News: Piano sales dropping. Today's generation learns instrument in new way

ShiroKuro · 2025-10-05T14:23:25+00:00

Sharing this here not only so everyone else can see it, but also so I can come back and watch it, because I haven't yet! 😅 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pia...

pseudonym58

Of course, there are digital pianos that cost many thousands of dollars, as well as very cheap models, essentially toys, for as little as $200. The sales figure mentioned on NPR - does that include everything in that entire range?
An acoustic piano, even an inexpensive one, is an expensive item to maintain. Most people would rather not or cannot pay the expense, especially when they reasonably figure that if little Bobby or Sally wants to continue playing the piano and progresses substantially, then perhaps an acoustic piano is in the future at some point.

(Forgive me if this has all been discussed here, I did not read every post)

TC3

keystring I get what you're saying. Even that NPR article a few posts up does that, talking about pianos as "members of the family" and how home life centered on them. That's not just numbers of pianos, sales, etc., it's a bit of poetic nostalgia that leans into something almost like moralising at times. I grew up being aware of plenty of homes with pianos (and organs too) that just sat there dusty and ignored ...

keystring

First, I want to thank everyone who responded to my somewhat side topic. Jane - I had thought to write a 2nd post asking what other people's experiences were so it wasn't just mine, and you read my mind. I also made an assumption that where the article said "America", that in these respects Canada and the US might have been similar enough that my experience might count, but wasn't sure. You were born a decade before me, and I don't know if that decade made a difference. Clearly you did grow up in that scenario, and I'm happy for you that you did. I wonder if it was more prevalent in some locations than others, so we have both time and location. @pianoloverus there's a post of yours which now shows as "deleted" that I read before and wanted to thank you for it and respond - if I can read it, maybe everyone can? I'd like to thank you for "hearing" me in that post. @rogerch - you lived in a piano-rich environment.

TC3 hat's not just numbers of pianos, sales, etc., it's a bit of poetic nostalgia that leans into something almost like moralising at times. I grew up being aware of plenty of homes with pianos (and organs too) that just sat there dusty and ignored ...

You've identified the thing that I reacted to. Usually I only post when I can be rational and logical, and that day I let emotion govern my post. It was cumulative over the years of reading about the good old days, even though this article hardly did that and was mostly statistics, that seems to have been my tipping point. 😃

The thing that bugs me immensely - and it is beyond the scope of this article or this topic - is the musical illiteracy many of us ended up in. I am one of many. I was interested in music from the youngest age, and played anything I could get my hands on. When my parents took me along visiting friends, one family had an accordion, and they simply put me in a room with that accordion and ... instant babysitter. We did not learn to read music in school though somewhere someone said that the last sharp points to Do, the last flat points to Fa - that was my reference for decades. I think it's a bit better ~~than~~ now. I was unfathomably furious when I discovered how easy the pattern of key signatures were. That's me and millions of people. There was nowhere to get information and learn. Now there is, and for that I am immensely glad. It's a thing I feel strongly about. _And also, this is totally outside of the topic and the article: I should not have brought it up. _ 🙂

I appreciate everything that has been written.

Player1

ShiroKuro

I think it's a shame that people don't gather to play music together. (Or get together for much of anything else except to drink beer and scream at the TV over some sports game).

I'd like to see more mom & pop coffee shops/bistros have music nights. I imagine that unpaid musicians strutting their stuff and musical talents for the (mostly uninterested) patrons would be a good thing for the business because it would bring in more business. Or it should.

As for electronic pianos outselling traditional strings, the new stuff is lighter, smaller, and never needs tuning. They doesn't sound nearly as good, but most people haven't ever heard a concert grand in full-throated splendor so they wouldn't know.

As for venues, try the local lodges. Many of them have small spaces for membership events and might be willing to host events for outsiders for a small fee or even, hopefully, free. These are usually adult spaces so kid events might not go over with the general membership but many have youth organizations that could be approached.

pseudonym58

Player1 First phonograph records, then radio, CDs, then finally frictionless streaming of a virtually infinite amount of music - especially for individual listening through headsets. Except for live venues, the vast majority of people don't even listen to music together anymore, let alone play together.

ShiroKuro

pseudonym58 the vast majority of people don't even listen to music

And I would say that the vast majority of people listening to music on their headphones aren't really even listening at all. It's just in the background, and their focus is elsewhere.

🙁

pianoloverus

Exactly how much does one have to be focusing on music to be considered
"listening"? I think there's no accepted criteria.

ShiroKuro

pianoloverus Exactly how much does one have to be focusing on music to be considered
"listening"? I think there's no accepted criteria.

We could sit here and try to hash out criteria, but that would be missing the point.

The way people listen to music has absolutely changed, and it would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

That article that @pseudonym58 linked isn’t about classical music but it does get at some of the issues. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.

Still, that’s not entirely what I’m talking about. I interact with university students in their 20s all day long, and I have the impression that for many of them, music has lost that “specialness,” it’s ubiquitous and less something to devote one’s entire attention to, and more something they need in the background, little more than a white noise machine without which they can’t focus on other things. Particularly studying. Most of my students say they can’t study without music. I on the other hand, cannot work with music playing because my attention goes to the music.

Jane

Surprise! Stu still likes acoustics.

hebele

Jane I like Stu. I think he wasn't really hiding that he likes acoustics. In one of this videos (that he recorded in his home), he said he has a beautiful acoustic he loves, but cannot get to play it much. On the other hand, he spends much more time with his digital.

Back on topic, I believe piano has never been an easily accessible instrument in most of the world. I grew up in a "developing country". Never seen a single piano in any home. I still don't know single family from there that has piano. There were a few guitarists, and a few people practising traditional instruments (with plucked strings). But that is pretty much it for instruments. Recently I was talking with some family members. I said I might move back to the country for retirement but I would need a house with enough space for a piano. They were surprised. No-one in the town has a piano! I think the idea sounds a bit ridiculous to them.

I am glad that the digitals are making it more accessible.

TLH21

hebele I said I might move back to the country for retirement but I would need a house with enough space for a piano. They were surprised. No-one in the town has a piano!

Have you learned how to tune it yourself? (Just interested - it is one of the things that prevents me living in a more remote location than at present.)

pseudonym58

And this:
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/10/headphones-listening-music/684712/?gift=zS0fA7Gay13wnHcwAyBkFkWCGobpM1R7QkSLeqzLxcg

pianoloverus

ShiroKuro IMO most of this is just speculation on your part. Just because music is so much easier to listen to these days doesn't mean when students listened to music 20 or 30 years ago they were paying closer attention to it. It could simply mean that many students love music and listen to it more these days because it's so much easier to do that so they simply get in the habit of doing a lot more. I think students students have been listening to music while studying for many, many decades.

ShiroKuro

pianoloverus how many 20 year olds do you know and interact with regularly?

pianoloverus

ShiroKuro I taught high school for almost four decades and then tutored privately and at Stuyvesant for about eight years after that.

ShiroKuro

pianoloverus when did you retire?

pianoloverus

ShiroKuro You seem to think you're more qualified than me to understand the listening habits of young people. Yet I may have more experience teaching them than you. No more questions please.

sweelinck

keystring
Once pianos were well established, they became fixtures in homes of those who could afford one up until the advent of radio and the victrola, after which there was a decline. Prior to the advent of radio and of the victrola, if you wanted music in your home, you had to make it.

hebele

TLH21 No, I can't tune anything. Maybe I can pick up tuning to an acceptable level (to me that would have a low bar). But even if I can tune, I cannot do any other maintenance on an acoustic 🙁 . So my retirement needs lots of planning. Fortunately I have a couple of decades.

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