<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Jan 22, 2007, at 5:06 PM, Willem Blees wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">That's because we're not in that economic stratus. If we had the kind<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">of money some of these people have, we'd think those items are right<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">up our ally. :)</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Wim<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>Exactly, Wim.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>We must remember that we are the beneficiary of that lifestyle. We live on the crumbs of those in that economic status, moreso today than in years past. Gluttony has always been a pursuit of the wealthy and the arts are a part of that gluttony. Who else is paying to support the high arts? The only reason we are able to exist today is because high art is and always has been seen as a part of the lifestyle of nobility and the upper crust.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>(It's also a pretty dang good tax deduction)</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Face it. Look through the audience at your next school event. Who do you see? The wealthy and the students who are required to be there for class credit. Classical music doesn't exactly appeal to your average middle and lower income concert goer. 99% of our concerts are free to the public and we can't even fill the seats.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>For the most part, schools which become All-Steinway schools are not buying Steinways with their own money. Steinway dealers go out and find donors who can use a tax deduction and that is where much of the funding for supplying instruments to colleges is coming from today. State governments certainly aren't budgeting for it.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Steinway's strategy of putting its name on other products and publishing this magazine is merely to keep its name in front of the elite, maintaining its status with potential donors, so that when it is time for that donor to fork out that donation for the school of music, Steinway is the only donation they consider worthy. It is brilliant, actually.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Jeff</DIV><BR><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>Jeff Tanner, RPT</DIV><DIV>University of South Carolina</DIV><DIV>(Bachelor of Business Administration, 1993, University of Georgia)</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>