How was the convention?

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: July 07, 2003 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: How was the convention?


> I heard about 450 attended - I guess small compared to other years.

Yes, attendance was down. And that made for smaller classes. My Wednesday
class attendance was varied depending on the period. During the first two
periods I gave out 42 handouts and the remaining eight disappeared during
the course of the afternoon. That was Wednesday where there was a limited
number of classes from which to choose. During the rest of the convention I
was surprised at the low number of people in the classes I attended.
Probably not good for the convention bottom line but made for some
interesting classes. Those who did show up had the opportunity to ask all
the questions they wanted.

I got to go to a couple of classes I'd missed in the past because I was
always teaching at the same time.

The exhibit area was large and often sparsely attended. That meant an
opportunity to actually hear what some of the pianos sounded like for those
that wanted to play them. It also meant actually being able to talk with
some of the vendors personally.

I left Saturday about noon so didn't get to see/hear what Yamaha put on but
the Shigeru Kawai featured in concert following the Awards Banquet was an
outstanding piano. It was actually capable of both pianissimo and forte.

It will be interesting to hear the reasons given for the low attendance. I
expect there were many, including, but not limited to, the 4th of July
weekend, the economy and the on-going war that seems to be putting a damper
on many things.

I expect for those that did attend it was well worth while.

Del