[CAUT] "All Steinway" Schools. The problem with...

[Andrew Anderson]

I have noted that people who are accustomed to the Steinway touch and  
response are intimidated by a highly responsive high-end piano.  I've  
used an automotive metaphor.  "It's like going from a Lincoln to a  
Porsche Group B barely road-legal car.  You step on the gas and your  
back gets hit by a sledge hammer, you step on the brakes and you're  
hanging up against your four-point harness.  Get accustomed to  
controlling that and you will never want to go back."  My piano  
student's that learn on a Sauter piano can make any piano sound good,  
although they hate how limiting some are.

That is just one brand among a number that offer so much more.  Its  
easy to go back and hide behind a Steinway if that is all you have  
known but there are so many possibilities that can be experienced with  
other pianos.  Something I've noted when trying pianos out at NAMM for  
the store is that the high-end pianos are quite different from each  
other, they have individual design goals and philosophies that result  
in stunning pianos that are not easily confused with that of another  
piano make.

We sponsor an annual concert featuring Sauter Pianos and the artists  
we bring in are generally surprised by what they can get from the  
piano.  Fascination would be a good description of what I encounter  
when they start practicing on one for the concert.  To quote one  
recently, "It is fabulous, it gives me everything I want from it;  
easily!"

Vive la difference,
Andrew Anderson

On Nov 22, 2008, at 2:14 PM, Ed Sutton wrote:

> Is it possible that only practicing on one brand of piano results in  
> performers who only know how to play that brand of piano, and so,  
> believe that it is the only best piano for performance?
> Kinda like knowing that English is the language everybody else  
> should learn to speak?
> ES
>
> Kendall wrote:
>>
>> Only practicing on one kind of piano, or one brand, severely limits  
>> the
>> pianist in his ability to be able to cope with a number of  
>> different pianos
>> in diverse venues and performance situations.
>>
>
>