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by children who are coming over for a recital at our house in May.

Hi all, we moved to a new house (much closer to the city yay!) several months ago (used Modern Piano moving fyi, they did a very good job but pretty expensive)

We now have a 16x24 music/dining room with a cathedral ceiling, thus our new piano teacher asked if we would host the recital here & we agreed to. Its a small group but still am concerned about people laying their scratch making books/stuff on the flat parts of both sides of the music desk, or wearing zipper clothes by my piano! Also, is it rude to ask them to remove their shoes for the pedals??

Any suggestions or am I over worrying here? :p thanks!

Have you considered putting a soft cloth or mat on each side?

I would Not Be Happy to be asked to play without my shoes. And past threads here have highlighted the risk of tarnishing from unshod feet. On the other hand, you might be able to get leather socks for the pedals.

Best wishes,
Matthew

No, you are not over-worrying. Personally, I would have never volunteered. That said, it is NOT RUDE to ask them to remove their shoes. And who gives a flying you know what ifit is rude or not. IT'S YOUR PIANO. If they don't like it, they don't have to come to the recital.

Sorry, but I am sick and tired of people telling me how other's should be permitted to behave around my piano, or how they can whack it with a rubber mallet when they move it or any other damn thing. IT'S MY PIANO.

Tell them if they don't like it they can go kiss their *ss.

Derick

What Derick said.

What Derick said. Pedal booties will save the pedals from marring, but you have to outline how the kids are expected to behave around your piano. Kids need to learn boundaries. Adults need to make their expectations known, and what the consequences will be.

Curry, my mailbox is cleared out some. I have to save some of the "classic" PM's I've received over the years.

Mamma, you are welcome to borrow my Tazer. That'll teach the little monsters to respect a piano!

Derick

Nice to hear from you, mamma.

And it's also extremely nice of you to volunteer your house for the recital. Given that it's your house and your piano, it is certainly within your rights to set whatever rules you have about its use. I would recommend sharing those rules with your teacher in the near future, though, so that he/she can make alternative arrangements if he/she isn't happy with them.

As for the pedals, I find it uncomfortable to pedal in socks or bare feet, so I would have a hard time being asked to do so, especially in a recital context where I really don't want to have a drastic change in how it feels while playing. As the others have said, it's your house... but letting the players know in advance that they cannot wear shoes would at least give them the chance to practice their piece without shoes a few times. Asking them to remove their clothes so their zippers don't come near the piano is probably going overboard, though.

You could also put placemats, perhaps, down on the music desk to reduce the chance of scratches from music etc.

It sounds to me that you have misgivings about this venture. Perhaps you would be better off simply to tell your teacher you have had second thoughts and feel that a different setting for the recital would be better. I think as a performer in the recital I'd rather play at a setting where I can be relaxed as possible without adding another layer of anxiety that I just might possibly be putting a scuff mark on a pedal.

jmho.

I agree. That is excellent advice.

Personally, I wouldn't even have a piano party with the adults on this forum. I know most, if not all, would respect the piano. But many people have commented about scratching their fallboard with their finger nails. I've *never* done this to my piano, and wouldn't want anyone to do it to mine. But many people here consider that "normal" wear and tear on a piano and has nothing to do with being careful around a piano.

That probably is the case. But since I don't want that to happen to my piano, I only invite very few forum members over to play my piano - the ones who agree that fallboard scratches aren't acceptable.

Call me weird, I'm sure most do. But it just takes a lot of pressure off.

Believe me, I play my piano and enjoy it immensely. I don't just sit and look at it. But I've also never scratched it and want it to stay that way.

Derick

OK, just a different take on things here. I'll preface this by saying up front that I have an old piano with a dodgey finish anyway, so my opinion may change once we purchase a new piano, but here goes.

I fully appreciate the "setting boundaries" (I have a 5 and 7 yo and our piano is in the living room) and I think that's very important for everyone (including guests). However, I also think that piano's are for playing and that if you allow kids to play the piano, that you are going to have to expect a certain level of risk, even from regular use such as light scratches in the finish from spiral binders, some scuffing of the pedals, etc. Some would say that a piano isn't really "broken in" with such war wounds.

It's funny, one thing that many motorcyclists do when they just spent $600 on their shiny new helmet is to immediately scuff the helmet. This way you don't spend too much time stressing about getting that first mark/nick/scuff (which if you do any amount of riding is simply inevitable). I don't do this personally, because I just accept that with the amount of use I put on the helmet, it will eventually get scuffed up, and that's a good thing in my book because that means I've been riding a lot

I think Monica is right on here, if you're that anxious about any blemishes, inviting a bunch of kids over is not the right thing to do and you should have no qualms about backing out (vs putting everyone including yourself in a lose-lose situation). Even the most well intentioned kids can cause damage.

My teacher requires every student, child and adult, to take off our shoes before entering the house. She also requires that we wear socks to avoid tarnishing the pedals. If you forget socks, she gives you little footies. This applies to recital rehearsal in the studio as well, although not to recitals, which are held in a church.

Well I think you are definitely right about "war wounds" and getting things broken in. Thing is, when I buy something knew, especially something that costs so much money, I can't "let it go".

Recently I bought a mountain bike. I really wanted a new one I had seen but kept thinking I was going to fret over the damn thing and not treat it like a mountain bike. Oddly enough, I just happened to run across an ad for the same one that was used. It had a few scuffs on it and was kind of dirty and only $100. I bought it. And I enjoy it.

Derick

You should get the teacher to find another venue for the recital. Without the restrictions you want, you will be uncomfortable and unable to enjoy the performances. With the restrictions, many of your guests will feel the same way.

Ted

As a player, and a tech, I wouldn't WANT a piano that I would be afraid for someone to touch.

That said, I can well understand how someone would want to protect a piano that cost as much as most houses in my area...or even one that cost as much as a nice car. And, yes, you have every right to expect others to respect your property for the fine instrument and significant investment that it is. (I just hope I'm not around, Derick, if/when your pins need driving...and I hope you treat yourself to a Bahamian vacation in that event.)

In my (many--but alas, long ago) years of recitals, memorization was de riguer--check with the teacher, this may solve one problem (or like many things nowadays may be "out of fashion", i.e. too difficult...). And I agree with Monica...I wouldn't want to have to play unshod for the first time in a recital setting. I like the custom leather pedal booties idea!!!

I have GOT to learn how to put things as succinctly as this!

I would be more concerned about the parents who are unable, or unwilling to control their children. Now Billy, you really shouldn't do that (as Billy uses a fork on your piano for his latest "art" project).

Pianos are beautiful objects, but equally they are made to be played, and to have a long life. It's very unlikely they will be in the same state at the end of that long life as at the start.

I have a very relaxed (perhaps too relaxed?) attitude to my piano. Of course I don't allow drinks or food near it, I make sure hands are washed before playing it, and I'm very careful about things falling inside.

But at the same time I'm happy for my friend's baby to push the keys to hear the sound it makes, for my kids' friends to play Chopsticks or whatever on it, and to hold a recital for kids from my 11-year old son's class. I'm just more interested in hearing it being played, particularly if it means the children are getting interested in the piano.

Having said all that, it's your piano - do what you feel comfortable with!

I think your fears are perfectly legitimate. I have had piano parties/teas, but would hesitate to actually host a recital. I always keep a soft quilted piece on the right side flat side part where I set music. The other side has felt on it with my grand piano lamp sitting on it. Pedals are tricky. I used to play bare or stocking footed, but can no longer do so as the bottoms of my feet are too tender. I do keep the felt booties on my pedals.

I think the only part of the piano that would be difficult to protect from scratches is the fallboard and my guess is that 99% of pianos used by professionals eventually(quite soon actually)get quite a few scratches there. This doesn't mean I like scratches on the fallboard! But it's virtually inevitable when one is playing pieces beyond a certain level of difficulty no matter how short one's fingernails are cut. Also, these scratches are usually fairly easy for a good touch up person to remove.

To protect the music desk you can just put some sheet music on it and then any music the kids put there won't scratch it. To protect the sides of the music desk again you can just put some sheet music on them. To protect the pedals you can put some sweat socks on them and use rubber bands to hold the socks in place.

And I certainly don't think it would be inappropriate to give a little speech before about being careful not to scratch any other part of the piano.

However, after all this you feel you would still be uncomfortable with the whole thing, I would try to cancel. I can understand your concern because despite what I've said above I would never let a group of kids near my new BB.

But why are pianos made with some scratchable finishes?! I have a new Yamaha C3 at work which, after only a few months, is covered with scuffs (only visible in sunlight). Very irritating!

To make a little joke about black pianos versus other piano finishes, the only drawback of black is that it shows everything. Just like every car looks great in black, I will never, ever, own a black car again.

And shiny black is the worst of all.

That said, you can get superficial scuff marks out with Fenders Piano Polish sold here on PW. I'm really impressed with the stuff. Of course, it's not going to help much with deep scratches.

Derick