One reason today's piano quality is deteriorating is the world is
lacking in musical education.  The second reason is the cost of
manufacturing a good piano is beyond the means of an average buyer.

Listen to today's popular music and we find that it is loud, louder and
deafening!  Where are soft and delicate passages and slow crescendos?
In most cases they are missing.  Words are mumbled, singers sing
out-of-tune and diction is lacking, it's forced through monumental
electrical amplification and distortion loud enough to cause permanent
hearing loss -- this is where we are today.

Piano manufacturers know that a good percentage of the worlds
population is musically illiterate.  Therefore why go to the expense
to manufacture a piano of quality if the average buyer cannot tell the
difference and only wants something "brand new" and impressive?  How
many people equate the words "brand new" with quality?"  Clever
advertising wants us to believe it.

How many homes have a "nice looking spinet piano" that has not been
tuned since it's manufacture, and the owner does not know it is out of
tune or has harsh tone?  Shocking as it may be, these are the majority.
(Forty five years of experience taught me this.)

Solenoid pianos are made for entertainment, and those I have heard
are lacking in subtle nuances needed for serious music.  I prefer a
well-tuned and adjusted old-style reproducing piano made in the era
when workers took pride in their work.

We perfectionists and owners of quality pianos and reproducing pianos
tend to forget we are a minority -- we are considered quirky and
eccentric.  All of us need to do our best to educate others and help
them enjoy good music played our quality pianos.  We need better music
education in our schools for the future generations.

I will always be thankful for the musical background I received in
school.  We had a choice: Study hall or a field trip downtown to the
Eastman School of music to attend a recital.  What young person would
prefer a study hall?  The psychology worked and the rewards over the
years have been infinite.

Bruce Clark