<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2180" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I can't speak for our neck of the woods = ( S. Florida). All of our piano teachers are carrying full loads = plus huge waiting lists for any future openings.   Piano lessons = are going strong and parents are most enthusiastic of the benefits pianos = lessons provide. In addition I'm seeing a lot of the high school students going = to the symphony concerts as dates instead of the parting down the = block.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tom Servinsky</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=blackstonepiano@att.net href="mailto:blackstonepiano@att.net">Blackstone Piano</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, July 19, 2005 = 7:02 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> the future of piano = study</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm curious to know what other piano = tuners think about the future of piano study.  I can only guess that the = number of children who studied piano 100 years ago versus today is staggering.  I've seen some figures on the decline of piano sales = as each decade passes, and that is a telling indicator.  = </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm not a cynic by nature, and I am = not overly concerned about the end of our profession coming too soon.  = Still, I do think about it and wonder if other piano tuners are concerned.  = Will the number of piano students continue to decline, or slow to a steady = number of new students each year?  Is it possible in this day of sports, = video games, TV, the Internet, and a million other activities, to reverse = this trend?  What would it take to make this happen?  Should/what should we as piano tuners be doing more to try = and reverse this trend?  I came across an interesting speech from = Brian Chung, the senior vice president and general manager of Kawai America Corporation: <A = href="http://www.pianonet.com/articles/artofwar.htm">http://www.pianone= t.com/articles/artofwar.htm</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm just curious what other people = think about this.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Colin McCullough</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080 size=2>please visit the = McCullough Tuning Tutorial, a free online resource for learning how a piano is tuned.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><A href=""><FONT face=Verdana = color=#000080>www.blackstonepiano.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm</FONT></A><= /DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial = size=2><BR></FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>