All around the nation, piano stores are dwindling as fewer people take up the instrument and those who do often opt for a less expensive electronic keyboard or a used piano. So, was Dame Fanny Waterman right? Is the piano dying?
In 1909, the best year for new piano sales in the U.S., more than 364,500 pianos were sold. However, after a gentle plummet, sales of the classic instrument have plunged to between 30,000 and 40,000 annually. Some blame computers and others note the high cost of new pianos, but what's clear is that a long-term decline in sales has accelerated.
Larry Fine, a Boston-based piano technician, consultant and author, said it is an indication of a changing society.
"Computer technology has just changed everything about what kids are interested in," said Fine, who also publishes a website offering consumer information on new and used pianos. "People are interested in things that don't take much effort, so the idea of sitting and playing an hour a day to learn piano is not what kids want to do."
This is exactly the same sentiment that the 94-year-old Waterman expressed in a recent interview with The Guardian.
“The [future of the] piano is the cause of great worry for all us who love it,” she said. “First, lots of children are learning it from the electric piano. A waste of time, because you don’t get the speed of the key descent, you don’t get the different sounds.”
The average cost of a new grand piano last year was just over $16,000. Well-maintained pianos can make music for 50 to 70 years, said Peter Stumpf, a piano technician for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Carnegie Mellon University, also in Pittsburgh. Stumpf acknowledged new piano retailers are challenged by technicians like him who restore well-made used pianos and sell them at a fraction of the cost.
So, will this generation be the last to see this musical staple?
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