Europiano

[Joel Rappaport]

Maybe the following will help:

Arnold Duin wrote:
>Europiano is union of European Piano Maker Associations. At this time I
>beleive there are 9 or 10 countries in Europe associated with this union
>so it isn't only in Germany.

Europiano (pronounced oy-ro-piano) is an umbrella organization of
several european countries' national piano makers groups.  The phrase
"piano maker" refers to individuals who have been trained in piano
making, not the manufacturers.  The countries are Norway, Sweden,
Finland, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.  Every two
years (I think) a convention is held in one of the member countries.
You can imagine the language situation at conventions!  They issue a
quarterly magazine full of technical articles, organizational news and
classified ads named "Europiano."  Articles usually appear in at least
two languages.
The German group is Bund Deutscher Klavierbauer (Organization of German
Pianomakers - again refering to individuals, not companies) or BDK.
They of course are very active and have yearly conventions.  The BDK,
incidentally, just went through a sudden increase in membership when the
two parts of Germany united.  Many technicians from the former East
Germany are now becoming involved, which they could not do before.

André Oorebeek wrote:
>Maybe you have followed remarks on "the List" about t

The German word Vereinigung is the same.  As Andre points out, a
translation could be "union" which very well might have certain meanings
in certain situations.  Another word, more appropriate, is "association"
which is just as good, just longer.

Best regards from Texas USA!

Joel Rappaport

	Klavierbaumeister, Diploma from
	Handwerkskammer, Stuttgart 1975

	Registered Piano Technician
	The Piano Technicians Guild