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The Steinway is the only grand piano that will sell for more than you paid for it, regardless of how long you own it.

Can you name any other brand name that can make that claim, for any type of product?

And why? I’d ask a pianist to really find out.

I’ve owned several and played many magnificent Steinway grand pianos, so I’d be glad to give you an idea.

First, we have to presuppose several things:

1. We are referring to new, almost new or perfectly rebuilt instruments only.

2. We are referring to grand pianos of the New York Steinway type, not the Hamburg models.

3. We are referring only to grand piano models L (5’11″) and above.

4. If it is a rebuilt piano, it must have been rebuilt by Steinway, directly by the company, not someone who claims to be “certified” by Steinway.

So why are Steinway pianos the best? One reason: sound. There is simply nothing like it.

It’s not like the difference between a Chevette and a Rolls. It’s the difference between a Rolls and a jet plane.

The Steinway sound comes of course from the construction, and that is the prime reason that a Steinway has that amazing, powerful sound. Much has been written about the Steinway construction, a lot of it very technical.

But how did the Steinway Company achieve this sound in the past, and are they able to maintain the phenomenal record of excellence into the present?

I knew a technician, the legendary Heinz Zimmerman, who worked in the Steinway factory in Hamburg and then New York. He was in 1970 about 70, so he had weathered World War II and had a thick, lovely German accent.

He was an absolute, continental gentleman and craftsman, and quite a character for an 18 year-old pianist like me to run across. Heinz required a demitasse of coffee, “mit schlag,” (with whipped cream) beside my Steinway model A, 6’2″ of wonderful sound.

Heinz had actually helped me pick out the piano. It had sat in a patrician lady’s living room for forty years, slowly crinkling the perfect ebony finish in the California sun into something resembling crocodile skin. But the inner workings were perfect. In fact, I noticed that the hammers weren’t even creased, meaning that it had been played very little if at all. Heinz looked at the piano, and breathlessly reported that it was a Model A of 1926 vintage, the best, prewar type of piano. And here it was, untouched, forty years later.

Heinz knew the piano! He had helped build it (he made one of the many bridge parts, but more of that later.) and insisted that either I buy it, or he would buy it himself.

Zimmerman became my entr

Frederic Chopin was alone among the great composers in that he made his living almost entirely from teaching piano.

During the period around the 1840′s he was the most famous piano teacher in Paris, largely because he was also one of the most famous and beloved composers in the world.

His roster of students contained many great and good pianists, among them Mikuli, who became the editor of Chopin’s printed piano music.

Chopin taught at home in a lavish, well appointed studio. It contained two pianos: one beautiful Erard grand, on which the student played, and a small cottage upright, at which the master sat and demonstrated.

The master instructed his students to seek out and play only the finest pianos, as he thought playing on inferior instruments ruined a good finger technique. His emphasis at first was on relieving the tension found in many students’ hands.

He began at eight in the morning and taught all day. This was because, as he said, “All those white gloves cost money.” He was a dandy and fastidious dresser, and traveled only in the highest echelons of Paris high society, where he was in constant demand both as pianist and personality.

To the talented student, he was both inspiring and confusing. Giving great advice was his stock in trade, but one student pointed out that, “The master is so confusing. He demonstrates how I should play, but every time he plays a piece, it is completely different!”

To the untalented, he could be cruel. Many of his students were titled young ladies of very high social standing but little talent who took lessons from Chopin because they could afford to and because it conferred social status to study with such a great master.

But his assistant, Mikuli, noted many times when these rich young ladies would be reduced to tears and run away in horror because the master had criticized their playing most harshly.

Rich or poor, at the end of the lesson the student put their payment in gold on the mantelpiece, while the master discreetly turned his back.

Great masters do not tarnish their hands with money.

By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press. Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun PIANO BY NUMBER method for kids.

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children’s music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER.

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