11:00 AM

this is true. tested whole bunch of kawai and yamaha recon pianos at a shop, all feel heavy. tested all new yamaha piano at yamaha showroom, NONE are like those recon pianos.

i tried the steinway concert 9ft grand at MPO, they key is soooooo easy to control, keys are soft and yet responsive in all dynamics.

top picture:- cheapo ways of not replacing the old weak spring. inexpensive way of doing to increase the tension on old spring that is by bending it to almost 90%... what a work... and worst, the spring is now not sitting on the felt... bravo... just wait .... soon you will start to hear squeaks.....
bottom picture:- correct spring load angle with new spring. it's body with nicely curved angle for further tension adjustment, if needed...


arr this pulak hammer spring again cheapo way of doing, not replacing weak old spring... again another 90% angle... what a rubbish work.... over tension....

this is what you pay for... dont think recond is gold... oh.... this is just little few things maybe only 10%, balance lagi 90% will start jumping...

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 13 2011, 12:46 PM


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Hi all, first time posting here.

Recon pianos actually do not feel heavy, but rather sluggish, or to say, not responsive. This is because the dealers won't care about it - they don't do extra regulatory work on those pianos which are required from time to time. Furthermore, the origins of those pianos could be questioned. Do Japan really have so many pianos to be sent over to Malaysia (and the rest of the worlds)? Truth are, you are likely to bump into a piano with institutional background. That means, a home-staying piano might experience a 2-hour use per day but in an institution setting, it could stretch to 8-hours. Then, even a 10 years old piano would have undergone wear and tear of 40 years.

Probably someone raises these stuffs before, first time posting, please pardon me!

Yea I know I can request to feel the piano before I started all the things...

Just that when it's too loud, I would required to play it softer and when I'm playing it softly, I can't play a phrase smoothly, some notes were heard so loudly some were unheard. I'm not used to pianos with heavier touch, I couldn't fully pressed all the keys, sometimes I pressed about 1/2 of it and it still sounds so loud. Sometimes I will slip, I can't control the piano... I'm like playing my own piano 2x the energy needed to play my teacher's piano so that I could gain the equivalent loudness I'm playing with her piano. And when I'm playing with her piano I'm like playing it 1/2 of the energy to play my own piano, I'm not used to it. If I play my teacher's piano like I'm playing my own piano, it will sounded like fff.

I do remind myself that I would like this piece to start with pp, that piece starting with mf and the last piece starting with p. But it didn't sound like what I was asking for.

my kawai piano is about 20 years already, I think my teacher's Yamaha is newer, and (I think) it's the most advanced upright piano Yamaha has.

can I call my piano repairman to u know, make my piano touch heavier by installing or changing something like the springs or what (I don't know I have no knowledge about piano ). I still have some times left, about 3 weeks before my exam.

why do some pianos feel heavy and some feel light? the weight required to make a key go down referred to as touchweight. every piano vary from 40 grams to 70 grams; differences in mass of various parts, friction resistance and leverage. don’t think lighter touch is always better, in fact, most advance musicians like the feel that touch is between 52 to 58 grams. piano that is light in touch, result to less feedback from piano back to player. on the other hand, too heavy touch makes arms and fingers tire easily and at times sensitive control will be gone. adjustment can be made to your piano touchweight, ask your technician; to increase touch weight i.e. changing a new set of hammers with heavier mass weight, adding key-leads, increase spring tension and etc…

end of the day, touch is very subjective and very personal. there is nothing wrong with having light, medium, heavy, mega heavy touch.... what is important is the action must be responsive to your fingers. if the action is not responsive then it needs 'regulations" and if the piano plays loud even at very soft blow then the hammers need to reshape and voiced....

tunings, regulation, hammer reshape, and voicing are the 4 most basic and important services require in an acoustic piano.

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 13 2011, 02:12 PM

yamie makes many models, some really good ones and some poorly designed ones (yep new piano i am refering).... it's hard to conclude that it is or it is not the most advanced upright unless the model is spelled out... to me the most advanced upright in the yamies family is the YU5. the rest of the models are just an improvement designed from their earlier species... your kawai that is 20 years old (if that is actual age, assuming you bought it new and not those recond stocks again from japan) may not be the worst of the kawai. it may just required some adjustment and/or replacement parts. note, piano deteriote overtime, no piano becomes better when it age.... so some $$$$ will be needed if you want to restore a used piano to play nice....

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 13 2011, 03:44 PM

yea that's the word touchweight !


this is the problem I'm facing !

i will try to ask my technician to adjust the touchweight first if that won't bombard my wallet. thanks alot u helped me so much !

ops.. YU5 am refering to YUS 5 typo error.... my mistake..

i will suggest that you ask your technician to look into the action. check all moving mechanisms (ie. hammers, whippens, dampers, keys) that they are in good order and not loose. (loose mechanical parts contribute to light touch with little or zero response/feedback). then, request for "action regulation" service - to adjust the sensitivity of feel for power and control. after that, play on the piano and see. usually after doing it, you will feel a great improvement, if you have not perform any regulation services since the piano was new. finally, if the touch is still feels light, in your opinion, then go ahead with increasing the touch weight...

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 13 2011, 04:09 PM

not some of the keys were light, it's all... but i will still ask him to check all the mechanisms...
okay noted 'action regulation'....

if can't only increase touch weight.

yes the keys are the same since they engineered weighted based on an average (except high quality pianos which are individually weighted with appropriate key leads for better feel).

what i have suggested to you earlier will not make the keys become heavy but to bring back the responsiveness of the touch prior to touch-weight modification. if you realised that you have good/better control without modification after the regulation why bother to change it. i put it to you that you bought this piano in the first place because you like how it sound and play...

if u r free, go out and play some upright and maybe grand pianos....every piano makers designed their action geometry differently result to different feedback... just for reference... hv fun

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 13 2011, 04:37 PM

alright, thanks.

oh so professional pianos are individually weighted on difference keys..... i didn't know that.

yea i think i need to do some modification, my piano is too old already and hasn't been any modifications or services.

sure, will do :> . thanks so much

well i know many professionals work very closely with their technicians for further adjustements and tweakings... some customised the touch weight. fly to the factory and pick the piano they like and purchase it. 2 renowned companies like fazioli and petrof owned the MBA action patent aka magnetic balance action. this mechanism allows the pianists / technicians to adjust the touch weight from light to medium to heavy in just 10 minutes. yeap... the use of magnet force to increase/decrease the inertia of the keys and actions ..

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 13 2011, 04:50 PM

wow this is so high-tech !
i've never seen the application of magnetic force.


but only if you have the moolah ,
great money great piano haha

So creepy here~

I recalled my band coach's advice that is don't take ABRSM piano exam if there is no necessary.
He says if you signed up for the exam, you will be playing 3 pieces for the whole year (almost) which
is less practical and boring. Moreover, assuming you had chosen 3 different styles of pieces in terms of
period, the account of the songs, you only get to practice the 3 different styles. If you chose
not to sign up for ABRSM, you could have been playing so many songs from different styles.

I regretted signing up for ABRSM and I won't go for the exam anymore after the coming one.
It wastes a lot of time and my money. The exam fees and the tuition fees.


And now, I installed a metronome application into my phone and whenever I play my pieces, I
set it to the right tempo. Somehow, I can't play it evenly to the beats, my teacher said that's because
I'm not used to metronome, (ya before this I've never played with a metronome on my pieces)
sometimes my beat went fast, sometimes went slow.

I hope I could pass at least, not with flying colour

Personally, disagree with the above. Enrolling for ABRSM or any examination boards have nothing to do with if you stuck playing just 3 pcs for a whole year. The problem is that many teachers and parents emphasis too much on EXAMS. You need to score.. Better past... Etc.. Etc... "look my son/daughter score 98%, or ... now diploma liau, now this liau, and the bla bla continues...." in the end, you stuck playing those boring pieces and waiting to have a chance to QUIT music.

In my opinion, music is suppose to be fun and teachers should introduce a more varied repertoire including lighter, contemporary music and etc. With lots of repertoire and you will be surprise you will score your the grade standards without realising it. Including, increases your confident level and at anytime ready for exam, competitive play, competition, concert and etc... Also, picking up notes easily as well... that y IMO, Asian and western pianists are diff., you give a piece to a western musician he/she can play without ease. give a piece to an Asian musician he/she will be stuck a while and need to practice

Exam is important attest your weakness to improve/correct from there but music is suppose to be fun and creative....

Yeah no choice le.... Metronome helps and guide u correct playing speed.... Practice more /:) have fun playing

This post has been edited by jhp: Jun 23 2011, 07:42 PM