THE ALLEGED DECLINE OF THE PIANO
[To' the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
. .
SIR,—I have seen it stated that pinao-playing among amateurs is declining' and that at the present rate of decline piano- playing will become comparatively rare within a few years. I wonder whether this is true. What a change there would be in the educated world as we know it--or, rather, as I have known it ! I can look back to the times when every datighter in every educated family was expected to play her piece or sing her song after dinner in the drawing-room. I suppose I must have joined rapturously in the dishonest applause. Well, thank Heaven, that is all over. I say it with reverence.
What are the causes, of the decline ? I suppose there arc three: First, there is the improvement in musket taste, that what was once regarded as a passable performance by an amateur is now regarded as intolerable. The second and third reasons are much more important. They are, of course, the spread of the gramophone and of wireless. When we can listen to the reproduction of really first-class music with not more than about a ten per cent. reduction in the value of the tone, why should we listen to the young miss, however magisterially or admiringly her parents may push her forward ?
I have suggested the causes of the decline without feeling quite sure that there is one. My apology, after all, for writing is that I want to know.--I am, Sir, &c., B.
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