<HTML>In a message dated 5/7/03 11:43:47 PM Central Daylight= Time, JackHouweling@dccnet.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Hello   Our church bought a Steinway= B which is a very nice piano. Now people are complaining that it is to loud= . We have a congregation of 300 people, a big pipe organ and people complain= the piano is overpowering. The piano is on a tile stage and they keep the l= id  closed while playing. Do you have any suggestions that I can tell t= hem to help control the volume of the piano? (does having an open or closed = lid make a difference in the  sound quality?)   Thanks Jack </BLOCKQUOTE> I presume that the piano is being played during congregational signing, and = not just when the choir is singing. It might very well be that the piano is being played at the right volume, bu= t that the congregation has never heard a piano before. They might be used t= o hearing the organ played softly, and maybe the other piano was soft too, s= o they don't sing very loud.  Before doing anything drastic, ask the piano player to play a little softer,= but then over the next couple of months, increase the volume a little. The = congregation might have to learn to sign a little louder. Wim </HTML>