Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Please--some advice from Petrof Owners...

Dear Petrof Owners,

Just received delivery of my 5'3" baby powerhouse today. It has a beautiful sound..well-you know all of that.

Do you find the music desk very high for easy sight reading? What are your solutions?

Thanks,

Shoshanna

I, for one, don't find the music desk very high. I have it located next to my Steinway M. The music desk is about the same. Maybe you need to raise your music chair height? Guess I don't know what you mean...

Shoshanna,

Congratulations on your new piano. Presuming this is your first grand piano: some upright pianos do have quite low music stands (especially those integral with the fallboard), so when first playing on grands on a regular basis, it is not unexpected that you might think that the music is a bit high. AndrewG's advice about adjusting the seat height would help as well.

Anyway, don't worry, you will soon get used to it. Any temporary inconvenience or awkwardness will soon be compensated by the sounds emanating from your new pride and joy .

-Michael B.

My bet is that Michael B. was "spot on". I have had this reaction from folks who were playing on uprights at home - but testing grands out in the store.

Enjoy your new piano Shoshanna and feel free to join in on the fun here at PW.

Shoshana, do you wear bi-focals or progressive lenses? If you do, the problem could be that your glass don't have the correct focal distance for the new music desk. Do you have to tip your head back so you can see clearly through the lower part of your glasses? A solution could be to get "piano glasses" that let you read at the correct distance. You'd need to measure how far the music is from your eyes when you are sitting at the piano, and then have glasses made that let you focus clearly at that distance.

just an idea--in case you have reached that age when the arms get too short for the eyes

Margaret

I just got a new baby grand also, and I've noticed that the music desk is higher than my old console - which takes some getting used to. Those little black notes are looking small to my tired old eyes! Good lighting is helping me adjust.

Congrats on the new piano!

Thalamus:
Good lighting is helping me adjust.

This is worth repeating. Paying that little extra for good quality lighting is an investment that every pianist will benefit from immensely: as is paying a little bit more for well-bound and clearly-printed sheet music editions (especially those on non-reflective cream paper that sit properly on the music stand, such as Henle). Playing the piano is enough of a challenge as it is, so why make it any more difficult?

-Michael B.

Thanks PostTeNeBrAsLuX, Margaret M, Rich, Andrew G., Thalamus! I appreciate your responses. I also called the importer, Geneva. They had never heard a complaint on this issue.

Your diagnoses are quite good. Yes, better lighting and piano glasses would certainly help--thanks for that. But the desk is quite a bit higher than other grands I played in the same showroom. A low desk on a Steinway and Schimmel were particularly pleasant for me to use (and I also LOVED those pianos.)

I am also only 5'2 3/4 inches tall (I can sleep on my piano). I'm also concerned that the desk will be a challenge for my 7 year old piano student.

I'm going to design a desk that attaches to the current desk and drops a bit lower, I guess.

Shoshanna

You'll love this piano. I have a 1999 5'8" Petrof and have been completely enchanted with this small piano's rich, round sound. I love the keyboard's meaty feel. Bach, Beethoven or Debussy, it all sounds excellent. My you have many years of pleasure playing your Petrof.

I'm exactly your height and wear progressives so yes, I know exactly what you mean. I, too, have bright lighting which helps enormously but have to tilt my head quite a bit which is fatiguing. So my piano bench is at about 21 inches which is a little tall for my short legs but I'm also a bench percher and this compensates.

Your 7 yr old student will be fine. Young necks are flexible and the notes are usually so big in early music books that reading should not be a problem for him or her.

Cheers/ IS

As one who recently switched from a spinet to a baby grand, I can relate. The grand music desk is significantly higher, and it does take a few weeks to get used to it. You will, however, find that it feels "normal" soon. At least that was my experience. Enjoy your new piano.

Good idea about the "piano glasses". I've got tri-focals that I wear for work and have tried them for the organ at church(as opposed to the bifocals I wear all the time, but they just don't do it. I still end up with a very tired neck and headache by the end of the service from tilting my head back for the better part of an hour because that organ music desk is definately high. Piano glasses would definately do the trick!

Thank you very much Ivory Speaks,TX Dennis, drumnacoub. Glad to know others understand what I am talking about. Thanks for the support and advice. I'll post my new music desk design when I create it.

Shoshanna

I wouldn´t recommend to adjust the seat height. Instead get used to reading the music from the new notestand.

PoStTeNeBrAsLuX,

Thanks for the advice regarding the quality and color of sheet music. I often get vocal music sent to me online to print out and rehearse--terrible copies. I will print them on cream non-refelctive paper. What a great idea.

Shoshana