pianos and children: dud or dud?

the family who lives above us somehow managed to cram a piano into their 1br apartment, on which their child and the children of their friends/relatives like to play the same 2 or 3 tunes plus the inevitable tuneless keymashing. actually for a while i thought they gave lessons or something because when there is piano playing, there is piano playing all. day. long. but in fact it's just a seemingly endless litany of children related to the family. i'd almost prefer someone with a stereo at this point — the sound of the piano travels such that even with earplugs it can still be heard. wakes us up 3-4 times a week these days, while just being annoying the rest of the time. dud to the maxxx.

pianos have a right to children

http://whatsupnyc.com/blog/archives/5000-fingers.jpg

I've been teaching the 4-year-old in my house to play stuff like Star Wars and Indiana Jones themes. He also does some really great improvisational shit. He's almost as good as the cat! I completely disagree with the thread title.

"tell your child to return when he has mastered the instrument"

honestly i probably wouldn't mind being woken up by it if they could play chopin or something like the guy who always commandeers the piano at a cafe i go to. it'd be like one of those fancy alarm clocks.

my friend's three-year old daughter was sitting down at a piano the other day. i think it was her first experience with one.

instead of randomly hammering away at the keys, she became all meditative, like keith jarret-style or something. it was kind of amazing to watch. at other moments it seemed like she was replicating a victor borge comedy routine. she had an audience of a dozen or so of us captivated by her every nuance. the kid is a ham and then some. beautiful!

I think every kid in the world has written a song called "Thunder and Lightning" that involves a bunch of random tinkling at the far right end of the piano and a few loud SMASHes at the far left end.

Yes its a great idea to have a piano in your house. They can take a beating and provided you know something about playing one you can teach your children about music.

That said, children and other people's pianos (or OPPs), DUD!

No-one should have to put up with a piano on the floor above them, the sound of the pedals alone is a nightmare.

the management's reasoning was probably 'if they can get it up there, they deserve to have it'

This is where digital pianos are a boon - they have all the key weight and feel and sound of a real piano but you can stick headphones in and not bother a soul.

They srill have the pedal problem on any floor other than ground.

My daughters may be ready to move up from a digital to an upright -- what's my best bet if I'm looking for a used piano $2000 or less? Or am I better off waiting until I can spend more?

There are always free pianos on craigslist, if you're willing to pay for piano movers & tuning.

I've been wanting to grab one for years, just don't have quiiite enough space.