shiel family piano
its SHIEL FAMILY PIANO WEEK on the faux pas blog, in honour of me recently becoming the brand new custodian of the shiel family piano.
my surname is shiel, which is a scottish name. my direct paternal ancestry, therefore, is that of the scottish highlands – or more specifically, the immortal scottish highlanders (here’s proof:)
here’s the shiel family piano. it is now sitting opposite my desk in the front room. i adore it far more than the graininess of my shitty camera phone implies:
the dude who moved it in, who was a lovely guy, also tuned it. he put its age at about 100 years old, which makes it the oldest thing i own. in the few days since we got it, i’ve started tinkling the ivories a little (or as i like to say, “pissing on the tusk”)… i’m pretty happy with my progress. keep in mind, i’m just a beginner:
MP3: baby steps on the Shiel Family Piano
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incidentally, the whole piano is about a semitone out of tune. in fact, its just slightly more than a semitone out, which makes trying to play along with things pretty daunting. i can’t read music, so the way that i learn how to play things is by listening to them and playing along, ‘by ear’… this is gonna make it tricky.
i can’t believe i didn’t ask the tuner about it when he was here, i only realised after he left. i’m gonna give him a call. but does anyone here know much about pianos? a friend told me a couple of nights ago that its very likely that because the piano is so old (100+ yrs) and not in great condition, he probably purposefully tuned it flat to relieve a little tension on the old weathered frame. sounds plausible.
anyone got any thoughts? katie?
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…from what I could tell from your photo, your piano is what is commonly referred to as an “English” upright. Made mostly from the 1840s to 1860s, most specimens of this type found in the US came here at the end of World War II after being sold to American GIs by English farmers for the average price of $50. This type of piano doesn’t have as much frame support as modern pianos and generally are tuned about a half step below standard (which was the standard of the period). Don’t get excited about antique value, though. In my entire career I never saw but one of these valued at more than a few hundred dollars and it was in near-perfect condition.
David Miller
Piano Notes
It’s funny that your German piano had dubious English origins, as Christopher Lambert was a French man playing a Scots man who could barely speak English. Similarly, Sean Connery was playing an Egyptian with a thick Scottish accent, I mean go figure.
Our family piano is from Leipzig, apparently! But you’ve inspired me to do some investigative work now. I’m a little bit suspicious…