<html><div style='background-color:'>If you don't mind my adding my two cents worth. There's a great line in the movie "Jurassic Park", where Jeff Goldblum's character is talking about DNA and reproducing dinosaurs:  He says, "The scientists were so excited about the fact that they could [reproduce DNA] that they didn't think about whether they SHOULD." I dunno, I guess it kind of fit.  When electronics began to come along, engineers were looking to recreate the sound of the piano, and other instruments, and sampling technology continued to improve.  Even now, my Sweetwater magazine must have a bazillion digital keyboards offered for sale, as well as digital drums, and a couple of digital wind instruments.  What's next, the digital harp? One thing I've found is that, as good as a digital instrument, not just keyboard, may sound, it still doesn't play like the real thing.  Digital drums take a different hit; digital wind instruments have a universal mouthpiece for the flute, sax, and clarinet, oboe, English horn player to get used to; and for as good as the touch sensitivity of digital pianos has increased in playability, it's still not the same as sending the hammer to strike the strings.  The acoustic player must, in a sense, re-learn how to play a digital instrument. By creating the world of digital instruments, engineers have not replaced the acoustic - they've simply added more instruments for musicians to learn how play, thus creating a new market for consumers to spend their money. Monty   <DIV>  </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #a0c6e5 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <HR color=#a0c6e5 SIZE=1> From: "Elwood Doss" <edoss@utm.edu> Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech@ptg.org> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech@ptg.org> Subject: RE: electronics replacing pianos? Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 09:43:23 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: from ptg.org ([206.168.112.210]) by bay0-mc8-f15.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2444); Thu, 4 Jan 2007 07:47:07 -0800 Received: from ptg.org (localhost [127.0.0.1])by ptg.org (8.13.6+Sun/8.13.6) with ESMTP id l04Fheqb003515;Thu, 4 Jan 2007 08:44:04 -0700 (MST) Received: from xmail.utm.edu (xmail.utm.edu [208.47.17.100])by ptg.org (8.13.6+Sun/8.13.6) with ESMTP id l04Fhb3m003510for <pianotech@ptg.org>; Thu, 4 Jan 2007 08:43:38 -0700 (MST) Received: from EXVS1.utm.edu ([10.11.0.76]) by xmail.utm.edu with MicrosoftSMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1830); Thu, 4 Jan 2007 09:43:24 -0600 Replace acoustic pianos with electronic pianos? Not a chance. We purchased 13 keyboards for our piano lab 7 years ago. One of the motherboards died and a replacement cannot be found. $2000 down the drain. When was the last time an acoustic piano motherboard died? An acoustic upright will last for 50 years or more and costs maybe 3 times as much, maybe 4 times? Do the math! And I don't care what anyone says, most students will not continue to do long term practice on a keyboard after playing on an acoustic piano at their lessons. Joy! Elwood Rev. Elwood Doss, Jr., M.M.E., RPT Piano Technician/Technical Director Department of Music 145 Fine Arts Building University of Tennessee at Martin Martin, TN 38238 Office: 731/8811852 Fax: 731/881-7415 -----Original Message----- From: RicB [mailto:ricb@pianostemmer.no] Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 2:32 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: electronics replacing pianos? I think the point is more along the lines of how many people go to see classical concerts period...compared to yesteryear .... compared to other music forms. We have many years left to enjoy the acoustic world of the piano to be sure.... but the writing seems pretty clearly written on the wall IUAM. On the bright side of all this... I got our Jazz club / festival to invest in a brand new Steinway C 6 months ago. Indeed... all is far from lost ! Cheers RicB When was the last time you saw a recital on a EC? How many people would go to hear a full classical concert played on one, -zilch. We are pretty safe guys, just look at all the pianos out there that are still in need of our services!! David Lawson Wangaratta Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: "RicB" <ricb at pianostemmer.no> </BLOCKQUOTE></div> <hr> <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUS/2752??PS=47575" target="_top">Type your favorite song. Get a customized station. Try MSN Radio powered by Pandora.</a> </html>