<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> Since pianos are in the durable goods category, I wonder what sort of an indicator new piano sales is. I would think that market saturation is at least a factor in declining sales because, for example, I see a lot of old pianos being handed down, sold or given away.<br> <br> I'm not so concerned about an end of our profession, at least as long as my calendar continues to fill with appointments. But I do some small things here and there to encourage people to study music, such as:<br> <br>     • encourage parents to get a piano teacher for their child (ren) and provide them with a list of teachers if they're interested.<br>     • help them get a better teacher if I find out they don't like their present teacher.<br>     • recommend repairs or adjustments to make the instrument play and sound better if there are problems with the piano.<br>     • talk to parents about the Irvine study which demonstrated how music education is integral to a good education.<br>     • join the MTA and give talks to piano teachers about how they can record their students, make CDs, etc., to encourage students to practice and make lessons more exciting. I've given talks on other subjects, if for no other reason than to bridge the gap between teachers and technicians.<br>     • tune, regulate, voice, repair, rebuild, consult on purchasing...  in short, do what I can to support people, young and old, in their enjoyment of piano. <br> <br> Tom Cole<br> <br> Blackstone Piano wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid002c01c58cb5$ef5b1460$1900a8c0@colin"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; "> <meta content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2668" name="GENERATOR"> <style></style> <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> </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.pianonet.com/articles/artofwar.htm</a></font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">I'm just curious what other people think about this.</font></div> <div> </div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Thanks,</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Colin McCullough</font></div> <div> </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>