Winter & Co. .... Blahhh

[gordon stelter]

I also disagree. A cheap electronic keyboard is better
fora child to begin on than a lousy, out of tune and
very likely mouse-infested-disease bearing old
upright. I am honest about this with people, thoufgh
it loses me work.
     P.S. that 100 year old Knabe of yours, Sarah, is
very likely a finer instrument than any Steinway
upright of the same era. 
     Thump
--- David Love <davidlovepianos@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I disagree.  I'm asked this question frequently and
> I always encourage
> people buying pianos for their children to buy the
> best piano they can
> afford.  I think it is more critical for a child
> because you are developing
> a sense of tone and touch.  You want them to have
> positive feedback in terms
> of tone and control, they are not learning to play a
> typewriter, afterall.
> This is not to say that somebody learning on a lousy
> instrument can't
> develop a feel or love for music, but it won't make
> it any easier.
> 
> David Love
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sarah Fox" <sarah@gendernet.org>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: October 23, 2002 6:18 AM
> Subject: Re: Winter & Co. .... Blahhh
> 
> 
> Hi Terry,
> 
> > I did say to him that I hear from many teachers
> that a youngster playing
> on such a piano can be very quickly discouraged.
> 
> For all it's worth, I don't think many children care
> how a piano plays, so
> long as it plays at all.  For my first year of piano
> lessons, I had an old
> player that our neighbor gave us for free.  The
> piano had survived a fire,
> many parts of the case having been reduced to
> charcoal (literally).  The
> thing wouldn't hold a tune, and the action was
> pretty funky, as I recall.  I
> was 8 yr old, so I don't remember much, but I do
> remember thinking the piano
> was pretty "neato," imagining that it had survived a
> fire in some saloon in
> the old West.  I insisted on opening up the cabinet
> so I could watch the
> hammers as I played.  I remember composing my first
> piece on that piano.
> 
> After my parents could see I was serious about
> piano, they got me a '66
> Hamilton studio, which probably made my practicing
> more tolerable to them
> and certainly did much more for the appearance of
> our living room.
> Throughout the years I was a relatively serious
> student/amateur pianist.  I
> probably could have gone on to study performance and
> become a concert
> pianist, were it not for my circulatory problems
> (Raynaud's), which impact
> my speed when I'm cold or stressed.  However at age
> 41 I still play the
> piano for perhaps 30 min a day and sorely miss
> playing when I'm away on
> vacation.
> 
> I still have the Hamilton (a basically solid piano),
> which my older son used
> for his piano lessons.  The results were different
> -- no talent, no
> determination, and total abandonment of lessons
> within a year.
> 
> My stepdaughter started on a $500, 100 year old
> Knabe that's actually not a
> bad piano, but still with a bit of funkiness of its
> own, some of which I've
> corrected.  She now studies composition at the
> California Institute of the
> Arts.  One would think she cares about how well a
> piano plays.  Actually she
> cares much more about the real ivory key tops and
> is, IMO, only a fair
> pianist (but an extremely talented composer).
> 
> My stepson started on the same piano, played for 5
> yr, and quit when
> athletics (and Dad's approval) became more important
> to him.  He is more
> appreciative of the technical aspects of a piano,
> and if he were to
> continue, I think he would probably need a better
> instrument (or at least
> some rebuilding work on the Knabe.
> 
> Appreciation of a fine piano comes with age and
> advanced abilities.  I can
> now play well enough to understand my performance
> abilities and limitations
> with a given piano.  Any piece of junk is suitable
> for a child to play "Mary
> Had a Little Lamb."  However, if I'm going to play
> Beethoven's Sonata
> Pathetique (quite a technical challenge for me), I
> NEED a very responsive
> piano.
> 
> My only point is that I can understand the parent
> who doensn't want to sink
> more than $500 into a piano to see if his or her
> child is serious about the
> instrument.  I think in an ideal world, all
> beginning pianos would be junky
> loaners.  My only qualification is that I think
> students should *never*
> learn on an electronic keyboard.  Other than that,
> if it's a real piano and
> the notes all play, I think it passes muster.
> 
> ... just my 2 cents ;-)
> 
> Peace,
> Sarah Fox, AP, APT, PM (Amateur Pianist, Amateur
> Piano Tech, Professional
> Mom)
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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