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There have been so many free pianos on Nextdoor and Craigslist in the past few years! I have seen them listed as being in excellent condition, good condition, excellent condition but needs to be tuned, etc.
Right now there are two free upright pianos and a free baby grand.
A few have even been listed as good condition and will pay someone to haul away.
Last year the local piano shop went out of business, and it had been family owned and operated for over 50 years. The owner said no one was buying pianos any longer.
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.
My dad could have been a concert pianist in his heyday. He ALWAYS had a Steinway baby grand. As a kid, my sisters & I used to play under it while he play it. Man, it sounded very rich under there.
Don't know how many Steinways he had over the years. His last one, he had it restored-complete with a mechanism to keep it hydrated-with special fluid. It was kind of funny to "water a piano."
When he passed away, none of us had room for it-not to mention that it would have been expensive to transport it to where any of us lives. (He lived in D.C. & most of us live in New England/New York and one lives in Oklahoma.) So, we put it on the market. The person who bought it was the one who restored it.
The following year, I bought a house where I did have room for it-but it was gone by then. But, I still would have had to figure out how to ship it here. But, it would have been cool to have the Steinway. Then I would have HAD to learn to play.
I see this as well. Just for grins I looked in the 'free' section of craigslist and in my area there were 21 pianos listed just this month. Some are 100 years old. I think this is turning into the instrument that not a lot of people want to learn how to play.
I would love to have one, but I just don't have a place to put it. One of the free ones was beautiful and it was literally so close to my house we could have carried it down the sidewalk so no delivery issues. But I just did not have a place to put it.
There have been so many free pianos on Nextdoor and Craigslist in the past few years! I have seen them listed as being in excellent condition, good condition, excellent condition but needs to be tuned, etc.
Right now there are two free upright pianos and a free baby grand.
A few have even been listed as good condition and will pay someone to haul away.
Last year the local piano shop went out of business, and it had been family owned and operated for over 50 years. The owner said no one was buying pianos any longer.
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.
Maybe there is something wrong with the particular pianos that are listed that the ads aren't letting on, or maybe people who are in the market for a piano and people who look at Nextdoor and Craigslist are two entirely different groups of people.
The last two sentences literally made me a little sad, though, thinking this is a tradition that doesn't need to fade.
I think it is a combination of not having room for a piano and the fact that kids don't want to put any effort into anything but their video games. It takes serious effort and dedication to get good at playing piano.
If anyone is vaguely interested, they buy a keyboard to try it put and see if they really do like it-- and I think there is not much follow through.
At the very least, music dreams are to be a rock star and rock stars don't play the piano.
I think it is a combination of not having room for a piano and the fact that kids don't want to put any effort into anything but their video games. It takes serious effort and dedication to get good at playing piano.
If anyone is vaguely interested, they buy a keyboard to try it put and see if they really do like it-- and I think there is not much follow through.
At the very least, music dreams are to be a rock star and rock stars don't play the piano.
Both of the bolded are nonsense.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Eton John and Billy Joel come to mind immediately. It wouldn't be difficult to come up with more up to date examples.
I think the reasons are both due to space - both square footage and wall space, and more choices than in the past. Many homes simply do not have the appropriate space for one. And yes, families are purchasing keyboards instead. They take up less room and are easy to put away if the space is needed for other things. Also, there are more choices today for extra curriculars than in previous generations. Kids may not be taking piano lessons to the extent that they were, but they are doing a lot of other things that weren't available then.
Last edited by maciesmom; 09-14-2016 at 05:50 PM..
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