I just got back from the Los Angeles NAMM show last week.  For you non
music dealers, that is National Association of Music Merchants.  It
totally filled the huge L.A. convention center.  Every manufacturer of
piano, or other musical instrument or electronic music maker was
exhibiting.  It happens every year at this time.  It is a pity that
only people in the trade are allowed in, as many of you folks would
love to see it.

I saw Feurich, Boesendorfer, Bechstein, Fazzioli, (not Fazzoli the
restaurants), Kawai, Yamaha, Samick, Seiler, and many other brands that
you do not necessarily see in your local piano stores.

I spoke with Boesendorfer and was informed in no uncertain terms that
the Boesendorfer SE is no longer available and it was obsolete 80's
technology and was entirely too cumbersome and expensive to install in
a new piano.  He also said that there were only 40 built.  I had heard
there were 60 built.  I do know there were a few SE's that sold as
"low" as $70k on smaller grands.  Boesendorfer has only one left that
is not for sale as they do recordings on it.

 [ Translation: it didn't sell well so they quit production.  No
 [ company abandons a good product because the technology is obsolete,
 [ etc.!  Kimball simply decided that it was unprofitable.  Now Yamaha
 [ and others have shown that the product _is_ profitable.  (Maybe
 [ a lower price helps! ;)  -- Robbie

They all had their 52" uprights in attendance.  I only found two
Chinese-built uprights that were taller than 52", and I could not find
out much about them as the people exhibiting them spoke very little
mostly unintelligible English.  When I get some money I may purchase
a container of them.  That is the only way they sell their instruments
right now as they do not have an importer.  They were good pianos and
they also made a jade-encased art case grand that should sell very
well.

The things that software will do is just phenomenal, now.  I watched a
demonstration that had a guy play a keyboard and the software spat out
a camera ready music score fit for publication with all notation and
markings, bars, and time signature.  When he corrected or deleted a
wrong note the rest of the score corrected and filled in correctly all
the way to the end.  This is not entirely new, except that it was
finished by the time his hands left the keys at the end of the song.

Did you ever wish you had a score from a piano roll?  This software
made orchestration almost as fast since it scored for E-flat or B-flat
instruments immediately without batting an eye.  There was nothing I
was taught in my Theory or Orchestration classes that was not already
present on the paper.

By the way we also got some new brands of piano to sell, besides re-
stocking our new store location with Samicks and Pearl Rivers.  I will
announce our new brands once all the paperwork is all worked out.

I had never taken the time to go to the BIG NAMM show, but I will from
now on.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis