Nice posting Keith.. but I have to drop a little qualifier if I may. (see below) kam544@flash.net wrote: > >2 cents worth:...So, "some piano is better than no piano"? > >Not really. > >Roy Ulrich > > I have to side unequivocally with "Some piano is better than no piano", > presented by Ron Lindquist, with the a qualification, depending on the > individual and surrounding circumstances that exist concerning that piano. > > I have witnessed individuals progress to remarkable levels with > unbelievable joy in their hearts on pianos that I personally would not > consider owning, do not necessarily enjoy servicing, and would easily be > considered not worthy of receiving any attention by many piano service > persons. > This is of course the exception to the rule. I think most of us have run into some pretty incredable dedication in the face of near catostophic conditions. Some folks will want to learn no matter what. Perhaps the worst example of this kind of thing (and I choose the word "worst" deliberately) was a young 14 year old girl who had learned to play on a Norwegian produced overdamper piano that was quite completely destroyed. Ribs falling off and causing a horrible distorted buzzing noise almost as loud as the rest of the sound the piano made, action that barely functioned in any sense of the word, untuneable for a variety of reasons... She could make very nice music indeed on this wreck. What was tragic about it was that because of the enourmous consideration she had to take to getting this thing to work, and because of her will to learn, she also "learned" that her wreckish piano was "how pianos were supposed to be". She complained about being unable to play on her teachers brand new Yamaha C3, and told me straight out that she had never found a piano that played and sounded as nicely hers. I kept thinking how much she would have to overcome should she want to learn to share with others, and expand on her obvious talent and desire to learn. All because no one had the gumption, honesty, whatever to call a shovel a shovel. In reality these cases are extreme exceptions, the rule is rather that the young student becomes frustrated and quits, due in no small part to the poor function of the piano itself. This fact is not without documentation, tho I can not site any for you. I remember years ago reading an article about a study done on exactly the correlation between students who have access to decent quality instruments, and those who do not. There was a definant relationship between percentage of those who continued study and those who did not compared to the quality of the instrument. Where this article is, who wrote it I can not say at this time, as it was about 20 years ago I ran into it. Perhaps someone else remembers this or something similiar ???? Again... I say that we have a responsibility in what we espouse or do not in these regards. I would personally urge all to think over as many ramifications of the choices we make when judgeing a piano as is possible. Clearly there are varying situations, yet I see nothing but positives in pushing, and pushing firmly for as high a quality as one can achieve in all aspects of what we do, what we recommend, and what we accept as "ok" My view from the north....grin > > At the same time, I have witnessed remarkable instruments sitting idly by, > with no progress or interest from their owners whatsoever, that I > personally would consider owning, do enjoy servicing, and that would easily > be considered worthy of any and all efforts to maintain by many piano > service persons. True, how true. > > Anchors away, > > Keith McGavern > Registered Piano Technician > Oklahoma Chapter 731 > Piano Technicians Guild > USA -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC