---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Years ago I was privy to some research done by one of the piano manufacturers and the MTNA. Their research showed that the attrition rate of students on old upright pianos and spinets over 30 years old was about 80% and the attrition rate of students who started lessons on new pianos was about 20%. I no longer have any evidence that this was accurate and one could question the findings given the possible bias by the piano company and teachers. You could also speculate on the commitment by the parents to keep their children practicing if they had made the monetary investment of a new piano. All in all I think the results had some real validity. The problem arises when the student has a piano that is so far removed from the quality of the teacher's piano. It also becomes an issue when certain musical requirements are made beyond counting and basic dynamics. It is really difficult to create a legato line using a piano with a retarded decay rate. And nearly impossible to play staccato notes on old uprights with inadequate damping and overall ringing. The results from the piano manufacturer's standpoint is that if teachers would recommend new pianos then they would keep students longer. I really can't argue much with this line of reasoning given the really horrible pianos that students have purchased on a teacher's recommendation. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/c8/89/73/e6/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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