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Updated Marketing Hype
The Stanway faux-grand piano designer realized that many people would love to have a grand piano in their home. Most players prefer to look and sound like they’re playing a fine, grand piano rather than playing a toy-piano or steel-guitar-looking contraption. However, many of these potential piano-owners are deterred by the cost of a fine instrument and by the size of a grand piano that can be a problem in most urban living-spaces.
We believe that the Stanway would be a great-looking and great-sounding solution for you. The Stanway is available in an amazing range of sizes, materials, and colors. We provide configurable internal sound systems to present a beautiful-looking and beautiful-sounding partner for 63, 76, and 88-note professional keyboards. The Stanway provides notebook and tablet computer accessibility, providing Ethernet, WiFi, Firewire, USB, and MIDI conduits.
Create your own solution, one that demonstrates your personalized blend of form and function. The Stanway represents an evolution from “faux-piano” cases that were used as “props” for stage use. In its smaller version, the “Baby Stanway” requires a much smaller operating space than larger models, and can be ideal for today’s lifestyles and spaces.
Reality Sinks In…
 I have de-prioritized my plan to manufacture and market the Stanway faux-grand piano. Now, my work related to this is to continue refining my 3D piano model (pictured, right). Surely, I will be able to eventually print it with a 3D printer.
Over a period of years I have observed a number of similar “faux-piano” projects that have come and gone… The first such piano of which I became aware, was one constructed for a rock-band that I cannot remember by a person whom I also can’t remember. Touring with real grand piano is a burden and this model used a MIDI keyboard that allowed the case to be an empty shell without the weight normally associated with the piano’s harp-assembly. Such “faux-pianos” allow the performer to insert a portable keyboard, connect to internal or external sound sources, and thereby produce piano sounds while sitting at an instrument that “looks” like a grand-piano. The hollow piano cases helps to avoid the burden of moving a real piano for stage use. As such, most faux-piano models are primarily designed to be lightweight and easy-to-transport.
This seemed like a great idea to me for a long time. Now, the opinion polls are in, and, I see no significant interest in such… Maybe, in another lifetime.
 Nicholas Economou Piano Arrangements
Click on the mp3 player to play
| Title |
mp3 Audio |
| Overture |
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| March |
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| Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy |
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| Russian Dance |
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| Arabian Dance |
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| Chinese Dance |
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| Dance Of The Reed Flutes |
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| Waltz Of The Flowers |
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I have studied Nicolas Economou’s 2-Pianos, 4-hands arrangement of the Nutcracker Suite since I began my long-term association with the Suite, sometime before 2003. While putting away one of my copies of his arrangement today, I was reviewing information about him in Wikipedia and was shocked to find that the same day I wrote this post (December 29, 2013) was the 20th anniversary of Nicolas Economou’s untimely and accidental death on December 29, 1993.
The Economou arrangement of the Nutcracker Suite is notable because of its coverage of all important orchestral parts, while maintaining a reasonable degree of pianistic playability. Although these arrangements are moderately difficult, the reward for studying and learning them has definitely been worth the effort to me.
I recorded the (this) piano version of the Overture in 2013, ten years after the other piano recordings. Currently, the Overture is played using different instruments (Ivory “German” Grand(s)) than the rest of these recordings (Kurzweil 2500). Eventually, I will re-record all of these pieces using the same instruments and acoustic space. However, because of my auspicious discovery that today was the anniversary of the arranger’s death, I rushed my presentation and re-publication of these versions of the Nutcracker Suite. I hope that you enjoy my performances of Nicolas Economou’s 2-pianos, 4-hands arrangement.
 CD Cover Art  Music Book Cover
Click on the mp3 player to play
| Title |
mp3 Audio |
Composer |
| Joy To The World |
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George F. Handel |
| Silent Night, Holy Night |
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Franz Grüber |
| Angels We Have Heard On High |
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French Melody |
| Carol Of The Drum |
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Katherine K. Davis |
| Go Tell It On The Mountain |
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Spiritual |
| O Holy Night |
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Adolphe Adam |
| O, Little Town Of Bethlehem |
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Lewis H. Redner |
Each of these Christmas arrangements by Harold DeCou reminds us of his awesome musical legacy.
I have owned a copy of Harold DeCou’s “Christmas at the Keyboard” arrangements (cover pictured) for years. With this year’s revival of my effort to record all DeCou arrangements I previously played, I resolved to record this collection as my 2013 Christmas musical project. The notes I play are the ones Mr. DeCou wrote. The sounds are achieved by playing the original notes through my specially prepared (using our own special sauce…) Kurzweil synthesizer “program.” I attempted to follow Mr. DeCou’s recommended tempos and dynamics.
The “specially prepared synthesizer program“ I created is the 11th version of the original, multi-layered program I developed for this project, using my Kurzweil PC3K8 instrument. My synthesizer program features six distinct elements: right and left “plucked” sounds, solo-violin, an “organish-flutish” sound, synthesizer-brass, and glockenspiel. These sounds are different in character and are positioned across the sound-stage.
Changes to the sounding synthesizer’s program elements are achieved by turning on and off layers of the program – similarly to when an organist engages or disengages organ stops.
I sincerely hope that you enjoy these seven arrangements.
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