<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=us-ascii"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2668" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080></FONT> </DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px = solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left> <HR tabIndex=-1> <FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Blackstone Piano<BR><B>Sent:</B> July 21, 2005 3:25 PM<BR><B>To:</B> pianotech@ptg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> re: the future of piano study<BR></FONT><BR></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <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="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080><SPAN class=062420904-22072005> </SPAN></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080><SPAN class=062420904-22072005>I have no idea how many people were actually = studying the piano, but from about 1910 to 1920 approximately 300,000 = pianos (mostly uprights) were being built and sold each year.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080><SPAN class=062420904-22072005></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080><SPAN class=062420904-22072005>Del</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>