Hi Terry, > I did say to him that I hear from many teachers that a youngster playing on such a piano can be very quickly discouraged. For all it's worth, I don't think many children care how a piano plays, so long as it plays at all. For my first year of piano lessons, I had an old player that our neighbor gave us for free. The piano had survived a fire, many parts of the case having been reduced to charcoal (literally). The thing wouldn't hold a tune, and the action was pretty funky, as I recall. I was 8 yr old, so I don't remember much, but I do remember thinking the piano was pretty "neato," imagining that it had survived a fire in some saloon in the old West. I insisted on opening up the cabinet so I could watch the hammers as I played. I remember composing my first piece on that piano. After my parents could see I was serious about piano, they got me a '66 Hamilton studio, which probably made my practicing more tolerable to them and certainly did much more for the appearance of our living room. Throughout the years I was a relatively serious student/amateur pianist. I probably could have gone on to study performance and become a concert pianist, were it not for my circulatory problems (Raynaud's), which impact my speed when I'm cold or stressed. However at age 41 I still play the piano for perhaps 30 min a day and sorely miss playing when I'm away on vacation. I still have the Hamilton (a basically solid piano), which my older son used for his piano lessons. The results were different -- no talent, no determination, and total abandonment of lessons within a year. My stepdaughter started on a $500, 100 year old Knabe that's actually not a bad piano, but still with a bit of funkiness of its own, some of which I've corrected. She now studies composition at the California Institute of the Arts. One would think she cares about how well a piano plays. Actually she cares much more about the real ivory key tops and is, IMO, only a fair pianist (but an extremely talented composer). My stepson started on the same piano, played for 5 yr, and quit when athletics (and Dad's approval) became more important to him. He is more appreciative of the technical aspects of a piano, and if he were to continue, I think he would probably need a better instrument (or at least some rebuilding work on the Knabe. Appreciation of a fine piano comes with age and advanced abilities. I can now play well enough to understand my performance abilities and limitations with a given piano. Any piece of junk is suitable for a child to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb." However, if I'm going to play Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique (quite a technical challenge for me), I NEED a very responsive piano. My only point is that I can understand the parent who doensn't want to sink more than $500 into a piano to see if his or her child is serious about the instrument. I think in an ideal world, all beginning pianos would be junky loaners. My only qualification is that I think students should *never* learn on an electronic keyboard. Other than that, if it's a real piano and the notes all play, I think it passes muster. ... just my 2 cents ;-) Peace, Sarah Fox, AP, APT, PM (Amateur Pianist, Amateur Piano Tech, Professional Mom)
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