Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum This coming Sunday - 3 pm - a really cool event

Hey all,

Just in case anyone will be in the Philly area this coming Sunday afternoon, we are hosting a very cool recital/lecture based on the Centennial pianos made by Steinway during the 1870's.

The afternoon will illustrate the technical steps forward (and backward) through the Centennial models into the modern Steinway D - and hear some beautiful music written during the period. If anyone finds themselves in Philly this coming Sunday, consider this an invitation to stop in and join us!

Best wishes on your event this Sunday, Rich.
I don't live anywhere close to Philadelphia but I would love to attend if I was in the vicinity.

I would love to come! Unfortunately am in the wrong continent.

If this is the same piano that I heard at the recent salon at Cunningham, it is fabulous! Not only does it sound magnificent, it is amazing--and a real treat--to see such a gorgeous piano brought back to spectacular life.

A stellar achievement in every way!

Thanks Dara. I am sure I would enjoy having you there. Perhaps one day.



I think you might be on the "right" continent David, but maybe we could meet one day at Peregrine Pianos in London. Those ladies are beautiful AND talented.



Thank you RPA. I love it when you attend our events. RPA and her husband are very bright people who are a pleasure to be around.

This piano being used was completed just a few weeks ago. I think you have heard a Centennial here before and, maybe the 1860 Steinway last summer, but this is the first time this piano has been played for an audience.

I am looking forward to it. Thanks for the kind words all!

Hello Rich-

Too bad it isn't on Saturday! Regardless, I know that your event will be successful and beyond informative. If I weren't working Monday, I would make the trip down from New York.

All the best,

Wish I had noticed this earlier! I think I'd have tried to make it. My wife and I enjoy a Sunday drive, and Philly is not that far (if traffic is light).
One of these days I'm going to visit. :-)

Rich,
I too would have loved to have attended your event. Unfortunately there's an ocean (and a bit) between us. Perhaps one day. Hope everything goes well.

Attention Rickster: How can the thread: "Baldwin BP190 = Impressive... Kudos to Baldwin" be a self promotion and this one not? I don't visit PW very much anymore as there is bias for sure, but come-on really? Rich Galassini promotes his business here all the time and his threads are never removed.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad idea, and I'm always intrigued by his Rich's posts and knowledge, but I don't think you or other Moderators are being objective in what's promotion or not. Since it's only guess work and very subjective, why don't you have a separate forum, i.e., "Promote Your Pianos"?

Someone sharing an opinion on a piano brand is "not" self promotion. Besides, as a reader and consumer, I want to hear the opinions, even if it's from a dealer. If there is full disclosure, as the thread you closed had, then why can't we make up our own minds whether it's self promotion or not? Really? Do you really have to moderate this site in the direction you're going?

Just a thought.

This thread is an open invitation to a recital on an historic instrument. Nothing is being offered for sale. It is totally different than the other thread.

For what it's worth, I wasn't bothered by the post about the new Baldwin piano from Utrumpet, a Baldwin dealer.

The poster was letting everyone know that Baldwin has a new piano out, and he thinks it's great. So what? I'm a big girl and could go play one and decide for myself, couldn't I? It's not like he had any chance of brainwashing me with his post.

Dealers here on PW often talk about how good they think the pianos they sell are. The difference is that it's usually in the middle of a thread about something else, or something loosely related. They don't attract attention by starting a new thread about it.

Although....Rich G. did start a thread recently asking for feedback on his website devoted to his new pianos.... If he isn't trying to sell those pianos, then I'm a monkey's uncle. But he was more subtle than the Baldwin dealer. So nobody scolded him.

If Utrumpet had talked deals, prices, trade-ins, or his business hours in his post I might have been bothered. But as it was, I would have let him slide and not locked his thread.

As for the Google effect, I'm not convinced it applies to pianos. I don't think a lot of piano buyers search Google and then run out to buy the brand that comes up first or most. It's not like buying a food processor, after all.

Just my $.02.

Rich, I'm sorry I'm not in Philly for your (marketing) event this afternoon. It sounds lovely and educational. Seriously.

When dealers self promote in the middle of a thread it's even more inappropriate since it often has little to do with the thread.

Some dealers regularly help by answering questions or making comments that are not at all self promotional(except that they are seen as nice guys)and only extremely occasionally self promote. Other dealers make many posts and the overwhelming percent of them are self promotional.

Serious? "Cunningham just finished restoration on a Centennial 123" come see it!! is not promotion? Are you sleeping under a rock?

Is the rock for sale?

Is the piano for sale?

Is there an admission?

Oh, and they're even giving the audience food treats.

To a marketing professional's eye, the fact that it's a free event with free refreshments (food supplier named and promoted, btw) makes it really, really clear that it's a marketing event.

It's a classic marketing format:

Bring the prospective customers in with educational content that you know they're interested in. Offer them a pleasant setting with free food and a chance to socialize with like-minded peers. Let them get acquainted with you and the things you sell. Get their contact info. Follow up with them later, e.g. invite them to your next event or mail them some product info. When they're ready to shop for a product like yours, they'll probably visit you. Because they think they know you.

It doesn't seem like promotion because it's subtle. But it's standard marketing procedure. I've done it with IP network routers, for heaven's sake. Yes, wine and cheese with routers. I kid you not.

Rich sells pianos. He doesn't run Cunningham University, with a mission to educate the public about things that aren't for sale.

In intent, his initial post starting this thread was no different from Utrumpet's post. Rich's just has more sophistication.

That said, I would have attended Rich's event were I within striking distance. It sounds like a nice afternoon.

We're just suckers for free stuff so advertising hidden intelligently behind free stuff is always welcome
Unfortunately Philly is a bit out of the way for me.
Would love to be there though.

Just by way of past experience, I recently attended a concert at Cunningham Piano (not the one today, alas). The glorious Steinway Centennial piano that was being showcased at the concert I attended was not for sale. It had been restored for an owner who had no intention of ever parting with it.

I think that the practice of some of the dealers who post here of holding concerts so that piano aficionados can attend them and so that young people (and not so young) can play in them is wonderful and a real service to the community. I have been to several concerts sponsored by Cunningham, and NONE of them has involved sales patter, sales talk, or any kind of overt sales activity at all. If someone who attends wants to draw the conclusion that Rich is a true piano enthusiast and an incredible person, they are free to do so. This conclusion would be correct. If the fact that Rich is enthusiastic and knowledgeable leads to future piano purchases, it seems to me entirely legitimate. Incidentally, Rich is zealous in inviting those who have no potential for future piano purchases to these concerts--people like me, who have already bought their pianos, but who have stayed in contact with him one way or another.

If the concerts promote anything directly, it is the study of piano playing. We should all be cheering.

In a professional forum almost anything can be construed as advertising. I do not know how the moderators make a determination. Generally in the Fourth Estate if a business or advertiser has a newsworthy story or event, it is not considered advertising. The Cunningham thread is all about a free event of historical significance and with performances as well, and it would be listed gratis in the appropriate section of most local newspapers. IMHO.

Thanks Bob.

The other thread about the new Baldwin was not locked because of advertising, real or perceived... it was locked because of the controversy it was apparently stirring up. I hope this thread is not heading in that direction…

It is extremely difficult to determine where to draw the line when it comes to the dealer advertising thing. But, we do our best to moderate extreme breaches of the rule. Sometimes it is purely a subjective judgment call on the part of the moderator. Most of the moderator reports we get are due to the advertising issue.

Thing is, we don’t want to run off the dealer members here… we want them and need them.

It’s human nature to choose sides on various issues…

I always say that Piano World has a way of policing itself to an extent… I still think that is the case in most instances.

I agree that this thread is more of an announcement than an advertisement, as Bob and others have mentioned. Now, if Rich had said, “hey, ya’ll come on down and try out our latest rebuild! It is the best thing since sliced bread and at a reasonable price”… well, you get the picture.

No harm, no foul, I hope.

Rick

I hope that Rich stops by tomorrow to tell us all about the recital!