Here we are. Hello everyone. I'm Paolo Caneva and you're listening to A Light-Hearted Journey Through Music Therapy — a podcast dedicated, of course, to music therapy. I picture you all healthy and happy AT HOME… let's remember that everything passes — music therapy included — so let's stay light! Today is Tuesday, March 24th, and in this twelfth episode we'll talk about using the piano in music therapy. As always, let me say upfront that I'll just offer a few personal thoughts, obviously limited to my own experience. So let's get started!
I've chosen to tackle this topic with a list of ten pros and (almost) ten cons regarding the use of the piano in music therapy, compared with other similar instruments (keyboard, guitar, accordion).
Among the advantages of this wonderful instrument:
- a great dynamic range — by controlling the weight of my touch I can play on countless shades, from pianissimo to fortissimo;
- a wide range of frequencies (the lowest note just above 30 Hz, the highest around 4100);
- it lets me build harmonic support: if I'm carrying a melody with my voice, I can also play a melody without using my voice and, at the same time, hold it up with a chord progression;
- the grand piano has a large resonant surface, so I can use it — as Giulia Cremaschi does — as a vibrational surface on which to lay the child;
- I can play it with one hand only, freeing the other for other purposes (pointing at objects, helping the person use a mallet on a drum, and so on);
- with an acoustic piano I'm not tied to a power supply or a socket — so I'm free of electrical cables and of the chore of recharging batteries;
- it doesn't tie me to amplification gear: speakers, monitors;
- it stands on its own — I don't have to rest it on a stand;
- and, related to that: when I stop playing, I don't need to "take it off me" like the accordion or the guitar and put it down somewhere… it just stands there on its own.
Now let's look at the cons.
- transportability: either I find one on site, or I have to replace it with a keyboard;
- bulk: it's an instrument with a certain "volume". True, the wall version — more properly the "upright" — is less bulky, but it forces me into a position often "with my back to what's happening in the room"; and if, to make up for that, I place the upright as though it were a grand, its structure stops me from seeing the person in front of me;
- movement constraints: I can't move freely around the room, because to play it I'm forced to stay in a particular position (standing or seated) but always facing the keyboard;
- variability: the timbre is essentially just one (give or take a little), unlike a keyboard where I can choose among various virtual instruments;
- shareability: if we play it together, or bring it close to a person in a wheelchair — with the upright there isn't enough depth, and with the grand the keyboard is sometimes so low that the wheelchair won't fit underneath; and even when we do manage to slide the person in, the sharing happens only on the horizontal plane: they can be on my right or my left… not in front of me;
- difficulty of activation for the person: the key mechanism can, in some cases, feel heavy (here a keyboard is much better);
- maintenance: let's not forget that a piano needs to be tuned periodically;
- dangers: watch out for the keyboard lid, which the people we work with often spot — and which can turn into a "guillotine" for the hands of whoever is playing.