You will often hear discussions about a piano’s character, either sound or touch, and how it relates to its country of origin. Overlooking the fact that it is extremely difficult to attribute most pianos to just a single country these days, there is, like most popular narratives, some truth and some fiction to the notion that a country can determine the nature of a piano’s sound.

Factors such as cultural preference, national manufacturing standards and traditions, as well as material selection do play a part in a piano’s character.

Check out the various makers from the following regions: USA, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and China.

#manufacturer #buy #teacher #parent #student #DoYouKnow

National anthem composer Zubir Said was actually commissioned by the City Council in 1958 to write a song for the reopening of the renovated Victoria Theatre.

In 1959, when the agreement on self-government was reached, the then Deputy Prime Minister, Toh Chin Chye, thought the song would be a good anthem.

But when it had to be shortened to serve that purpose, Zubir almost had his masterpiece taken from him.

“He hadn’t submitted his version yet. He found out … that someone else had done the shortening without his authority. And it wasn’t a good job,” relates emeritus professor of physics and former SSO board director Bernard Tan.

“He wrote … a very angry letter to (Minister for Culture) S Rajaratnam. And the day that he wrote the letter was the day that the bill for the national anthem was going to the Legislative Assembly. The bill was withdrawn.”

#ZubirSaid #NationalAnthem #composer #DoYouKnow

Beethoven thought he was younger than he was!

For many years, Beethoven believed he was born in 1772, not 1770.

Why?

His father Johann van Beethoven, who was responsible for his piano learning as a child, told others his son was actually two years younger in order to make him seem like more of a child prodigy than he was. Some say it was to draw comparisons to Mozart, who himself was somewhat of a child prodigy.

#beethoven #DoYouKnow #birthday #anniversary #prodigy #mozart

Johann Sebastian Bach, with his wives Maria Barbara (m. 1707–1720) and Anna Magdalena (m. 1721–1750), fathered 20 children over his lifetime.

His first was born in 1708 when Bach was 23, with his last coming into the world in 1742, when the composer was 57. Sadly, only ten survived through to adulthood.

#Bach #AnnaMagdalena #MariaBarbara #DoYouKnow