I'm getting ready to sell my home and had the realtor's house cleaner over to clean before my open house. She raved about my piano and said that in over 15 years of cleaning houses, she has never seen a piano in any of the homes she has cleaned. So sad...

In more wealthy circles having a grand piano in the home is a must-have for decor. Maybe the kids will give it a try, too, but that's just an added bonus.

I think that idea has come and go. This lady cleans for some very wealthy folks. I work with some affluent scientists, none of whom own a piano. The idea that piano lessons are a must for a well rounded education seems to be held with the Asian families around here though. One of my Indian colleagues even had his deaf daughter take lessons for a few years.

Interesting....there are still a lot of homes around here with pianos in them. Be they old locally made uprights, older consoles, or something more extravagant.

I know at least three families with older pianos that their kids are or did learn on. And the wealthy family I work for have a beaufiful grand, even though no one in the family plays. I guess they fall into the "must have for decor" category. Although theirs is a player, so they use it when entertaining. The previous owners of our home had a player grand in it, too.

My mom at one point had her own upright and their church's baby grand both in her living room at once.

From the title of the thread, I thought someone had stolen your piano...

Glad to hear it is still there.

Rick

What a thought! I suspect no one would challenge people taking a piano out of a home. Wouldn't occur to them that it was a theft. It could happen....

Also in Jewish and Italian communities like in Boca where I teach.

The super rich aside, I think today's affluent families' biggest spend for their homes is the home theater. I don't mean the $500 all-in-one home theater kit from a big box store. I mean these are often, though not necessarily, a dedicated threater room with an 80 - 100" screen, and speakers and gear that's easily cost somewhere in the high 5 figures. These home theater rooms also double for video gaming. This has replaced the piano as the central focus for home entertainment. For most of my co-workers, the piano is not part of their consciousness as being part of their homes.

The personal computers, tablets and smartphones we now use 24 hours a day also contribute to take the focus away from playing musical instruments. People are more interested in watching every episode of Breaking Bad or some such thing until they fall into a coma than learning music.

The RPT (piano tech) in my area tells me that not many of his clients own grand pianos in his service area, with the exception of a few churches and community colleges. He said you have to get closer to the Atlanta or Macon area before you find many grand pianos in homes.

I felt really blessed when he told me this, to know that I have a wonderful, brand-name semi-concert grand piano in my home. I just wish I could actually play it...

Rick

I think it would be interesting to know the total number of acoustic pianos plus digitals/hybrids purchased in 2012 compared to 2002, 1992, etc. While the total number of acoustics bought has certainly decreased I think it's possible that if one includes digitals the total is not that much lower than previous decades.

Any dealers or industry professionals know these figures?

http://www.musictrades.com/census.html

http://www.bluebookofpianos.com/uspiano.htm

Proud digital piano owner. Who wants to play piano at home anyways? Better to play it on the stage!

Well if you watch sitcoms, it seems
that every house in the US has a
piano in the living room.

Watch HGTV's Selling New York and Selling LA, or flip through an upscale interior decoration mag. Most pricy condos and apartments feature the iconic grand piano as status symbol (even if no one ever plays it). I was raised in a modest bungalow where every penny counted, but my parents somehow managed to buy a brand new walnut console piano when I was 10.

My folks are in their late 80s now, but that little piano still sits in their living room. Without it, I probably wouldn't have turned out to be the music lover I am today ♪ ♪ ♪

And it's a damned shame. TV is passive entertainment. Playing a musical instrument is a hundred times more engaging, and ultimately far more satisfying. I know I'm preaching to the choir.

I think a home theater would be great. A big, shiny, concert grand opening to comfortable seats. Oh wait, that's a recital hall. Let's see if we can make it become 'all the rage!'

If not, a nice console or studio will do just fine. Every home should have one.

What about that story about the Kawai Concert Grand stolen from a fancy apartment in Manhattan by someone who had leased the Apartment?? Was just recently on Pianist's Corner I think. It fortunately was recovered.

I believe that the number of pianos in homes varies by community. Here it is pretty normal.

If the house cleaner works mainly with the realtor, her sample may be biased toward more mobile families who would probably be less likely to have a piano.

When I was growing up in a small town in the South in the 50s and 60s, almost everyone had at least an old untuned upright in the living room, and little girls all had to suffer through at least a couple of years of lessons until the parents realized they had no talent. Of my closest 3 or 4 friends, all have pianos; my two grown daughters have pianos. So maybe all is not lost quite yet.

However, it does seem that affordable new homes do not have a good place to put a piano (just as they did not have a good place to put a TV in the late 40s and early 50s).

I agree with so many here. Growing up in the 50's and 60's, it seemed like all our friends and family had a piano. Maybe most were the ubiquitous Wurlitzer spinet or Acrosonic spinet or console (hardly anyone with a grand!).
Now, everyone seems to have the "big screen". Well, we have the 2 "big pianos", a console and a 24" inch HDTV. That is plenty for us. LOL

BTW, Rick, you CAN play the piano. Your videos prove it!

"...He said you have to get closer to the Atlanta or Macon area before you find many grand pianos in homes..."

So that was my problem--- we lived too far from Atlanta, and even Macon. There were quite a few uprights in homes when I was a sprout, but only one grand (the choir director's). No, not even my piano teacher.

In my immediate family, three-quarters have and play a musical instrument, be it a piano or a collection of nice guitars (some have both) or other wind and string instruments. Most of them sing, too.

Dr. Mendel's lottery has rolled out other gifts for the other one-quarter.

I couldn't estimate the trendline of relative abundance of pianos in households with cleaning ladies, past and present, but I do know that there are some people that you just can't keep them from getting their hands on a piano. To them, it matters little whether it is expensive enough to count as a status symbol--- they've gotta play.

People--- I couldn't count anymore--- come into my living room and, seeing the grand piano, ask, "Oh--- do you play?" Maybe they are trying to gain entree into my home, for a cleaning lady.

In many ways, Utah is not entirely unlike the rest of the US in the 50s and 60s.

I noticed the OP was from Maryland. Should be lots of pianos up there. We went up there November 2011 to pick up 50 + pianos from one retiring rebuilder.

I can tell you this through documentation, the cities with the most pianos per population are Washington DC , Westminister VA, Nashville TN and Los Angeles CA.

Nashville is actually pretty small population wise as in about 700 thousand but my numbers say more than 1/3 of the populus have pianos and that number may be closer to 50%. I've gone to some homes and seen as many as 8 pianos in one house but they were recording artists. 8 Pianos and an empty fridge.

Compare that to a city of the same size like Jacksonville Fl, similar population numbers and not much piano interest there but they have the Beach and Palm trees for distraction.

A recent TV news feature stated that piano sales are down in the United States, but up in the rest of the world.
No idea what their source was.

Gee, thanks, Rick! (Nice name, by-the-way )

I suppose I can play a little, but I've only scratched the surface, so to speak... I have my own style of playing that is somewhat unique, I suppose.

What is amazing to me is how much enjoyment I get from my pianos. It's certainly a great stress reliever, as well as good medicine to help any and all conditions, mental and physical. (Keeps me away from drugs and alcohol too )

I just wish more people realized how much fun and enjoyment a piano can be...

Rick