This is a great article that addresses that exact question. Read on . . . . . 

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The most serious piano teachers will adamantly point their students in the direction of an acoustic piano. For serious piano studying, I agree with this completely for reasons I will discuss shortly. But for many reasons, a genuine handcrafted instrument may not be the best choice for you. With the affordability, portability, and the many features that come with digital pianos, you may wish to head the other way. Summarily, the question of acoustic versus digital boils down to a matter of authenticity versus everything else.

Mostly, the drawbacks of an acoustic piano are matters of practicality, such as price. For what you could get a new, decent quality digital piano with, you’ll be dealing with a rather meager acoustic. This can encompass a number of problems. For instance, aside from any tuning it might need, the overall sound quality of a cheap acoustic piano can be quite poor. This may not just be an issue of old strings, but can result from an infinite number of possible factors arising from any of the complex mechanics of the piano being in disrepair. Other common problems of old pianos are broken keys and sticky keys, which is when the keys fail to spring up the way they should. There may also be faults with the framework that can range from nuisances to impending hazards. The trouble of a bad acoustic continues indefinitely, and the piano may need a decent amount of initial maintenance, in addition to periodic maintenance, which is likely to pull a few additional large bills out of your wallet right way.

Also, because of its bulk and weight, an acoustic may be a very difficult accommodation for people living in tight or elevated spaces, such as dorm rooms and certain city apartments. Some buildings may even prohibit pianos, particularly on floors above the ground level because the weight and bulk of pianos make them quite cumbersome and possibly hazardous to either the tenants or the buildings themselves. This raises the issue of portability as well. Do you gig? Do you relocate frequently? Toting a 500 pound upright piano isn’t possible for most people; moving one across the room is a challenge for most people. If your music needs to be ready to go, your hulking wooden companion is not going to be sympathetic.

Acoustic pianos also lack the many features present in digital pianos nowadays that may be valuable tools to you. For example, volume control may be necessary in dormitory, or close living, situations. Newer digitals also come with a suite of onboard functions, including on-the-fly recording, voice customization, electronic metronome, and even music mixing features, which you won’t have. You will also lack the benefit of porting your music to your PC; a simple MIDI connector would feed your performance directly into your computer’s audio card without any ambient noise or loss of sound quality, which will probably beat any recording made with an acoustic piano and consumer grade recording hardware available at a neighborhood electronics store.

With an acoustic, you will surely be at, at least, some degree of inconvenience. Still, despite the great deal of effort digital piano makers have put into their product, none have been able to truly reproduce the sound and feel of a good acoustic piano. First, lets talk about the piano sound. To most people, casual or occasional listeners of piano music, the resulting sounds between an acoustic piano and a digital piano are quite identical and equally satisfactory musically. But listen closely, because there is an important difference.

A digital piano outputs high quality recordings of the sounds that were made by a real piano at one time. During the process of making a digital piano, each key of a real concert grand piano is struck a number of times at varying velocities and recorded with sophisticated equipment to be used as the digital voice. This will give the digital piano a sufficient range of tonality and an overall likeness to the sound of an acoustic piano in varying music dynamics. But once the notes have been recorded and finally integrated with the digital piano’s voicing mechanism, they are never going to be changed. Even though the aesthetic quality of the sound is state of the art, it is the way the sounds should behave but cannot because they are fixed recordings that is the fundamental problem of digital pianos.

An acoustic piano uses a complex array of hammers, strings, a soundboard, and other moving parts that function in collaboration. This means that when any note is played, it is not played with entire independence, but is highly affected by the current state of the surrounding components of the piano. For example, playing a chord on a digital piano will simply result in three notes being played, as they were recorded individually, at the same time, whereas with an acoustic piano, the three notes will interact with each other through the soundboard and become a stew of vibrations, producing a different, more complex, and ultimately richer sound. Lacking this quality, what comes out of digital speakers will typically be quite boring and unsatisfactory to aficionados of the true piano tone.

An acoustic piano is also an analog instrument, which means is has virtually infinite range. For example, there is no limit to the loudness or softness a note may be played on an acoustic piano. With digital pianos, there is a point at which a minimum or maximum will be achieved. This means there will be occasions when you will not be able to play a note as softly or as loudly as you wish. In order words, true pppp or ffff are probably beyond the reach of digital pianos without you resorting to adjusting the volume dial while you’re performing. Even if you were to do that, the tonal quality of the notes would remain static from that point on, when it would further continue to dull or brighten on an acoustic piano.

Another problem of digital devices is the matter of intervals. In photography, for example, pixels are the intervals. With a traditional film camera, the amount of detail you are able to capture is theoretically unlimited because film is a single and continuous malleable body. The “film” of a digital camera is not single or continuous but is a multitude of pixels, each of which is only able to record a solid block of color. The amount of detail a digital camera is able to capture will depend on the how small the pixels are and how tightly they’re packed together. If the pixels, or intervals, are small enough and packed tight enough, the amalgam of the blocks of color they record will appear to be smooth curves and gradients to the human eye.

There is a similar issue of intervals with digital pianos, which is mainly the issue of touch sensitivity. Digital pianos have a finite number of intervals when it comes to key pressure. The more intervals there are and the closer they are to each other, the more realistically the piano will respond to your dynamics. High end digital pianos will have quite a lot of them. But digital pianos within the means of average shoppers may not have sufficient sensitivity. This means that while the vast difference between piano and forte may be noticeable, the most intricate variances of touch pressure may be disregarded. This will be quite a nuisance to pianists seeking a highly responsive instrument, particularly when it comes to meticulous classical music.

It also manifests in pedaling. Piano pedals are ranged. Between simple on and off, or up and down, there are degrees. Half-pedaling and quarter-pedaling are crude terms describing the manner of pedaling in which the pedal is only pressed partially down in order to create an intermediate effect. For instance, rather than completely depressing the pedal so that the full brilliance of a note is sustained, you may wish to depress it only half way to dampen about half of the note and let only the remainder of it sustain for a subtler, suppressed quality. Certainly a scrupulous pianist will wish to employ the complete range of pedaling available to him, which may not be represented entirely accurately in a digital piano.

Aside from sound, as mentioned previously, key touch is also an important issue. Digital piano makers these days have gone to great lengths to reproduce the feel of acoustic pianos. For the most part, they’ve done a good job. They’ve even gone as far as implementing graded hammer action, which is in line with the hammers of acoustic pianos gradually becoming lighter from left to right. As a matter of fact, if you could take a look at the inner workings of a digital piano, you would be quite surprised and impressed with the complexity of the hammer mechanics. However, as long as digital pianos look the way they do, being the shape and size they are, there is going to be a limit as to how authentically the key feel can be made.

The hammers on a digital piano are simply extensions of the pianist’s fingers. When the pianist presses a key down, it will raise the opposing lever, which touches the electronic pad inside the piano that serves as the string. The hammers on an acoustic piano do not behave this way. Instead of being extensions of the pianist’s fingers, they are rather like projectiles that are sprung toward the strings high above them. Imagine the carnival game where you must hit a pad on the ground with a mallet, which flings a projectile up the meter towards the bell at the very top. The finger is the mallet, the visible piano key is the pad, the hammer inside the piano is the projectile, and the string is the bell. First of all, this means if you press a key all the way down but not with the minimum amount of force needed, the projectile hammer will never leave its seating and the string will actually never be struck. Secondly, this launch-pad-like action feels quite different than the seesaw-like action of digital piano hammers.

The only way this can truly be reproduced in a digital piano is by the use of bona-fide acoustic hammers. And there’s nothing wrong with doing that. But the problem is there isn’t enough room for them inside the compact size of most of the digital pianos today. That’s why as long as they look the way they do, the action of digital pianos will not feel completely akin to that of acoustic pianos. Larger, higher end models do integrate the acoustic hammer action simply to recreate the key feel. Even higher end models, which are called “silent pianos,” integrate strings as well and are bona-fide acoustic pianos with the added ability to remove the strings from the action and toggle on digital mode in order to provide volume control! But these tend to be even more expensive than acoustic pianos.

These are the basic points to think about when shopping for your piano. To restate what I said at the beginning of the article, it really boils down to the authenticity versus everything else. And the authenticity is usually going to cost you more to get. What you should think about is how important it is to you that the piano truly resembles an acoustic. Are you a classical piano student looking at a long road of perfection and possibly a career as a concert performer? Then a digital piano is probably not what you want to be practicing on, even as a temporary substitution. I would suggest taking financing an acoustic and using your relatively small budget of cash as the down payment. If this is not necessarily what you’re going for, then perhaps a digital reduction is all you really need. For most people, it is.

Dueling Pianos Sing Along Fun for Everyone

Yet let’s look at how January as become the most popular month for company Christmas parties. Most people find that there is too much to do during the weeks leading up to Christmas. So plans get put off until after the New Year’s Eve celebrations. January holiday parties are now the becoming the time of year to celebrate.

Think about it for a minute … you will get better rates on locations, caterers and entertainment. You’ll also get better attendance. More people are likely to show up because they’re not over committed.

My wife and I have 4 kids. It becomes a scheduling nightmare to fill in all the possibilities in the calendar when there are so many choices. Why not spread it out? Plan your holiday parties in the January and February months. If you are worried about appearances, go for a theme party. One group had a Caddyshack Theme from the movie. You could do a Grinch Theme or even a Groundhog’s Day Celebration.

More and more people crave the interaction sing along Dueling Pianos Shows bring to any event – especially during the busy holidays where good, quality entertainment is so important.

Ty Gable and his entire staff put on a great seminar. It was the 2^nd largest attendance numbers they have ever had. Dan Gillogly and Ted Oliver performed a sterling two hour set that got everyone involved. With their years of stage and concert appearances, Dan and Ted have experience that will guarantee your friends, guests and clients will be able to have some good clean, safe fun.

Plus there are some real beautiful sunrises to be seen if you wake up early enough (or in our case, stay up late enough!)

It is truly an honor to be able to offer so much entertainment value for your trade seminars. Especially in this time in history where we need so much good clean fun, you owe it to your customers, your stockholders, your friends and your loved ones to give them gift of the Universal Language – Live Music entertainment at a surprisingly affordable rate.

Many thanks once again to Ty Gable and everyone at National Pre-Cast Association for making us a part of another very successful event. See you again next year!

“You allowed me to keep mu job another year. We have never asked any of our entertainers to return in all my years. You guys are the first because you did what I asked you to do – you gave us a good, clean comedy and music show for all ages.”
Ty Gable — National Precast Concrete Association

]]> http://allamerican-duelingpianos.com/dueling-pianos/dueling-pianos-entertainment-at-trade-show-conventions/feed/ http://allamerican-duelingpianos.com/dueling-pianos/hilton-head-dueling-pianos-show/ http://allamerican-duelingpianos.com/dueling-pianos/hilton-head-dueling-pianos-show/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:20:57 +0000 Dan http://allamerican-duelingpianos.com/?p=172 We finished producing some great convention entertainment for an association trade show. Take a look at this video of Dan Gillogly and Ted Oliver providing corporate entertainment for NPCA trade show on Hilton Head Island October 4th of 2009. Thanks to Ty Gable and all of the folks at NPCA for putting together a great convention. See you next year for another great dueling pianos show in Arizona .

Enjoy!

Wow! Another great show down at The Beverly Arts Center. Thanks to Mike Nix and the entire staff down there celebrating 41 years as a beacon of hope in the Chicago arts community. It was an honor to watch the performance of Ted Oliver and Dan Gillogly. So many people were singing and dancing and laughing and having a great time. It was a sold out show; about 400 people in all.

I heard they are scheduling more shows down there; there’s a good chance they will be doing a Christmas Special in December. There’s also going to be a series of dueling pianos matinees starting in October. So stay tuned! In the meantime, check out these great pictures taken by our good friend Robert E. Potter III of www.rep3.com

Sold out show from Valentine’s Day 2009

Dan Gillogly

Ted Oliver

The Beverly Arts Center features All American Dueling Pianos

Dan and Ted and A Willing Participant from the Audience

A View from the Balcony

A Standing Ovation from an Appreciative Crowd

Signing the Wall Backstage after the Show.

Tonight’s event entertainment was no different: a Wedding Rehearsal Dinner.

The bride and groom had about 150 of their friends and family over for the traditional dinner on the night before the wedding ceremony. Now, everybody knows it is good to get live music for the wedding reception. Wedding bands are everywhere you look. But the exception to the rule was this . . .

This particular couple was smart enough to get an interactive dueling pianos show so they could help their friends get acquainted with each other.

It was safe and friendly. It did not force anyone to do something they did not want to do. The more outgoing people were happy to get onstage and participate. Those that were not as brave, were entertained by those who were. It got everyone to know each other a little better. No one got embarrassed. No one was ridiculed. It was all good clean fun. We didn’t have to go over the top or get raunchy.

A new York kick line at a wedding rehearsal dinner

You see, that’s what makes dueling pianos so much fun. Sure it can get down & dirty in the clubs. But it takes real professional entertainers with years of experience in reading a room and knowing how to do a ‘clean comedy show’. Doing private parties are way different than throwing two piano players on stage and letting them ‘go for it’ like howl at the moon does.

You need top notch veterans of the music industry to be able to pull this kind of show off.

Boy did we have a blast.

So think about having Dueling Pianos at an occasion where you need people to get involved and use us to break down those barriers people have when they are first meeting each other; sales seminar, wedding rehearsal dinner, training conference, business meetings, networking events…

Dueling Pianos are top notch Corporate Entertainers for Any Occasion

… graduation parties, private parties in your home; basically any type of corporate event or social gathering is perfect for sing along, dance along musical fun from All American Dueling Pianos.

We will be at Riverside Golf Club next weekend for a Membership Dinner. Attendance has been down lately at all the country clubs nationwide lately. So the people at Riverside are getting creative. They are having us out to sign up more people. What a great idea! Get new people together to in one room for the first time and have an interactive music and comedy show. Better than a DJ and way better than some wedding band.

Dueling Pianos: Entertainment for all occasions.

When you absolutely, positively must have fun – we guarantee it!

Call us for more information 773-527-7417. We travel all over the USA.

Successful event planning begins now and when you think about it — donations need to go up in this economy. What’s one of the best ways to get people to come out to your church social or your charity fund raiser? Get get quality entertainers from Dueling Pianos of Chicago for Fund raising events. We know how to keep it clean and still have fun. Plus we Guarantee it!

Check out this article . . . .

If you’re thinking of starting a charity fund raising event, then you probably know all the most obvious questions that you should be asking yourself. These include why this non profit charity fund raising needs to exist or who will help run the fund raising event. You need to have a clear idea of the scope of what the fund raising will be used for and where the fund raising event will take place. If you have the answers to all these things, then you’re well on your way to making your dream a reality.

Now that you know what your goals are for your charity fund raising there are some technical issues that you might encounter. These are such things as whether your charity requires a non-profit corporation. Non profit fundraising means receipts for tax deductible contributions. Your non-profit fund raising also has to support a legitimate charity. You also need to have non-profit exempt status so that your charity does not have to pay taxes on the money raised. If you qualify for this tax exemption then you better be prepared to have a lot of paperwork because you’ll need to keep all records of everything.

For non profit fund raising to be legitimate, you really do need a board of directors. When you’re choosing board members for your non profit charity fundraising, you have to choose wisely. Charity fund raising board members can come from any background but there are some points to keep in mind. Each should bring a special ability with them and it is very important that they are committed to your purpose. Try to find people that are fairly low key in your community. These will be the ones that are interested in your non profit fund raising.

This board will set the rules of the non profit organization but they will also be responsible and accountable in a lot of things in the non-profit fundraising. They will have to make the policies, budgeting, planning, the non profit fund raising itself, and human resources. Your non profit charity fund raising also needs an executive director. This job will require a skilled person and when you decide on this position for charity fund raising, he/she should have the freedom to lead the rest and do what is best for your non- profit fund raising.

So as you can see depending on the size of your charity fund raising, it is going to be a job in itself to get set up. There will be a lot of work for everyone involved with the non profit fund raising, but it will be worth while when you accomplish your goal at the end.

You need to know your goals if you are doing some charity fund raising.

For a website totally devoted to Fundraising visit Peter’s Website Fundraising Answers and find out about Church Fundraising as well as Fundraiser Ideas and more, including Cheerleading Fundraising, Cookie Dough Fundraisers and School Fundraisers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Crump

Thu., Mar. 26, 2009 10:30 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Michael Becker / FOX

So did the American Idol judges finally have to exercise their one-time-only veto power to compensate for America’s wonky voting ways?

Nah. It turned into a rough night for the oil-rig roughneck as Michael Sarver’s Idol journey came to an end following a subpar tribute to Motown last night.

Unsurprisingly, redoing “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”—as fitting as the subject matter was—didn’t help his cause any, and Idol’s resident quarrelsome quartet politely dismissed him…but not without making him squirm a bit.

“We haven’t decided,” Simon Cowell said, laughing, when Ryan Seacrest pressured him for an answer right away.

Anyway, the 27-year-old married dad will be back for the Idols Live tour, and we’ll probably catch him wearing all white and singing a medley or something on the season finale.

More than 36 million votes were cast—a Top 10 record—and the identity of two of the three finalists who found themselves waiting it out did not come as a surprise. But like last week, when spunky little Allison Iraheta inexplicably landed in the bottom three, the third behind sitting in those bum-cupping white stools belonged to someone more deserving of a ticket into the Top 9 than anything else.

Maybe it was because he sang first last night, but Matt Giraud, who left the stage in need of a squeegee after his steamy rendition of “Let’s Get It On,” was voted into the bottom three, taking the place of a more deserving Megan Joy, whose butchering of “For Once in My Life” made for a most unpleasant listening experience Wednesday but who was improbably in the clear tonight.

Golden boy Scott MacIntyre spent a few minutes knowing what being in the bottom three feels like before being spirited off to safety ahead of Stevie Wonder’s performance, which filled the time before Seacrest lowered the guillotine on Michael’s Idol run.

If Matt had gone, it would have been quite a shock—at least to the betting types out there. The odds of the dueling piano player from Kalamazoo, Mich., being dismissed were 15 to 1, as opposed to Michael, who was practically already out the door at 6 to 5 (courtesy of America’s Line oddsmaker Benjamin Eckstein).

Meanwhile, of the nine photos in Tyra Banks‘ hands, the first name to be called out belonged to…wait, wrong show.

Ray Mickshaw / FOX

But the equivalent of that honor went to Adam Lambert, who was the first to be called safe after showing “The Tracks of My Tears” who was boss last night.

Joining him were Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Allison Iraheta, Anoop Desai, Danny Gokey and, finally, Megan.

Reigning Idol champ David Cook and Lady Gaga are scheduled to perform on next week’s results show.

(Originally published March 26, 2009, at 6:18 p.m. PT)