Musings

This link will be my opinions and thoughts about pianos and music and information I would like to share with fellow pianophiles. It will change whenever new insights come to my attention.

Recently I read an article by Laurence Libin, Emeritus Research Curator of Musical instruments of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His article, Education through Conservation, impressed me with several observations. First, that a communication gap exists between piano technicians and piano teachers along with their students. Students, not to mention their teachers, ought to know how pianos work, at least in general terms, if the piano is to receive proper care. For a student to be able to identify a problem and bring it to a technicians attention is a big step toward ensuring a pianos health and enhancing the players sensitivity to the instrument.

Second, we need to differentiate instruments from tools. Most piano players perceive modern pianos as virtually all alike, and therefore disposable, like tools. The primary function of tools is to move objects in space. Instruments, on the other hand, whether musical or scientific, have a different function. Instruments construct information, knowledge, and insight. Telescopes extend our vision into outer space. Musical instruments allow us to probe inner space, the universe of mood, feeling, emotions, and then to express the results of our discoveries in ways that words alone can't adequately convey.