On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 5:40 AM, Sloane, Benjamin (sloaneba) < sloaneba at ucmail.uc.edu> wrote: > Richard Brenke stated this: > "Another thing I think music education leaves out is how to deal with > angst. Indeed.... if anything the education does just about everything it > can to build into an artist loads of angst. I saw a young and very gifted > young fellow a few years back completely disintegrate during his final > bachelors exam on piano. He had a reputation for being a bit of a know it > all... often correcting the teacher in collective classes, and had picked a > very difficult program to play. His family, his peers, his teachers... all > each in their own way exerted so much pressure on the fellow. He came very > close to killing himself or worse. In the end he re-grouped and shuffled > off to a distant country to do his graduate studies after receiving a grace > card passing grade here in Bergen." > > Yeah, keeping your temper can be tough. I've gotten better at it over > the years. The piano player I mentioned before, Willie "The Lion" Smith > wrote a song of the same name. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri9L2FozlLk&feature=related > > Part of piano gigs, be it studying with a good teacher, tuning, > rebuilding, selling, playing, in the midst of trying to make ends meet and > be successful, involves not losing your temper. Jealousy is a powerful > thing. Being invidious must be considered as well, the provocation to envy, > more than envying. We need to gracefully win, and help people to gracefully > win, as well. > > I think part of the problem with the piano industry in general today > could be found in that pianists just don't do business well as they used to. > If you check out the Lion in this series of 5 videos, of which this is the > 5th, the Lion had the sense to cover the name of the piano being played on > film, and not provide free advertizing for the manufacturer of the piano he > performed on. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJcsXl-GTsU&feature=related > > Another aspect of the Steinway strategy had to do with establishing a > stimmung in the arts where so many remarkable artists not only prove > willing, but insist, to perform on them, and without compensation at that, > by the company who made the piano, Steinway. Beyond that even, Steinway > managed to turn things around, not only by removing the quid prop quo in > many cases, but establishing itself as the very means for survival as a > performer. Also, a few Steinway dealers go so far as to actually treat floor > tunings as if it is some kind of privilege to tune it when it is time to pay > you. Some people classical musicians at times can tend to look down on in > the pop world, if one watches a few music videos, have the intelligence to > rip labels of clothes made by manufacturers that did not pay the singer to > advertize their product. So many piano players impoverish themselves doing > this sort of thing, giving free advertizing; it hurts the piano technician > as well that performers can't make ends meet on top of trying to pay off > school debts. > The saddest thing about Steinway has to do with the inaccessibility of > what are thought to be the greatest pianos to the people that actually could > play them well. Whether or not piano faculty should by in large be paid > more, and given more time off than the piano technician is another matter. I > am happy to see some piano players making money, but many piano faculty > would have preferred performing to teaching. The same cannot make money at > it because piano players never get trained that marketing yourself forces > those that market their products in the process to provide remuneration for > that, to you, as the performer that makes their products known. Could you > imagine Nike not paying Tiger Woods for endorsing their products? > > -----Original Message----- > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of > Richard Brekne > Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 4:42 PM > To: caut at ptg.org > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway cult > > Dave > > I think you for sure have one very large piece of the Steinway dominance > thing put into place here. And personally... I think this part of the > picture paints a rather sad picture about pianists and piano (playing) > education. I've thought for years that the education system leaves out > very big chunks of very relevant information in music education in > general and in piano education in particular. I'm not particularly > impressed with ear training curriculums for the most part, nor the > weight placed on music theory.... with the exception of jazz > musicians... speaking in generalities here mind you. And I am most > unimpressed with what instrumentalists are required to know about the > mechanics/physics of their instruments. Pianist are on the absolute > bottom of that list. Another thing I think music education leaves out > is how to deal with angst. Indeed.... if anything the education does > just about everything it can to build into an artist loads of angst. I > saw a young and very gifted young fellow a few years back completely > disintegrate during his final bachelors exam on piano. He had a > reputation for being a bit of a know it all... often correcting the > teacher in collective classes, and had picked a very difficult program > to play. His family, his peers, his teachers... all each in their own > way exerted so much pressure on the fellow. He came very close to > killing himself or worse. In the end he re-grouped and shuffled off to > a distant country to do his graduate studies after receiving a grace > card passing grade here in Bergen. > > But back to Steinway.... there is of course much more to the picture. I > believe truly that they did actually hit upon a <<sound>> that caught on > and has yet to be defeated by any challenger. I love the CF III sound > on the two newer ones we have here... but it is a different sound... > rounder with a bit of a stretched out (in a positive way) sustain in the > upper treble. Most pianists I run into however simply prefer the > Steinway sound. Same thing goes for Fazioli. They are fascinated by > it... but feel they can express more music more often on Steinway. I > have to leave this big wad of the benefit of doubt in my pocket and not > underestimate the pianists appreciation (on the intuitive level it seems > to rest) of the instrument. > > Then of course there is the marketing strategies of Steinway... > aggressive and very effective.... but hey... they are in business to > survive. > > Still... I'm with you in sentiment... I wish pianists would open > themselves for much more variety. I think they should be able to sit > down to just about any instrument... relax... figure out what it has to > say and start making music. Unfortunately... that does not seem to be > their makeup. > > Cheers > RicB > > > Let's look at why there seems to be a cult following around > Steinway. Artists who play every other instrument except piano, > play their own instrument. The trumpet player, the violinist, the > cellist all take their instruments with them even if (as in the cast > of the cellist) they have to purchase an airline ticket for the > instrument. They always play their instrument with which they are > very familiar. Pianists, have to play whatever is there. This does > bring on lots of angst. When they get to the venue they are > comforted by seeing something familiar. If it is a Steinway that > starts their being at ease. It might be a great Steinway, or it > might be a dreadful one, but at least it is familiar. > > We had an artist come here last summer that when he found out that > our Steinway was being rebuilt and that he would have to play a > Yamaha he was quite unhappy. When the date finally arrived for his > performance he changed to a smaller recital hall here that has a > Steinway B rather than the Yamaha CFIIIS. Familiarity won out over > the superior piano. > > After a few decades of this, Steinway becomes the comfort food for a > very apprehensive performer. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that > this has developed. If there had been more companies promoting > their concert instruments there might be more diversity but Steinway > has won the familiarity war. It will take any other manufacturer a > lot of effort to put a dent in their dominance in that market. They > are the market leader in this area. They are not the market leader > in total number of units sold, but in the concert/recital venues, > they own it. That does not necessarily make them the best piano, > they just won the concert venue playoffs. > > dave > > > > > One factor I didn't see mentioned, directly, that I believe, as time has passed has proven to have been the most brilliant marketing strategy was the inception of the Steinway Artist program I don't know when, exactly it began but I know it was in full swing in the 1950's. If a pianist agreed to perform ONLY on Steinway instruments then he/she had the use, at no cost except moving and technician fees(usually written into the performance contract) of any of the 356 I believe was the number I was given, S&S concert grands available worldwide. There, I submit to you is the beginning of the Steinway cult. If you know musicians like I do, offer them use of a superior instrument at no cost to themselves, they will be lining up down the street and around the block. Flash forward to the 1980's and Yamaha announces their own Yamaha Artist program but there are no takers, no one is leaving S&S, no independents are coming to them. So they quietly ask why? Some of the artists told them what we had been hearing for years, if you've played one Yamaha you've played them all! Yamaha was still building their concert grands on an assembly line. So they put together a team of some of their best people and began hand building Yamaha Concert Grands, now they have an artist program, it doesn't rival S&S's yet but it's growing. Steinway is ingrained in american culture as the best piano because for the last almost 60 years that is primarily what the saw, except for Borge's Bosie and Ferrante and Teicher's Baldwins. Over the last 25 years we are seeing more Yamahas, Kawais and others at concerts and on TV but the general population is still of the opnion that S&S is the best. As for the musicians, as one of the other techs put it in an earlier discussion about all Steinway schools, Steinways are like comfort food to many pianists. It's what they learned on, played at school, have played much of their career on, they don't have to work as hard to play them because it's a known factor. Playing something different might be like starting over or uncomfortable, too different, in other words, it's a fear of the unknown. I used to sell pianos, briefly, many years ago and I discovered the most difficult customer to even attempt to sell to was a church committee. Why, you may ask? Because each or most had a different brand of home piano, so each was looking for the touch and tone they were used to on their piano, making it impossible for them to agree. The comfort factor, in action. Mike -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090420/bf6c8e46/attachment-0001.html>
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