A Piano for EVERY Home

I love electric pianos and synths. I have several and have owned every major brand. But until last week, I really, truly  didn't like the "fake grand piano"--essentially an electronic piano in a simulated grand-piano case. Electronic pianos are great, but there is no need for them to get all dressed up as something they are not.

(In fact, I'm going to do a future post about how absurd it is for a major big-time hotel to provide one of these little things for use in an elegant ballroom. They should know better-and they have the space and money to do the right thing. In the hotel, a little fake grand looks absurd, and sounds weak. My thinking was: don't try to be something you're not--and at an upscale Marriott, a little electronic stand-in is pathetic.)

But a visit to the Antebellum Inn in Milledgeville, Georgia changed my mind---there ARE places where simulated grand pianos look, and even sound, just fine. Here's the prefect example. There simply is not room in this wonderful B&B for even a spinet, much less a baby grand. This piano isn't fooling anyone---it ain't a Steinway--BUT it sounds decent and adds music in the living room (or perhaps it's the 'Drawing Room') of the home.

A further nice note is that the B&B owner actually bought the fake piano so that her part-time staff, music students at the local college, would have a place to practice. So....a good deed for the students, and a nice addition to the room. Music and music-making is ALWAYS a good thing.

And--seeing it, hearing it, and playing it was a chance for me to be a bit less judgmental about what kind of pianos are acceptable. Without this little Suzuki in the corner, there would be much less music at the Inn.

(But I'm still going to rip the Marriott . . . )