Piano World Home Page Forums Fun Stuff! - Parties, Tours, Projects & More... Forum Members Parties, Tours, Cruises, & Meetings Steinway, Grane and Pray for Rain

On Friday, June 24th Steinway on Long Island is hosting a History Class event which is ideal for Steinway buffs and those interested in the history of the Steinway piano.

Jim Hoover, Steinway historian, will talk about some interesting and colorful events in the company's history since 1853

Following Jim, Grane will play (very briefly, thankfully)

Then there is a wine tasting

There is no charge. The event starts at 7PM and is at the Steinway Piano Gallery Westbury. 1504 Old Country Road, Westbury.

If you plan on attending please email Chris Patti at cpatti@steinway.com or call him at 516.512.0100

P.S. You don't have to own or even intend to buy a Steinway. It's okay. See you there!!!

P.P.S. PW members are invited to critique my performance.

Grane:

Thanks for posting the info. Best of luck with your performance - that's great!!! And, no, I will not pray for rain. :p

Have fun . . . Linda

Thanks Linda in PA. Appreciate the support.

Actually, the original saying was a Boston Braves Baseball term from around 1950, "Spahn, Sain and pray for rain" as the Braves had only two good pitchers so the rain would give them an extra day off.

Funny title for the thread. Spahn, Sain, Boston Braves...Boston pianos.
Chris Patti at Steinway is an extremely nice guy. I know Piano World tends to slam Steinway, and sales people, but when you make sweeping generalizations, sometimes you forget that there are some very nice human beings that are included in those generalizations.
I hope some of you Piano World types do attend, and post your impressions of the evening, as to the factual accuracy of what you are told about the Steinway history, and its present.

Pete- "Piano World tends to slam Steinway and sales people"- Noooohhh, no way, Really? I hadn't noticed. Where did you get that silly idea from? :p

I've met Chris Patti and yes, he's a great guy! I also know his brother,- Beef.
I actually purchased from Joe H. A stellar example of a true professional.

Regards,
fingers

That wouldn't be Beef's other brother, "Sloppy" Joe?

I'll see you guys there. I didn't know we were getting a performance too. I bought my piano from Chris Patti. Couldn't have had a better experience.

LJC -- that's great -- nothing like more pressure. Yes, Chris is great and I'd say more things but he might be reading these posts...

Look forward to meeting you!!!

...and for those who are joining us, you might like to know William (President until around 1896) kept track of everything imaginable in his diary, including personal, ahem, matters...

Hi Grane
Sorry I can't be there-- sounds like fun. What are you going to play?

Sophia

Sophia -- yes it should be good -- I heard Jim last year and he has a wealth of knowledge about Steinway. Believe he headed up the training program for sales reps and may still.

Where do you live?

Doing Schubert Impromptu in Gflat. Given I've only had formal lessons for 3.5 years, will be a challenge - but the concert grand there is in good shape and I look forward to it. When I began taking lessons did not intend to play for others -- so just going where it takes me and living for the moment.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Grane:
[QB] Sophia -- yes it should be good -- I heard Jim last year and he has a wealth of knowledge about Steinway.
I would be most appreciative if any Piano Worlders present would be able to post what Jim has to say.

pete== that would be quite a task. Have you read Lieberman's book? It's the source of much of Jim's comments. Fostle is also excellent. These two have tremendous background on the company and they both have done scholarly work sifting through the archives.

All I'm saying is Jim goes into soooo much, that capturing it can be a huge task. Is there anything in particular you are interested in?

Also, some of his comments boarder on risque. As you may know William, President until 1896, kept a diary of everything, and I mean "everything..."

Hi Grane
good luck with it! I used to live on the east coast but have migrated west now.
I'm impressed that after 3.5 years you're playing the Schubert. have a fun time everyone!

Sophia

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Grane:
[QB] pete== that would be quite a task. Have you read Lieberman's book? It's the source of much of Jim's comments. Fostle is also excellent. These two have tremendous background on the company and they both have done scholarly work sifting through the archives.

All I'm saying is Jim goes into soooo much, that capturing it can be a huge task. Is there anything in particular you are interested in?

Whether the presentation is closer to the truth or merely myth propagation.

Bring a tape recorder or ask him if he could send you some notes or make a post here on the forums.

You wrote:
Also, some of his comments boarder on risque. As you may know William, President until 1896, kept a diary of everything, and I mean "everything..."

My reply: sounds like a fun read tome; I like risque. Was William OCD afflicted or something to keep a diary on "everything"
-- wolf

Sophia -- (oohhh, Tristan's on the radio now on WQXR so my mind is wandering.)

Oh yes, well as you may have read on other posts I was self-taught starting at 12 and worked diligently until college. Last 16 years didn't touch the piano and decided lessons would be good. So I didn't start from scratch 3.5 years ago. Also, some say I can be focused...

Mr. Wolfinmidst -- now is that Oklahoma you're in? If so, I spent a lot of time in Bartlesville. At any rate, I'll ask if they can record...

William wrote everything down, meetings, discussion, social interactions including those with his wife -- which I might add were quite frequent until she said she needed more and fooled around on him. But don't want to give it all away and don't want to create the impression that's all Jim might talk about. There may be children there so you may have to PM me for the best parts....

Still recommend both books if you are interested in the history of this company -- it's really fascinating. Thanks to William's diary, we know a lot more about daily life in the late 1890s - both work and personal. Fostle in particular goes to great lengths to explain what was going on in NYC from 1850 to 1900. A great history lesson on society, labor movement, working, competitiveness, economic ups and downs and more.

Steinway history is also a history of the piano and business.

Grane,
interesting, you started playing about when I stopped the first time (age 12), that is stopped taking lessons. I played sporadically during college and after, but lots of other things got in the way. Made a few attempts to take lessons, but decided to get serious this year and bought the L and started studying classical piano again.

Hope it all goes well. Post pictures and a music clip (if possible) afterwards!

Sophia

Sophia -- how many years of lessons until 12?

I too had things get in the way, like children, job, travel and broken Knabe that was 70+ years old.

Will see if someone has a camera, not sure about taping. Taping Jim would be more interesting.


pete--never answered your question about truth or myth. Last year Jim was quite honest and frankly the history of Steinway is interesting enough.

This is not a sales event. It's more of a publicity thing. As mentioned in earlier post, the history of Steinway is to some extent the history of the piano in America-- or at least a big part of it.

Considering the piano and all related jobs consumed about 8% of all NYC jobs around 1900, probably few of the younger folks on this site understand the piano then was what the automobile, the PC and the ipod are today combined.

Hi Grane
about 6 years of lessons before 12 and of course wish now I had never stopped.. hindsight being what it is. I detoured into some jazz lessons and popular music for awhile and still enjoy that, although good jazz improvisation still eludes me. I think at heart I'm a classical girl, so am back to my roots.

Sophia

Just a reminder about tomorrow evening starting at 7pm at Steinway in Westbury.

See above for details.

Look forward to seeing/meeting all!!!