For the first time in our 164 year history, Millers went LIVE last week to celebrate Black Friday and the start of the holiday season. The day was jam packed with fun conversation, insightful expert knowledge and one of the best performances our Cambridge showroom has ever seen. Despite being in the midst of a pandemic, we continue to believe in the amazing power that music has to bring people from across the country together.
Here’s our recollection of the day laced in with all of our favourite moments so you can catch up on anything you missed!
Digital Piano Review
Ever wanted to learn about how you can introduce digital pianos into your home? Well our Norwich showroom manager Ollie kicked the day off with a fantastic review of three incredible home digital pianos. All of these pianos are fantastic for beginners and enhancing the learning experience, as such we’ve showcased three of the best in the: Kawai CA59 with its rich feel with wooden key action to feel even more like a real acoustic piano; The Yamaha CLP735 was up next and showcased an incredible sense of grandeur within a digital model. Finally the Casio AP710, which also features an incredible soundboard and realistic feel, demonstrating the fantastic technological improvements an innovation within the digital piano world.
Acoustic Piano Reviews
Following a short interval, it was time to begin focusing on the acoustics and our showroom expert Louis gave an incredibly in depth description of three of our favourite upright acoustic pianos. Here we asked the question: “Why would anyone want an acoustic piano?”.
As digital pianos are becoming increasingly more popular and convenient, it is not a bad question! Well when you hear these incredible instruments in action, you’ll see why Louis believes that these really are the piano in its purest of forms.
Watch as he showcases three remarkably contrasting sounds from some of the biggest brands out there: The Yamaha B3E with it’s clear definition and piercing heavy tones contrasts beautifully with the Kawai K300 and it’s mellow, intricately laced and blended soundscape that is perfect for classical use before finally heading over to the almighty Zimmerman S2 for a unmistakable loud and pure tone that goes almost unmatched!
If you’re considering buying your first acoustic, or are keen to delve into the world of acoustic pianos, this is a watch you can’t afford to miss!
Grand Piano Reviews
To round off an already incredibly exciting demonstration section, our Cambridge showroom manager Matt then finished off with some Grand Piano demonstrations. Here we are able to showcase just how dedicated the world’s leading piano manufacturers are to their quest for purity.
Matt shares his anecdotes of visiting the C. Bechstein and W. Hoffman factory in Seifhennersdorf, Germany. He demonstrates the level of depth that these instrument makers go to achieve perfection. Everything from the height above sea level of which the spruce for the piano’s soundboard is grown to the intricacies of dropping the hammers onto a table to identify minute registra differences.
Watch as Matt walks us through the W. Hoffman V158, the Bechstein A190 and finally the piece de resistance of our showroom, the Bechstein B212, which is an incredible experience that we believe every pianist should try at one point or another. You can actually book a demonstration with each of these amazing instruments here.
EXPERT Q&A PANEL
After lunch it was time to turn our attention to you and your questions! We brought in both our Norwich and Cambridge showroom managers Matt and Ollie, along with Managing Director Simon Pollard to answer your questions on all things Millers, pianos and musical instruments!
We had a lot of fun with this one and we think you will too as we delve into the differences between piano brand philosophy, what Millers stands for as a business, and even how you can go about renting instruments through our rental scheme!
LIVE PERFORMANCE WITH ROBIN PHILLIPS!
No live event would be complete without a LIVE musical performance! After an amazing day, it was time to kick back and enjoy some of the sweet sounds of one of the UKs leading jazz pianists, Robin Phillips!
Robin’s set is fun, energetic and a must listen for any jazz lover! Enjoy his sound with a beverage of your choice! You won’t regret it!
To hear more of Robin’s music, head over to his website!
There we have it! A day of fun filled information that we hope you took plenty away from! We certainly had a great time and hope you did too!
Want to learn more about any of the pianos featured in #MillersLive? Or do you have a question for the team? We’d love to hear from you and our team are here to help! You can contact us via livechat, social media, phone or email. You can also sign up to our newsletter to make sure you're reminded of the next #MillersLive!