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I had to get rid of my piano when I downsized and I was lucky to get $50 for it. Worked well, too. I am hoping to get another one in my next house.
I dispute the space theory, houses today are bigger than they were 50 years ago, when more people had pianos. I think keyboards have taken over, cheaper, smaller, and can do more with them. Pianos are just not valued the way they were. I would never have a keyboard, to me, a piano's sound is the best.
I had to get rid of my piano when I downsized and I was lucky to get $50 for it. Worked well, too. I am hoping to get another one in my next house.
I dispute the space theory, houses today are bigger than they were 50 years ago, when more people had pianos. I think keyboards have taken over, cheaper, smaller, and can do more with them. Pianos are just not valued the way they were. I would never have a keyboard, to me, a piano's sound is the best.
While houses on the average are indeed larger, think about where that square footage actually is. Master suites, gourmet kitchens etc. Not to mention, there often isn't the wall space that an upright would require. The people I know, who have actual pianos have them in a separate room.
In Florida, I had bought a full Roland for my wife and our neighbors had an upright piano. The upright was almost always slightly out of tune and the action was stiff and clunky. The Roland had better tone, was always in tune, good action and sensitivity, and had the variations and midi out that made it fun. My father was given a keyboard by his second wife as a Christmas gift and it not only didn't have the full keyboard, but the sound was horrible, far worse than the mistuned upright. I've played at a concert grand before, one that was used as a practice instrument by a professional, and the sound was just gorgeous. However, it had a special room, humidity sensors, and regular tuning.
For the average home, a good quality keyboard is probably the best choice. For those wanting to be pro, where money and space are no object, there are some fine instruments out there.
In Florida, I had bought a full Roland for my wife and our neighbors had an upright piano. The upright was almost always slightly out of tune and the action was stiff and clunky. The Roland had better tone, was always in tune, good action and sensitivity, and had the variations and midi out that made it fun. My father was given a keyboard by his second wife as a Christmas gift and it not only didn't have the full keyboard, but the sound was horrible, far worse than the mistuned upright. I've played at a concert grand before, one that was used as a practice instrument by a professional, and the sound was just gorgeous. However, it had a special room, humidity sensors, and regular tuning.
For the average home, a good quality keyboard is probably the best choice. For those wanting to be pro, where money and space are no object, there are some fine instruments out there.
Exactly. You can buy a Clavinova for less than $800, put it in a case and take it with you to a party. I know a couple of very good pianists who have grand pianos in their houses, in rooms that were built to accommodate a grand. Most professional musicians choose a keyboard. For what it costs to put new felts in a piano you can buy a top of the line keyboard and never have to tune or maintain it.
Since the average house is now over 2400 square feet, double what it was when I was a kid, that doesn't make any sense.
People must just not want them.
You're right, they don't. They want keyboards.
It's really sad how many beautiful old pianos are being junked.
OTOH, if you have a good one, someday it could be worth a lot of money. Interest in vinyl LPs and film cameras is increasing again, I don't see why real pianos won't follow suit.
I've heard from people in a position to know that there is no comparison when it comes to "touch" - if that's important to you, there is no substitute for a real piano.
I think that small portable keyboards have taken the place of pianos. If your child takes piano lessons, are you going to spend a few thousand dollars on a piano, or a few hundred on a keyboard?
Back when my kids were taking lessons, we bought a second hand piano which took up a lot of space. Then we gave it to a friend for the price of moving it. When those friends moved, they could not even give it away because the sounding board had cracked at some point (maybe it had always been?). Our friend wound up sawing it into pieces and trashing it.
Where were all these free pianos when I wanted to take piano lessons as a child? My parents couldn't afford a piano and the local piano teachers would only give lessons to kids who had pianos at home so they could practice.
so get one now and start taking lessons. There's nothing that says only children can learn to play musical instruments.
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