Glad Cafe Lockdown Piano
An old Spencer upright school piano that entertains people at the Glad Cafe in Glasgow
Byjoejsmillie
The story
The Glad Cafe is a cafe/bar/restaurant/arts hub/music venue in the Southside of Glasgow. We opened the place almost 10 years ago now and I like to think that we’re one of the most respected music venues of our size (120 cap) in the country.
The Glad Cafe’s piano was donated to us before we even had a premises by the excellent pianist Ben Sinkie. It was the piano he learnt on; an old Spencer upright school piano from the Murdoch, McKillop & Co. Ltd. shop in Glasgow.
The piano hasn’t been tuned during lockdown but I’ve been enjoying the chance of having a little play on it while our premises have been empty and took the chance to sample it using Pianobook’s MVP template.
Hope you enjoy playing this one.
Reviews
A sound rich in history.
A piano full of history and emotions.
I like that realistic and colorful feeling.
It feels like you are playing live at the venue.A perfect example of leaning into the quality of the space
As a piano, there isn't much to comment on, it's very well put together, the addition of a note release knob was very nice, as it gave a more human feel to my pre-programmed MIDI. However, the room tone is what sells this sample instrument to me, the ability to decide how placed into the space the piano is gives composers plenty of options in terms of how they can approach a piece. This is one of those instruments that can stand all on its own, without filling in the space around it with other instruments or sounds.
Very old-school style, too conservative.
Although Felt did a good job, it's a pity that the author chose to reduce the presence of the high range, making it top-heavy and not very conducive to multi-style performance.