George,

  Ok, I see we're on the same wavelength. Sometimes it's hard to
  understand satire in an email message. You don't have any inflection
  to clue you in as to the real meaning.

> Heavens no!   I've heard one at Macys and was very impressed with the
> technology.   I must admit that the music that was being demonstrated was
> mushy claptrap, but that's beside the point.

  It's unfortunate that they have to pick that stuff to demonstrate
the system. Classical music pushes the envelope, in terms of the
performance of the piano, far more than any of that mushy claptrap.

>I'm afraid I've become complete jaded about the musical taste of just about
>90% of the population.   I know only *one* person, other than myself,
>capable of listening to a 20 minute piece, such as the Sibelius 7th without
>either bursting into idiotic babble or hives.

  I'm with you on this one. Like I said before, my tastes
run mainly to classical with a little bit of jazz and ragtime.
I understand your comment about people not being able to listen for
20 minutes. We seem to live in a society that conditions people to
expect music to last four minutes. Anything beyond that would require
quiet contemplation and well, a lot of thought.

  It takes a lot of effort to listen to classical music. I've had to
train myself to listen to classical music, but it has been
worth the effort. I play the violin, that has helped my listening
skills.

Also, I unplugged my television set. That way, I have more time to
practice and I don't miss the 30 second commercials consisting of
20 camera shots.  All that motion disturbs my concentration.

> The article Larry K. refers to was a satiric description of the kind of
> people who, like the stereo owners who play sounds of railroads and aircraft
> carriers, would buy a Disklavier, play only Liberace and Yanni, and satisfy
> themselves that they had achieved "ewige kunst" (eternal art).   And *then*
> start crowing about the superior technology, along with ignorant remarks
> about noisy and unmusical pedal pumpers.

  I would be surprised if the people you describe are aware of
pedal pumpers. I know a little bit about them from reading this
list and looking up web pages but I would bet that the vast
majority of Disklavier users are ignorant of the development of
the player piano. Just a guess. The Yanni and Liberace guys
probably bought the piano to show it off to their friends. They're
not aware of the engineering effort that has gone into
creating mechanical music systems.

  Regards,

  Larry