(Source: Yamaha Europe)

Jools Holland, one of the UK’s most popular pianists, has put his tour piano, a Yamaha GT7 digital piano, on auction. It’ll be auctioned at the Bonhams’ Autumn sale of Fine Pianos without reserve, and all proceeds will go towards the Drake Music Project.

FYI, production of this particular Yamaha GT7 model has been discontinued, so you’ll be getting a potential antique as well. On a related note, Holland has announced that he will be replacing this piano with a “similar upgraded model”.

[News via Yamaha Europe]

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(Source: The Courier Mail)

Some people might consider destroying pianos as art, but we can assure you that we’re not part of them. And apparently, most aren’t either. The Arts Queensland-sponsored (Read: Tax-payer money) chainsawing has received backlash from a variety of music-loving people - from piano teachers to concert organisers.

After all, that’s AU$3000 of public money down the drain - all of which could have been channeled to more productive uses. Heck, there are tons of children from lower-income families who would have loved this particular piano.

Art? Probably. Worth it? No way. But if the artist, Rebecca Cunningham, used her own money, this would be a whole other story altogether.

[News via The Courier Mail]

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(Source: Farley’s House of Pianos)

Charles Walter’s recently (relatively) unveiled a brand new grand piano model, the ebony-polished 5′ 10″ Charles Walter 175.

It is still in the mass production stage, but it has already made some good first impressions on the experienced guys over at the Piano World Forums.

An important point to note is that it’s only US$1000 cheaper than the 6′ 4″ CW190, though it is really hard to say what this price differential is supposed to mean until you get a chance to test the piano out, and compare the two yourself.

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(Source: Gibson)

Yamaha recently launched the Clavinova CLP-240PE - a mid-level digital piano which few will find particularly striking bar one aspect. It will come with what Yamaha calls “…a high end, polished ebony finish…” - something it claims doesn’t come too often with mid-range models.

While not untrue, I find it rather ludicrous to make it a key selling point of a digital piano (at least, that’s what Yamaha seems to be doing). But let’s forget about that and return to more solid stuff.

The CLP-240PE, like the rest of its CLP-200-series brethren, comes with two key “technologies” (you know, the ones with all the fancy names and acronyms). One: Advanced Wave Memory (AWM) tone generation for instrument realism. Two: Dynamic Stereo Sampling (DSS) piano samples which allow for subtly different sounds when you hit the keys differently.

Overall, Yamaha’s latest Clavinova-series piano looks good, and sounds good specs-wise. But it really isn’t very different from other digital pianos in its class - except for that “high-end ebony-finish”, of course.

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(Source: WDMT 47)

It’s common knowledge that music reduces stress. But does playing music, or in this case, playing the piano, reduce stress as well?

For experienced piano players, I’d say yes. Like with any other trained practice, spending time doing something as leisurely as playing the piano is bound to reduce stress. But what about beginners? Won’t the stress from learning how to play a relatively complex instrument such as the piano outweigh the benefits from actually playing the instrument itself?

Well, apparently not if you blend the learning with socializing and breathing exercises - which is exactly what music centers such as the Milford Music Center do. They call such customized piano lessons: “stress-free piano lessons”, and each lesson involves a drum circle, improv. playing, a song of the day, and of course, breathing exercises.

So, the next time you think that learning the piano as an adult will add, rather than reduce stress, think again, and start looking around for some stress-free piano lessons.

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(Source: Yamaha)

A couple of months back, Yamaha relaunched the Cable-Nelson brand - which it acquired through its purchase of Everett Piano and Cable-Nelson in 1973 - at Winter NAMM 2006, with its offering of the Cable-Nelson CN116.

We recently had the opportunity to take a look at it, and based on looks alone, it certainly seemed to merit Yamaha’s claim that it would be an entry-level to Yamaha’s world-famous quality. For starters, the CN116 is a 46″ upright piano, finished in a polyester ebony, with a conventional, or rather, traditional cabinet with toe block and square legs.

Like most Yamaha pianos, the CN116 comes with a comfortable keyboard, which brings with it great feel and touch. Sound-wise, it’s excellent for an upright - rich, yet crisp and clear. However, do not expect similar volume levels with Yamaha baby grands as the CN116 is an entry-level Yamaha after all.

The Cable-Nelson CN116 will come with the same 10-year warranty as other Yamaha brands, and will be constructed to traditional Yamaha standards by Yamaha workers at Yamaha factories (in China, of course).

While we do not have any definite pricing to review, the CN116 should be priced reasonably, as befitting its entry-level status. However, a Yamaha is a Yamaha, so you’re not going to be getting a bargain-basement price for this upright piano.

So, if space is at a premium, and you’re looking for a quality piano at a reasonable price, the Yamaha Cable-Nelson CN116 will definitely be a competitive choice.

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(Source: Kohler & Campbell)

We’ve been talking so much about guitars these past few weeks that we’ve almost forgotten that we’re supposed to be featuring pianos as well. Actually, it was a forum thread on a Kohler & Campbell KCM-650 grand piano that reminded us of this fact, so we’ve decided to push a bit of attention to it.

For starters, the K&C KCM-650 is an 88 key, 7 1/4 octaves, 6′ 1″ grand, which a piano enthusiast over at the Piano World forum bought for US$9,400. So far, we’ve seen only good things being said about it, with a few examples placed below:

The KCM650 is a good value. In my opinion it is a little better made that the Yamaha C series. I think you got a “good deal”.

In my opinion, it was the best piano of its size and quality that I could find for the money. I looked for months and found it to be much nicer than the Chinese pianos in the same price range.

Overall, we think that the purchaser’s own conclusion describes the KCM-650 best: “(The KCM-650) Looks as grand as it sounds, pun not intended.”

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