シャドーイング練習: Why Steinway Grand Pianos Are So Expensive | So Expensive - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

レッスンを作成中...
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It takes about 11 months to craft just one Steinway & Sons grand piano.
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And these instruments don't come cheap.
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A Model D concert piano in ebony, the most affordable finish of any Steinway piano, will cost you about $187,000.
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But that's nowhere near how high prices can reach.
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Steinway has produced two of the most expensive pianos in the world, worth over $2 million each.
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The next most expensive piano is half the price, at $1.2 million.
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But with several other premium pianos on the market, is there something about Steinway's sound that stands out?
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And is that what makes these pianos so expensive?
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Named the Rolls Royce of pianos by the BBC, Steinway has produced some of the most sought-after grand pianos for over 160 years.
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It's the piano of choice for Billy Joel, Lang Lang, and many other professional musicians.
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But compared to other high-end piano makers, it's often Steinway's sound that sets it apart.
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As a performer, I can wear many different masks depending on the piece that I'm playing.
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There's some pieces you want to be very, very diabolical, you know, enlist.
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And at the same time, lightness.
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Creating that sound starts here in New York, at one of only two Steinway factories in the world.
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Each grand piano is 5 to 9 feet long, and weighs between 540 and 990 pounds.
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Often, the bigger the piano, the pricier it will be.
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About 85% of a Steinway piano is made of wood, and one of the most crucial woods is used for the soundboard.
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The soundboard is the life of the instrument, the soul of the instrument.
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This is Alaskan Sitka spruce.
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This is the most expensive wood that we have in the piano.
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And we actually get it from the trees primarily that are on the shady side, the north-facing side of these islands.
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So they grow very little each year, and that means that we have growth rings that are very close together, not spaced apart.
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Sitka spruce is used in other stringed instruments like guitars.
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and it grows in a few areas in the northwest US.
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But more than 50% of the Alaskan sickest spruce they source won't meet Steinway's standards.
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The wood must have a very specific grain density and direction, both which can impact the quality of sound.
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Steinway looks for closely packed, straight grains, no more than plus or minus 15 degrees off a 90-degree vertical grain.
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There's a reason it's so strict about this.
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That's partly why, when you press a key on a Steinway piano, you hear a distinctly long, sustained tone.
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The soundboard's edge must attach perfectly to the piano's rim, the curved wooden frame of the instrument.
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The full rim is made up of an inner and outer rim.
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Some piano makers attach each of these pieces separately, but at Steinway, a team of artisans bends both together.
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Steinway says this method gives the piano a stronger foundation, lowering the chances it will break.
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Steinway uses hard rock maple for both the inner and outer rims.
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The key here is to use wood that will, again, allow sound to flow freely.
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Some companies, as an example, will have hard rock maple for the outside rim, but the inside rim, to save money, they'll use something like Luan.
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Luan is not as dense and hard as hard rock maple.
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And when you have your sound waves in that soundboard, some of them are being absorbed a little bit by that luon, more than they would be by hard rock maple.
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The consistent touch of the keys is another valuable element unique to each sideway piano.
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There are just two artisans in the entire factory, trusted with weighing off all 88 keys of every keyboard.
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This ensures each key is balanced, so a pianist won't have to use more force to press one key over another.
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I used to dream about the pianos chasing me.
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Now it's not a problem.
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It's up to me.
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They the boss.
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I listen, you know, I pay attention to what it wants.
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The key to it is pay attention and watch that hammer.
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That's the key to it.
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Each key is connected to a felt hammer.
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When pressed, the hammer strikes the strings to create sound.
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A key shouldn't respond to the finger's touch too quickly or too slowly.
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So when I go to check the return, it stays.
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You see the hesitation?
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It's no good.
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That means it'll stay up in the piano.
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You see how fast that one is?
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That's too fast.
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So I take this one away.
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Then I put this one back, and it wants the small one.
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You see?
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So I put the small one.
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You see how nice it is?
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And that tells me what it wants.
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So that shows you the difference.
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Everyone is different.
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One of the most difficult jobs is the final tone inspection.
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The goal is to create a balanced tone throughout the piano by slightly adjusting the hammers as needed.
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From note to note, we can soften or harden these mallets, or hammers as we call them,
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and balance the sound that they generate into the string.
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The quality of the piano's tone is incredibly nuanced, something only an experienced ear can decipher.
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If I take this note and then soften it, In this case, I will put a needle in the hammer to soften it.
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Then you'll hear that tone change.
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It's a little bit smaller.
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And in increments, small steps, I can go through and find the notes that are too big, too bright, and step them down.
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Well, I'm 58, and I started when I was 28, so that's 30 years and counting.
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I'm still learning how to do this.
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It never stops.
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Unlike the ways you can customize a Rolls Royce car, you can do similarly with a Steinway piano.
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Depending on special editions, veneers, and wood finishes, prices for a single piece can reach $500,000,
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like these pianos designed for Steinway by Lenny Kravitz.
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In the piano vault underneath the factory, Steinway houses one of the most expensive pianos it's ever produced, worth $2.5 million.
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On average, the price of a new Steinway piano increases about 4% every year.
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This is partly because the cost of Alaskan Sitka spruce increases at a higher rate than inflation, according to Steinway.
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And while the new pieces get more expensive, old ones become more valuable too.
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A Steinway piano can last several decades with the required touch-ups and restorations.
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A 1965 Steinway Model D piano is worth over $98,000 today.
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That's more than 13 times what it likely sold for.
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And although there are several elements that greatly impact the price, it's the musician who ultimately decides what the piano is worth to them.
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Thank you.

文脈と背景

この内容は、非常に高価なスタインウェイのグランドピアノについてのもので、これらの楽器がなぜこれほどまでに高値が付くのかを探求しています。スタインウェイのピアノは、音質や素材の選定において非常に厳格な基準を設けており、そのために多くの時間と職人技が要求されます。動画では、製造過程と特有の音色の秘密が詳しく説明されており、なぜスタインウェイのピアノがプロのミュージシャンに選ばれるのかが明らかにされています。

日常コミュニケーションのためのトップ5フレーズ

  • 「この音が出る理由は、素材の特性にあります。」
  • 「細かい木目の密度が重要です。」
  • 「ピアノの鍵は一貫性が必要です。」
  • 「高価な木を使用することで、音の質が向上します。」
  • 「手作業で仕上げられたピアノは、全く違った響きを持っています。」

ステップバイステップ シャドーイングガイド

この動画の内容を理解し、効果的に英語を学ぶためには、以下の手順で進めることをお勧めします。

  1. 最初に動画を視聴する - 内容を軽く把握し、全体の流れをつかみましょう。特に耳を傾けるのは、ピアノの音色や製造方法についての部分です。

  2. ピアノに関する専門用語を調べる - 動画内で使用される特有の言葉やフレーズを理解するために辞書を活用しましょう。これによりシャドーイングの精度が向上します。

  3. シンプルなフレーズから始める - 日常コミュニケーションに役立つトップ5フレーズを使って実際に声に出して練習します。何度も繰り返すことで、口が自然に動くようになります。

  4. シャドーイングを実践する - 動画を再生し、所々で一時停止しながら発音を真似してみましょう。特にスタインウェイの特徴について説明している部分は、表現力や感情も意識して練習します。

  5. 録音し、自分の声をチェックする - あなたの発音と動画の内容を比較し、改善点を見つけてみましょう。YouTubeで英語学習をする際にも重要なステップです。

これらの練習を通じて、英語のシャドーイングスキルが向上します。特に「shadow speech」技術を使い、より洗練された会話力を身につけましょう。

シャドーイングとは？英語上達に効果的な理由

シャドーイング（Shadowing）は、もともとプロの通訳者養成プログラムで開発された言語学習法で、多言語習得者として知られるDr. Alexander Arguelles によって広く普及されました。方法はシンプルですが非常に効果的：ネイティブスピーカーの英語を聞きながら、1〜2秒の遅延で声に出してすぐに繰り返す——まるで「影（shadow）」のように話者を追いかけます。文法ドリルや受動的なリスニングと異なり、シャドーイングは脳と口の筋肉が同時にリアルタイムで英語を処理・再現することを強制します。研究により、発音精度、抑揚、リズム、連音、リスニング力、そして会話の流暢さが大幅に向上することが確認されています。IELTSスピーキング対策や自然な英語コミュニケーションを目指す方に特におすすめです。