Things that changed the world

[k.swafford@genie.com]

     For Christmas, I bought my kids a young-persons book entitled,
"53 1/2 Things that Changed the World," by David West, published in
the U.S., 1995, by The Millbrook Press, 2 Old New Milford Road,
Brookfield, Connecticut, 06804.
     Imagine my delight in looking through the book when I discovered
that taking its rightful place on the long list of world-changing
inventions was the piano.  Other entries include the blast furnace,
the clock, the plow and the combine, the sail and the screw, the
telescope/microscope, the printing press, the electric light bulb and
the electric motor...
     The text points out the presence of a piano in "any music room or
concert hall," the effect that the piano has had on many different
kinds of music, and particularly the fact that so many composers have
made the piano their main instrument during the past (almost) three
centuries.
     Piano technology is such a small profession, compared with the
numbers of people who work as doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc., I
sometimes forget that pianos themselves are _everywhere_.
     I thought that the idea of the piano as something that changed
the course of human events so compelling that I thought a few might
want to add this little book to their libraries.


                                             Kent Swafford