For those wondering what I have been doing?

This is the new look of the Piano-s website which now has an availability Calendar and relevant booking enquiry forms.

I have spent the best part of the previous year until this year completely restoring a 1930s Baby Grand. These are shots of restringing the whole piano after throughly mending soundboard cracks and refininshing. White chalk powder marks are from working with the strings but not allowing my own skin oils to contaminate the steel wire

Learn more about this project here

Wonderfully, anybody can take a cherished upright or grand piano, have it completely restored and then retrofitted so you can both play it manually as normal, and also play any piece automatically via an ipad.
Using  one of the new systems like the PianoDisc American electric solenoid system, this will physically play your piano in the same way as the old pianolas but now linked to a special tablet computer, here an Ipad with wifi. The two speakers underneath the piano play the vocals and the backing music. Wonderful stuff!!!


The client's piano was sent from my restoration workshop to have the player action fitted in Northamptonshire. The fitter has the incredible plaudit of being the very last man to be released at the closure of the factory who invented the piano itself, John Broadwood and sons which closed in the 80s.

Tim Elwell of Hayling Island UK

Tim Elwell describes why his musical teaching method goes to the heart of all music learning:

Both playing by ear and reading music are enormously important skills to acquire for any budding musician. Equally important, to pianists/keyboard players and players of other instruments alike, is learning about keyboard harmony. Indeed, harmony is the most significant factor in all Western music and for most other types of music from around the world. The ability to identify and to understand harmonies (chords) and to understand the relationship between melody and harmony, bass lines and harmony, and indeed bass lines and melody are of crucial importance. When I teach people to play by ear, and also when I teach sight-reading, I also teach harmony alongside to enable my students to embrace all aspects of making music and develop an all-round awareness and perspective on music.




Tim Elwell can be contacted direct on his mobile
07876643123