AN IDEAL SCHOOL PIANO

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 119, 13 February 1926, Page 10

AN IDEAL SCHOOL PIANO

It is not evei v piano that will do for school use. The ideal school piano should be strongly built, not too ornate, yet pleasing to the eye, fqr anything’ which adds to the aesthetic surroundings of the school children contributes to the refinement cf their lives and character. It should also be so constructed that the teacher may be able, while seated at the instrument, to face the class and observe the' children over the top. These are, so to speak, the material requirements of a school piano Always, of course, there remains the fundamental essential—the tone of the instrument. Too often is it the case that the school piano comes to the school second-hand. It is old, the keys are yellow, the tone is tinny, end the mechanism rattles audibly. The musical taste of the people has risen above that standard. With so much good music in the homes there has been created a movement for the elevation of the musical standard in the schools. Music-in-schools associations have been organised in certain districts, and the movement is spreading. With all the advantages of the gramophone, and these are admittedly important, the piano still remains the most populat and in an all-round sense, tlie most useful of all musical instruments. And it must always be so. Children, like to listen to good music, but they! also like to do things for themselves. They like to sing, and to play the piano, or some other instrument. The school piano therefore must be of a standard of quality that will excite the admiration of the children. The tone must be sweet end clear. The idea at the bottom of the niusic-in-schools movement is to get the children to like music for its own sake, and it is part of this process that the children should get to like the piano. To judge from the duality and appearance of the Hamilton Piano, a demonstration of which was given in the presence of a representative of The Dominion yesterdav, the . ideal ■school piano has been found. 1 his verdict is given without hesitation. rhe instrument has a fine clear tone, with every evidence of a lasting quality, the action is easv and nicely responsive, it is built low in the frame to enable the teacher to look over at the class, and it is not too ornamental, .though the appearance and finishes distinctive and tasteful. On every essential point the “Hamilton fills all the requirements of the school, and mav be confidently recommended. As to the price, always an item for serious consideration in the matter of school requirements, it was pointed out to the writer by Mr. , Hamilton Nimmo, whose firm (H. Nimmo and Sons, Ltd.) conceived the idea of finding a niano specially suitable for school use, that this item had received the fullest consideration when the specifications were planned bv the manufacturers, and his firm were so -'onymced of the merits of the “Hamilton that they had even- confidence in securing the co-operation of the schools to an extent that would Justify the venhire of presenting a really first-class ’Ji. R J rvi ; mept at a moderate price.—(Published bv arrangement.)