Piano Industry

[Jon Page]

 From my personal experience, my oldest son took piano lessons for a short 
period.
He found it not to his liking. He did however find interest in playing a 
bass guitar and
was involved with a few friends for two years in a 'band'.

Since my younger son always follows in his brother's footsteps, piano was 
not an
option, drums were/are his thing, oh joy.

Had we owned an electronic keyboard I think that their interest could have 
been held
a little longer or at least as an additional instrument and they may have 
developed
an interest. I'll never know.

Whatever peaks their interst is good. If the stimulation of the extra 
'bells and whistles'
holds their attention, then it is good.

Piano keyboard technique is different from electronic keyboards but how 
many of these
students are going to end up as serious musicians.

Afterall, learning where the notes are is half the battle, learning to 
place the right finger
on the right note at the right time with the right amount of pressure is 
the other half.

If an electronic keyboard offers the fun and enticement to learn music then 
the end justifies the means.

Regards,
Jon Page

At 09:07 AM 10/27/2000 -0400, you wrote:
> >you have some good points. My problem is this, and I see it coming,
> >> do you want to spend $5000 on a 7 year old  who wants to try piano???
>
>In our store we have the perfect solution for parents caught in the above
>scenerio. They can rent a piano with the option to buy. So the question
>then is if they want to spend $39.95-69.95/month for a 4 month period. It's
>only a 4 month initial rental period. At the end of that time they can
>return the piano. If the lessons are still going well they can continue to
>rent the piano month to month. When they get to the point that they feel
>confident that Jr. is going to stick with the lessons they can buy the
>piano. They can apply 100% of the first 6 months rent towards purchase and
>75% from the 7th month and on.
>
>The benefit of this is that this is something parents are comfortable
>doing. They can also upgrade pianos to a better quality as well.
>
>Many dealers shy away from a plan like this, but it is a good fit for kids
>or adults starting.
>
>Glenn Grafton
>Grafton Piano & Organ Co.
>Souderton PA
>http://www.dprint.com/grafton/
>gleng@fast.net
>800-272-5980
>
>The box said "Requires Windows 95, or better." So I bought a Macintosh.

Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net
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