Death of the piano?

I read a disturbing story on Facebook this past week that piano sales have plummeted and stores across the country are closing at an alarming rate.

This disturbs me.  It disturbs me greatly.

First, I've noticed that our society now is "GIMME, GIMME, GIMME...I want it NOW!" Learning to play the piano takes TIME.  And it also takes PATIENCE.  It takes HOURS and HOURS of practice. That simply won't cut it in today's society.  Kids today want EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW.  I had a student tell me one day, "I WANT my iPad NOW!"  So, I replied, "I want YOU to sit down and be quiet!"  He didn't get his iPad that day.

It took me nearly 12 years to master playing the piano.  I began lessons at age 6.  I went off to college as a piano performance major.  Unfortunately, so did 3 other girls in my dorm and frankly, there wasn't room for ALL of us.  My mother wanted me to be a concert pianist, like one of my great-grandmothers.  I never achieved that goal.  Instead of focusing on my music studies, I took my liberal arts courses and fell in love with (1) political science and (2) my husband.   :-)  I did give piano lessons for several years to give myself an income, but those quickly faded away.  I never gave enough lessons to pay the rent on the piano we had in our first apartment!   :-(

But, I've nearly always had a piano in our home.  I have one here today.  And, even so often I sit down and go through my piano music.  I notice that the fingers aren't as quick as they once were and I do stumble around a bit, but muscle memory is an incredible thing!

Second, learning to play the piano is a great way to branch off toward other instruments.  When you play piano, you have to read both clefs.  I also had to learn to do many things with my left hand.  I brushed my teeth with my left hand.  I combed my hair with my left hand.  I TRIED to iron with my left hand.  But, I notice now, that I can do a lot of things with both hands (not just my right.)  I cannot write legibly with my left, but, if I'm in a hurry, I CAN scribble something on the white board at school.

Third, I did branch off toward two other instruments:  the violin and clarinet.  My mother played the violin in college and was first chair.  She NEVER let me forget that.  So, I learned to play the violin.  I didn't play well...in fact, she would cover her ears and run from the room!  But, I did learn.  And, in high school, I played the guitar.  I also taught myself to play the clarinet, using my cousin's old clarinet.  I so wanted to be in marching band with my boyfriend, at that time!  One cannot be in marching band while playing a piano!  NO WAY!  I never qualified enough to make it into band, much to the smirk on my orchestra director's face.  HE wanted me to play piano and I was the solo pianist at my high school for two years.  What's really ironic is that when our daughter was performing and being judged in high school, she played before Mr. Reinecke!  He evaluated her (of course SHE got outstanding marks) and I introduced her to him and reminded him of our previous connection AFTER the judging was over!  I actually ran into him several times after that.  I hope he was proud of me and my daughter.  He was an outstanding musician (a violinist) and had absolutely perfect pitch.  Boy, if I played a wrong note, one glance from him was enough for me!

Fourth, being a pianist also made me an incredibly fast typist!  I'm also extremely kinesthetic.  You can tell me how to do something, but until I do it with my hands, FORGET IT!  Gardner wrote about kinesthetic intelligence and you can read about it here:  http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_5.htm

And, here it says:  "gardener" and "farmer".  Yup.  That's ME!   :-)  http://www.mypersonality.info/multiple-intelligences/bodily-kinesthetic/

So, it saddens me to hear this about my beloved instrument.  I can at least say that in my family, our daughter has my aunt's old upright and GUESS WHO (21 months) loves to explore that piano!  I'll try to find some photos to post.  I might have some of her playing with it on my iPad and I'll have to figure out how to get them over here.