So it is not all bad news: there remains an interest in keyboard-triggered instruments and music. It is just seems there is a large population of “middle class” pianos - i.e., not high-end Steinways, etc. - that have been replaced via technological innovation. And so the lower-end pianos are just getting junked.
Jeez, it sounds like the economy and unemployment: There is a downturn, and so companies that are hurting for profits are trimming the parts of their workforce that have been rendered less valuable due to the tech innovations that push productivity…
I grew up playing an acoustic piano and while I do enjoy the instrument my electric piano takes up less room, is lighter and easier to move when necessary, and best of all, never needs to be tuned. Much as I love the look, feel, and sound of the old fashioned acoustic variety my electronic one is superior for many practical reasons. It pains me to see old, restorable pianos junked but I understand why people choose not to fix them up.
When my kid started piano lessons (perhaps the ultimate example of middle-class activity ), getting an electronic keyboard rather than an acoustic was a no-brainer. Easy to move, easy to set up, takes up less room, sounds pretty good, slightly higher end ones have weighted keyboards, no tuning required, cheaper, etc.
The last time I had my upright piano tuned, the gentleman who tuned it warned me that it wouldn’t hold its tune for long, and that fixing the board would be more expensive than simply replacing it. He told me that 100 years ago, pianos were built to last 100 years. My parents’ ~ century-old Wurlitzer spinet, which had belonged to my great-grandmother’s sister, has some minor cosmetic damage but is still in fine condition and can be tuned. My own piano had belonged to my grandmother and is about fifty years old. As I mentioned, the tuner said it is at the end of its consistently tuneful life.
The tuner told me that modern pianos(*) may last just ten or twenty years. That makes me sad.
*Ordinary uprights, not your high end Steinways or Baldwins.
I don’t really see this as a new thing or a sign of the times. Pianos have always been expensive. They are a luxury item with highly complex moving parts. I’m reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn right now and the people that lived in their apartment before them left their piano because it was so expensive to move. The book is set in the early 1900s. I feel like saying people getting rid of pianos is a sign of the times is like saying “woah people are trading in their Ferraris for Fords, this is a terrible economy!” Besides, I think we should be encouraged that people are still purchasing pianos at all, be they keyboards or Steinways. Either way, it’s a luxury item with the intention of making music. You don’t need an expensive piano to make beautiful music. When people stop making music altogether THEN I’ll worry.
I’d say that for most people an electronic piano is going to be better. You can buy samples of any model piano you wish, each note carefully recorded multiple times, with varying velocity, pedal and stick. Who could possibly afford to own a Bechstein D-280 concert grand, a Steinway D concert grand, a Bosendorfer 290 concert grand, and a Yamaha C7 grand - let alone have the space for them? But you can buy samples of all for for $500
I can assure you that few rock, pop or country performers bother to carry around an acoustic piano anymore. The samples are just too good, and a piano sampled in a studio or empty concert hall is going to sound a lot better than using any microphone technique possible on a stage. And being able to switch from one sound to another is too tempting.
Organs too. You can’t even give them away. My wife had an organ in the house that somebody gave her in the early 1980s. When we sold the house and it came time to move, I begged her for weeks beforehand to let me discard it. She finally caved. Damn near killed myself trying to get it out of the house and into the driveway where I assumed I could easily dissemble the goddamn thing and throw it the trash piecemeal. It took me two freakin’ days with a sledgehammer to get that thing apart. And the capacitor was about half the size of a shoebox. I was terrified of the thing. And to make matters worse, I just found out that there’s another one that’s even bigger in her father’s house that we’re going to inherit when he croaks. And it’s on the second story. I’m just going to make a plywood ramp and slide that bitch right out the window and pray to almighty Og that it breaks into a million easy pieces when it hits the ground.
This makes me cry. I always wanted to learn piano as a child but was never allowed to. When we were first married, I’d have loved to have a piano in the house but we couldn’t afford one, even second hand.
Finally got my piano and started lessons. Now arthritis has kicked in and I’m finding it painful to play.
Another big advantage of digital pianos is that they come with headphones. No more listening to kids doing repetitive exercises.
The digital possibilities are endless; nog just the quality of sound, but also the digital possibilities for tutoring. I expect a fully digital software piano tutoring programme about next week.
But yeah, it is the same in the Netherlands. All of the Goodwill stores I frequent (at least the ones that haul their stuff in, not the ones that rely on people bringing stuff) have pianos standing there for 50 bucks or less.
Wouldn’t a digital piano have adjustable weight to the keys? You could set them all lighter, and the keys closer together, and still play. Maybe even a fully digital keyboard on your Ipad. I’ve seen such programmes exist.
Haven’t pianos always been one of those items that have flooded the second hand market? That certainly seemed to be the case when I was a kid in the '80s; people buy a piano so that their kids can take piano lessons, then pass it on for a song to the next customer.
Not that I’ve ever seen. I’m sure there must be some that exist, but I’ve never come across one. Here’s a thread on Piano World discussing why it’s problematic.
Bought a spinet when we moved here since Mrs. FtG played and I like to goof around on it. We had hoped the kids would take up an interest but they never did.
The last time it was seriously used was 2 Christmases ago for a few carols.
Who knows how we’re going to get rid of it.
We had a really old full upright before that and sold it for a couple hundred bucks since it wasn’t worth moving. Felt like we let it go too cheap. Now I’d be happy to get any real money for the new one.
Yeah, everybody had pianos back when I was kid. Grandparents, aunts, etc. And they got played. There was nothing like watching your 80 year old grandma sit down and crank out tunes from the 30s and 40s from memory.
Plus, piano benches are where you sat kids for pictures.
), getting an electronic keyboard rather than an acoustic was a no-brainer. Easy to move, easy to set up, takes up less room, sounds pretty good, slightly higher end ones have weighted keyboards, no tuning required, cheaper, etc.