Don't shoot the piano player!  That cacophony of noise, just might be a
hotel piano!  And... it might be a modern player!

Not long ago, I was having dinner in a rather fine restaurant.  I heard
something like a piano playing, but the music was lifeless, and very
subdued.  Was it a child playing the piano?  I listened again, Yes, it
must be a child trying out the piano, and playing a tune from the first
grade books?

I got up and investigated.  It was a Yamaha Disklavier upright.  The
first I had ever seen.  (Hopefully the last! -- At least, that one!)
The disk kept cycling and the same tunes were played over and over.

A prior article mentioned that hotel owners might be too cheap to buy
additional disks.  I don't believe that.  They are hotel owners, not
musicians.  The majority of people do not hear the music as music --
they hear a sound without definition.  The music could be "Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star", and it could repeat 2000 times a day, and they
still would be happy.

The establishment had the piano set at the lowest possible volume,
or else the mechanism was defective.  Each note plunked out an
expressionless sound, with some notes dropping out completely.

The piano, most likely, had never been tuned!  The treble section was
at least a whole tone flat.  The unisons were way out of tune, as well as
some of the bass strings.  It was torture!

Perhaps it had fallen off a truck during delivery?  Why would anyone
spend good money for a nice piano, never have it tuned, and then adjust
it for such a unrealistic low volume?

I located the owner, gave him my card, and offered to tune the piano,
but my efforts to help out were sharply declined.  The owner said the
piano sounded fine to him.  After all, he paid a lot of money for that
piano, and surely nothing needed any attention.

The worst part was, no one else in the entire place seemed to notice.
No one was paying any attention.

In this case, the piano drove a customer (me!) away!  Unfortunately,
I find the majority of the population to be musically illiterate, and
this "noise" does not bother them at all.  Before I left the restaurant,
I candidly asked the opinion of a few customers.  The response? ......
It's "nice".

We, who appreciate good music and properly tuned pianos, are a minority!

Bruce Clark

 [ "My banjo/piano/etc. still has the original factory tuning.  Doesn't
 [ it sound nice?" ...  Or, if you prefer, "My old car still has the
 [ original oil in the motor and it runs great!"   ;)   -- Robbie