Then the piano migrated to our home. Our two sons took lessons on it, too. When tuners would visit, they would end their work by playing a little Chopin or Bach, no doubt a calculated reminder of what a glorious musical instrument it is — a fact not well revealed by an 8-year-old begrudgingly learning C and A minor chords (or an 80-year-old visitor still singing “Sweet Betsy From Pike”). Once again, neither child became a piano player.
Now it is 2017, the boys are off to college, and my wife and I are moving, so it is time to say goodbye to this too-silent, 400-pound friend. Emotionally, it was a tough decision, but we figured that finding a new home for a vintage Steinway would be easy and provide some solace. How wrong we were. This past summer we joined the legions of Americans singing the old piano blues.
For much of the 20th century, most every self-respecting home in America had a piano. It was the home entertainment system long before the era of electronics; families would play and sing together, or listen to their children’s recitals. The peak year for piano sales was 1909, when Americans bought 364,500 new models. Sales stayed high until the Depression and World War II years, but once the late ’40s arrived, piano sales grew strong and steady again for the next 30 years.
Then a slow, downward sales arpeggio started. In the late 1970s, “baby boomers began to stop buying new pianos,” says Larry Fine, publisher of Acoustic & Digital Piano Buyer. “Every year, a sales decline. People are doing other things.” In 2016, sales of new acoustic pianos hit a low note of 30,000 units.
And as more families like ours downsize or move, used pianos have flooded the market. We discovered that no one wanted our Steinway — for any price, including free. We started with music stores that advertised “top dollar” for used pianos. After sending photos and details, we received only declines; one came with a form letter that rang with bitterness. “Pianos often have a substantial amount of emotional value to their owners, so it can be difficult to accept that many pianos do not have meaningful value on the open market,” it told us. Reasons include a “tremendous oversupply” of pianos, less interest in them as a home furnishing, and the availability of “inexpensive, realistic” digital pianos.
Source: AARP Money
Piano History and Piano Removal, Reminiscing on a Steinway
