Sounds good to Me.

[Richard Brekne]

Nice posting  Keith.. but I have to drop a little qualifier if I may. (see
below)

kam544@flash.net wrote:

> >2 cents worth:...So, "some piano is better than no piano"?
> >Not really.
> >Roy Ulrich
>
> I have to side unequivocally with "Some piano is better than no piano",
> presented by Ron Lindquist, with the a qualification, depending on the
> individual and surrounding circumstances that exist concerning that piano.
>
> I have witnessed individuals progress to remarkable levels with
> unbelievable joy in their hearts on pianos that I personally would not
> consider owning, do not necessarily enjoy servicing, and would easily be
> considered not worthy of receiving any attention by many piano service
> persons.
>

This is of course the exception to the rule. I think most of us have run into
some pretty incredable dedication in the face of near catostophic conditions.
Some folks will want to learn no matter what. Perhaps the worst example of this
kind of thing (and I choose the word "worst" deliberately) was a young 14 year
old girl who had learned to play on a Norwegian produced overdamper piano that
was quite completely destroyed. Ribs falling off and causing a horrible
distorted buzzing noise almost as loud as the rest of the sound the piano made,
action that barely functioned in any sense of the word, untuneable for a
variety of reasons... She could make very nice music indeed on this wreck. What
was tragic about it was that because of the enourmous consideration she had to
take to getting this thing to work, and because of her will to learn, she also
"learned" that her wreckish piano was "how pianos were supposed to be". She
complained about being unable to play on her teachers brand new Yamaha C3, and
told me straight out that she had never found a piano that played and sounded
as nicely hers. I kept thinking how much she would have to overcome should she
want to learn to share with others, and expand on her obvious talent and desire
to learn. All because no one had the gumption, honesty, whatever to call a
shovel a shovel.

In reality these cases are extreme exceptions, the rule is rather that the
young student becomes frustrated and quits, due in no small part to the poor
function of the piano itself. This fact is not without documentation, tho I can
not site any for you. I remember years ago reading an article about a study
done on exactly the correlation between students who have access to decent
quality instruments, and those who do not. There was a definant relationship
between percentage of those who continued study and those who did not compared
to the quality of the instrument. Where this article is, who wrote it I can not
say at this time, as it was about 20 years ago I ran into it. Perhaps someone
else remembers this or something similiar ????

Again... I say that we have a responsibility in what we espouse or do not in
these regards. I would personally urge all to think over as many ramifications
of the choices we make when judgeing a piano as is possible. Clearly there are
varying situations, yet I see nothing but positives in pushing, and pushing
firmly for as high a quality as one can achieve in all aspects of what we do,
what we recommend, and what we accept as "ok"

My view from the north....grin

>
> At the same time, I have witnessed remarkable instruments sitting idly by,
> with no progress or interest from their owners whatsoever, that I
> personally would consider owning, do enjoy servicing, and that would easily
> be considered worthy of any and all efforts to maintain by many piano
> service persons.

True, how true.

>
> Anchors away,
>
> Keith McGavern
> Registered Piano Technician
> Oklahoma Chapter 731
> Piano Technicians Guild
> USA

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway