ratio?

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

Andrew,

At 09:00 04/21/2000 EDT, you wrote:

><< I have a 1997 statement from Terry Lewis, a vice president of Yamaha that
 estimates that there were at least 17 million used pianos in the US. 

>I have heard of this statement.  I believe it might be low but nevertheless 
>we can use it.  But since then about 1/4 million new piano have been sold 
>according to The Music Trades and the US population is a whole lot closer to 
>275 million. 


With all the recent bitching about how intrusive the US census long form
was, I'm wondering if there were any questions like:

-Is there any musical instrument in the household?
  -If yes, what kind?
  -How much money was spent on maintenance of those instrument? 
-Does/has anyone in the household take/n music lessons.
etc., etc.  

We in this special interest group know what good that information could be,
but how intrusive would Joe-six-pack think it is? (BTW, I buy my beer by
the case. ;-)

Imagine the demographical maps which could be drawn showing things like
piano density, lessons and per capita maintenance expenditure, the ratia of
which _might_ indicate an area of greatest need for piano technicians.

---just my 2¢



Conrad Hoffsommer - Luther College, Decorah, IA

My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely.