<!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 6.00.2900.2668" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV> <FONT face=Arial size=2>All the = comments I've seen have been very interesting perspectives!  I've been looking = for actual sources for the number of pianos currently produced and from 100 years = ago, as well as sources of estimates for how many people are studying piano now = versus 100 years ago.  The number may very well be more today than a = century ago.  I checked the U.S. Census website and it listed the U.S. = population in 1900 to be 76 million people, and in 1999 to be 272 million.  = I'd be interested to know what percentage of the population then and now study = or have studied piano.  If anyone knows of any sources of such = numbers, I'd very much like to know. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Just for the record, I'm not trying to = be Chicken Little and propose alarm.  My business, like those others who = commented, is doing just fine.  I know many piano teachers who are very busy indeed.  Still, I notice that many of my customers are parents of = children taking lessons, and I think many feel the need to have their children = take lessons because that is the thing you're supposed to do.  Perhaps = future generations of parents will continue to feel this way, or perhaps the = convention wisdom, or 'just because that's what you're supposed to do' will be = questioned and things may change.  I don't venture to guess or suggest what = will happen.</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></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Colin McCullough</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <DIV><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080 size=1>please visit the = McCullough Tuning Tutorial, a free online resource for learning how a piano is = tuned.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.Blackstone.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm"><FONT face=Verdana color=#000080 size=1>www.Blackstone.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm</FONT></A></DIV></FONT>= </DIV><PRE><FONT face=Arial size=2><A = href="http://www.BlackstonePiano.com"></A></FONT> </PRE></BODY></H= TML>