Practicing on a horrible piano vs not practicing all

[bonesquirrel]

I am staying in another household for 3 days. That's all good, but my problem is that the only available piano is a slightly out of tune pianola (Brinkerhoff). Most of the bass notes need replacing (the further down you go, the worse it gets) and half of the really high notes either don't work at all or you can barely get a sound out. There are about 4 sticky keys in the piano. The piano has one of the strangest sound ever, like a honky tonk type sound. The room I'm in is echoey, so it's really hard to play forte because the sound seems to go on for ages (sustain pedal or not). Paired with the echo thing, it's also just generally a really loud piano, which makes it almost impossible to play softly, no matter how light I touch it.

So my question is, should I practice on this thing, or just give piano a break for a few days. To get back to my upright.

[hardy_practice]

I'd cut it some slack - your body will get used to it.

[j_menz]

Whilst I wouldn't commend crap pianos as a general usage, there is a surprising amount one can learn from one.

Make it sound good. Or at least try. You may be surprised - either by what it can do, or by what you can then do on a better one.

[outin]

I don't know...it makes no difference to one's playing to not play for 3 days (except sometimes a good one if breaking bad practice habits). I have been to this situation only twice: The first one was so badly out of tune that my ears hurt. And I realized I run much on auditory memory since some individual off notes confused me completely. The second one was not only out of tune, but when I played some notes, the keytops actually started to come off. I do like to play with different pianos, but there's a limit...

[perfect_playing]

I believe I read somewhere on the forum that your hands were getting sore from practising Rach 3 and other pieces. I would just give it a break for 3 days. You can still learn about the piano in that time e.g. by studying the score, practising in your head, listening to recordings.

If you want to give a certain passage a go, do a bit of practice on the bad piano, but don't overdo it .

[bonesquirrel]

I believe I read somewhere on the forum that your hands were getting sore from practising Rach 3 and other pieces. I would just give it a break for 3 days. You can still learn about the piano in that time e.g. by studying the score, practising in your head, listening to recordings.

If you want to give a certain passage a go, do a bit of practice on the bad piano, but don't overdo it .

That pain has passed now. I played some of HR2 on this piano, an it actually sounds really cool. Like in Shine where he was playing on the honky tonk lol it had that kind of sound to it.

[maestroanth]

Whilst I wouldn't commend crap pianos as a general usage, there is a surprising amount one can learn from one.

Make it sound good. Or at least try. You may be surprised - either by what it can do, or by what you can then do on a better one.

j

I like this advice....

[pianoplunker]

So my question is, should I practice on this thing, or just give piano a break for a few days. To get back to my upright.

If you have to ask then the answer is YES

[bonesquirrel]

If you have to ask then the answer is YES

I hate it when people do this......... It wasn't a yes or no question, it was a "do I do this or this" question. So saying "YES" gives me no idea at all on which one your mean.

But it doesn't matter, this an old post.

[faulty_damper]

It really depends on your technical development.  If you are still learning to use your body, then it won't hurt you that much. But if you are past that, then it will just be frustrating.

[perprocrastinate]

I have a similar question. I'm staying in one of my school's residence halls, and I only have access to digital pianos (I'm not a music major, so I can't use practice rooms with uprights/grands, darn). Speaking long term (actually, let's just say 6 months or so), would this have any ill effect on my technique? I really don't want to just stop practicing, but already, I can feel that I'm not able to work on tone or other intricacies, as I would be able to on a real piano.

[j_menz]

Shouldn't hurt at all, assuming the dps aren't the real bottom of the range unweighted/insensitive ones.

Baroque and classical should be least impacted (if at all).

And certainly much much less harmful than a six month break.

[louispodesta]

I am staying in another household for 3 days. That's all good, but my problem is that the only available piano is a slightly out of tune pianola (Brinkerhoff). Most of the bass notes need replacing (the further down you go, the worse it gets) and half of the really high notes either don't work at all or you can barely get a sound out. There are about 4 sticky keys in the piano. The piano has one of the strangest sound ever, like a honky tonk type sound. The room I'm in is echoey, so it's really hard to play forte because the sound seems to go on for ages (sustain pedal or not). Paired with the echo thing, it's also just generally a really loud piano, which makes it almost impossible to play softly, no matter how light I touch it.

So my question is, should I practice on this thing, or just give piano a break for a few days. To get back to my upright.

As someone who has lived your experience, I would proffer the following advice:

1)  The acoustical and mechanical/physics associated with any instrument is very specific.  That means:  either it is right or it is wrong, in my opinion.

2)  In that Claudio Arrau did not ever touch a piano during the summer months, it is not the END OF THE WORLD for you to wait until you can play on an instrument of your choice.

3)  If everybody on Eric Clapton's crew was stuck in a major traffic snarl (and unable to make the next gig), there is no way he would go forward with the next concert.