A Three-Year-Old Reminds Me Why We Love Pianos

One day, a young mother and her toddler son came in to look at pianos. The mother told me that her son was three, but had started lessons and was very enthusiastic. Having seen many proud parents, and observing that the tiny child was indeed very young, I was a bit skeptical about his level of enthusiasm—until he started examining with great care all the vertical pianos on the floor.

What’s in a Name?

Dean Hathaway, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Towson State College, called to make an appointment to play our Yamaha CF concert grand. A few years earlier, we had rebuilt his Mason & Hamlin A. Now, for duet work, he was interested in adding a concert grand to his home studio. This was in 1974, and Yamaha pianos, imported only since 1960, were gaining in reputation, but were not yet accepted as fine instruments nearly as widely as they are today.

Three Sales Stories

Story 1.

In 1976, early in my career, I was working as a piano rebuilder and also in sales, at Owen Piano on Washington Blvd., a dicey neighborhood in Los Angeles. I was tuning a rebuilt Chickering when two men walked through the door, one in short shorts with long, greasy, scraggly hair, looking like he hadn’t showered in weeks, and the other in a tank top and Levi’s. They approached me and asked to see Steinway pianos. I asked if either of them played, and was told “a little bit.” When I asked what size, they said, “The bigger, the better.”