info for a journalist

[Dave Nereson]

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  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Kent Swafford=20
  To: Pianotech ; College Technicians=20
  Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 2:43 PM
  Subject: Fwd: info for a journalist


  The PTG receives occasional research requests from journalists. We =
want=20
  to help, but have limited ability to do so.

  Can anyone answer the following questions, citing sources?

  Thanks,

  Kent Swafford


  Begin forwarded message:

  > Why 88 keys on a piano?
          Just evolved that way.  Originally there were fewer octaves (4 =
1/2 in one of Cristofori's pianos).  Gradually composers wanted a wider =
and wider range, until 85 keys became standard.  Then sometime in the =
19th century, Steinway added the highest 3 keys for a total of 88, and =
other builders followed suit.  Then Boesendorfer added a few low notes =
on their Imperial.  It could change again in the future. =20
   =20
  > How many pianos are there in the world?
      Somebody at Yamaha probably knows.  La Roy Edwards, maybe?

  > How many pianos are there in the U S?
          Can't find a recent figure, but quoting from "Men, Women, & =
Pianos" (by Arthur Loesser, Simon & Schuster, 1954):  "In 1920, at the =
cumulative height of production -- before the instrument's social =
devaluation had too seriously lessened its output -- the population of =
105,000,000 owned about 7,000,000 pianofortes.  (Again we are =
calculating that all the instruments made for thirty years past were =
extant.)  That means one piano for every fifteen persons." =20
      And from "Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos" ( by Edwin M. =
Good, Stanford University Press, 2001):  "By 1960, Japan had taken third =
place to the United States and the USSR, making 48,000 pianos that year =
as against 160,000 for the United States and 88,000 for the USSR; by the =
end of the decade, Japan had leaped past both countries to move into =
first place.  United Nations data for 1970 show 273,000 pianos for =
Japan, 220,000 for the United States, and 200,000 for the USSR.  Next to =
these figures, the 1970 totals for France (1,000), England (17,000), and =
Germany (45,000, East and West together) are more than a little anemic.  =
 In the next eight years Japanese output increased more than 25 percent, =
to stand at 374,000 units in 1979.  Through the 1980s, world production =
declined in general so that by 1990 American output was only about =
112,000 per year, and Japanese was well under 300,000.  American =
production hit rock bottom in 1996, with 84,000, but more recently the =
figure has been rising, coming to almost 107,000 in 1998. "
          But a world total, or even a U.S. total, I can't seem to find =
and it's way past my bedtime.
          -David Nereson, RPT, Denver
        =20

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