1. Mass-production of low-grade pianos goes back to the 1800′s. Ask any piano tuner about the hundreds or thousands of “antique” pianos they’ve seen that sound terrible and are completely beyond repair.

2. Unlike a violin, a piano is a machine with 5,000 moving parts, which wear out from use, and can degrade over time because of heat, humidity, neglect, and even just gravity. A 50 year-old washing machine doesn’t work better than a brand-new one!

3. Two of the most important parts of the piano are the soundboard and the pinblock. If these components crack open, or otherwise structurally fail, the piano is absolutely useless. The cost of replacing them is so high that it would make more sense to buy a new piano.

4. Glue. (Compare glue in 1930 made from ingredients like remnants of expired horses, and modern glues that keep tiles on the space shuttle attached in re-entry)

5. Design. Pianos haven’t stopped evolving over time; engineers and designers continue to improve on acoustics, manufacturing quality and consistency, and use of materials (like glue). We hear people saying that Steinway pianos from a mythical “golden age” in the 20′s and 30′s are the best, however, it should be noted that 22 very critical patents from Steinway date since 1950, and 17 of them are after 1975.

6. What are the pros playing? If the older pianos sounded or played better than new ones, colleges of music, concert halls, piano teachers, churches, musicians, and professors wouldn’t buy new pianos, and there would be twenty times as many piano technicians working around the clock keeping the old ones in tune. Actually, the working musicians, performers, and educators all prefer brand-new pianos to old ones; The Conservatory-College of Music to the University in Cincinnati has purchased 164 new pianos from Steinway, the largest single order from any institution. They would have saved millions buying older pianos. Here in San Diego, we recently delivered new grand pianos to USD, SDSU, UCSD, La Jolla Country Day School, the Balboa Theater, and countless serious pianists who demand high performance and are smart with their dollars.

7. Where did this misconception come from? Since some other categories of musical instruments like violins can perform beautifully after one or two centuries, people wrongly assume that pianos will as well. Also, since it can be a very profitable business to buy old pianos, fix them up, and refinish them, it is in a rebuilder’s interest to downplay the quality of a new piano. Finally, it is not unusual for an owner who dearly loves their piano to proudly (and incorrectly) claim that nothing like it could be purchased today. Unfortunately, when a trusted friend or neighbor fall into this category, quite a few parents are poorly advised to find an old piano for their child to practice on!

Written by Ken Schoenwetter

With 128 patents, the Steinway has become the piano that all other manufacturers want to emulate. Vladimir Horowitz always said he could sit at his Steinway, place his fingers on the keys, think about what he wanted to play and the piano would do the rest.

Steinway & Sons three core values are:

• Build to a standard, not a price
• Make no compromise in quality
• Strive to always improve the instrument

Don’t believe me, ask Lang Lang, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, and David Benoit or any one of the thousands of artists that prefer to play only a Steinway.

Written by David Farkas

Yamaha has been building pianos in Japan for 112 years, and continues to make thousands of pianos there each year in Hamamatsu. They also have factories in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Hangzhou, China.

Models built in Japan:
All “U”-series uprights, every model of grand piano except 5′ size

Models built in Jakarta:
GB1K 5′ baby grand, “CN”-series upright and baby grand pianos

Models built in Hangzhou:
“T”, “M”, and “P”-series uprights

Unlike almost any other manufacturer in the world, Yamaha engineers and fabricates their own pianos without relying on suppliers and vendors for parts. The quality control standards (ISO) at each of their facilities are beyond world-class.  ”When it comes to Yamaha pianos, it’s not the country of origin, but the company of origin that counts”.

Please click here to learn more about Yamaha’s fascinating history!  You can call us at (858)586-7000 any time with questions about any model.

Written by Ken Schoenwetter

A: Take a list of six things you’re working on (example: two exercises, two scales, and two songs). Then set a kitchen timer for five minutes, and do six things for five minutes each. The 30 minutes will go by amazingly fast, and you’ll feel like you’ve really accomplished something!

Q: How do I get my kid to practice when THEY don’t want to?

A: First, ban the use of the word “practice” in your house. It’s time to play the piano!
Next, when your child least expects it, sit down and start trying to play their assignment. If you play pretty well, make lots of mistakes. If you don’t play, sit in on a couple of lessons and learn enough to start struggling through their song. A normal kid will take great glee in your poor playing, and can be persuaded to sit down with you and help you out!

Written by Ken Schoenwetter

1. (Most common) The piano is out of tune. At any given time, most pianos, which are designed to be tuned twice a year, haven’t been, and are out of tune. This gives the piano a brighter, harsher, and definitely annoying sound.

2. The piano has been played a lot. Every time the hammer strikes the string, it is compressing the fibers in the felt a small amount. The more a piano is played, the harder the hammers become, and the louder and brighter the initial “attack” sound becomes. We took a piano in trade recently that had been played so much in just six years, the owner had become disgusted with it. A lovely sounding piano had been rendered unplayable. If you love to play your piano, and play it enough, it is going to become brighter.

3. Room acoustics. If the piano is in a room with numerous hard reflective surfaces, like tile, stone, plaster, and glass, this can be a problem. We’ve placed pianos in very elegant homes with a marble floor and a vaulted ceiling where a dropped ping-pong ball sounds like an explosion – and the piano sounds much too loud and bright.

What can be done? Tune and service your piano every six months! If you and your technician agree that the piano is ready, have the hammers voiced. Voicing means reconditioning the hammer by inserting a special needling tool and loosening up the fibers in the felt. If the strings have worn grooves into the hammer, they can be shaved, resurfaced, or refaced as well. (There are also techniques to harden hammers that are too soft or muffled-sounding) A very small percentage of piano owners ever do any voicing whatsoever, so many, many pianos are just becoming brighter and brighter over time. Area rugs, string covers, and acoustic baffles can all improve a piano’s tone in an acoustically harsh room.

So what about Yamaha’s pianos? Yamaha has built the most pianos since the invention of the piano in 1700, having sold about 6.5 million in the last hundred years. Since the odds are in favor that many are either out of tune and neglected, or conversely, well-loved and often-played, it is likely that you’ve played or heard a bright-sounding Yamaha!  You are also likely to find a bright Steinway, Kawai, Bosendorfer…etc. We just returned from one of the world’s largest music industry trade shows, where we sampled pianos from all over the world, and while the factory voicing varied from brand to brand and piano to piano, Yamaha definitely did not stand out as brighter than any others.

- Written By Ken Schoenwetter

2. Middle school and high school students who participated in instrumental music scored significantly higher than those that didn’t in standardized tests. University studies conducted in Georgia and Texas found significant correlations between the number of years of instrumental music instruction and academic achievement in math, science and language arts. (University of Sarasota Study, Jeffrey Lynn Kluball; East Texas State University Study, Daryl Erick Trent)

3. Northwestern University scientists have pulled together a review of research into what music — specifically, learning to play music — does to humans. The result shows music training does far more than entertain us by playing the piano, for example. On top of that, it actually changes our brains.  The paper, published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, is a compilation of research findings from scientists all over the world. According to the Northwestern scientists, the findings strongly indicate learning to play music adds new neural connections — and that primes the brain for other forms of human communication. The bottom line to all these studies: musical training has a profound impact on other skills including speech and language, memory and attention, and even the ability to convey emotions vocally. (NaturalNews)

4. Researchers also found that musicians are better than non-musicians in learning to incorporate sound patterns for a new language into words. Their brains also appear to be primed to comprehend speech in a noisy background. Moreover, children with learning disabilities, who often have a hard time focusing when there’s a lot of background noise, may be especially helped by music lessons. Music training (like piano playing) strengthens the same neural processes that often are deficient in those with developmental dyslexia or those who have difficulty hearing speech in noise.

5. Children who have had music lessons tend to have a larger vocabulary and better reading ability than youngsters who haven’t had any musical training. The Northwestern researchers concluded their findings making a case for including music in school curriculums: “The effect of music training suggests that, akin to physical exercise and its impact on body fitness, music is a resource that tones the brain for auditory fitness and thus requires society to re-examine the role of music in shaping individual development.”

6. Besides the joy piano playing brings, there is a strong link between playing the piano and the development of skills needed to be successful in life. Some of the benefits of playing the piano include developing strong discipline skills, patience, coordination, and dedication as well as an increased ability to memorize. According to a Michigan State University research project, piano-playing Americans reported that piano lessons significantly reduced their incidence of depression and anxiety.

7. Piano players also noted a marked decrease in loneliness.

8. Science says there are good medical reasons to play a musical instrument. It can reverse stress at the molecular level. (Studies conducted by Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Applied Biosystems; Medical Science Monitor)

9. Making music can help reduce job burnout and improve your mood, according to a study exposing long-term care workers to recreational music-making sessions of group drumming and keyboard accompaniment. (Advances in Mind-Body Medicine)

10. Playing music increases human growth hormone (HgH production among active older Americans. Findings of a study revealed that the test group who took group keyboard lessons showed significantly higher levels of HgH than the control group people who did not play. (University of Miami)

Written by Ken Schoenwetter