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

[Ed Sutton]

Andrew-
My favorite customer is a lady who is nearly 80 years old. She and her late 
husband had a marriage centered on a Boesendorfer piano which they 
encountered and went into debt to buy.
Her ability to find, respond to and enjoy the range of timbres, 
articulations and dynamics in a piano is a great joy to me. If she approves 
of a piano, I know I've accomplished something.
Ed

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Anderson" <andrew at andersonmusic.com>
To: "Ed Sutton" <ed440 at mindspring.com>; <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 11:31 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] "All Steinway" Schools. The problem with...


>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.
>>>
>>
>>
>