EVERYONE SHOULD LEARN TO PLAY
Show of hands, how many of you had to take piano lessons?
For more than a century, the piano and the ability to play it were an important sign of status for families, as generations of kids forced to sit at the keyboard and struggle with scales can attest.
Music has long been a key part of being considered an accomplished person. Everyone from Irish bard-kings to Greek philosophers took pride in being able to play a tune. By the Renaissance, Henry VIII was composing songs, and his daughter, Elizabeth I, even had a little royal play-off with her cousin and rival Mary, Queen of Scots.
They had courtiers compare their performances on the virginals, an early keyboard instrument, and surprise, it was a tie! (YOU want to tell either of those ladies that someone was better?)
By the late eighteenth century, many upper-class families had a pianoforte in the drawing room, and the daughters of the house were expected to entertain guests, and perhaps impress potential husbands. Gradually, with the invention of the modern instrument, and industrial production methods, the family piano moved down the social spectrum.
In the late 19th century, it was an important symbol that a family had arrived in the middle class. Even a relatively cheap, mass-produced instrument still represented a huge investment. At that point, traveling salesmen (and they were almost always men) were crisscrossing the country signing up families to buy instruments “on time,” so more and more people had them.
Once you had the piano, you had to be able to play it. Plenty of genteel ladies supplemented waning family fortunes by teaching the next generation of pianists, whether they wanted the lessons or not.
Early on, those pianists were almost always girls. Piano playing was an important accomplishment for a young lady. Eventually, though, many families decided that boys, too, should be able to noodle a bit on the keyboard – as you’ll hear from generations of fellas glued to their scales by a stern glare.
A piano and a few moderately-skilled players, though, weren’t just a sign of class. They were also a very practical upgrade to a family’s life. Before the phonograph or radio – and long before television – unless you wanted to sing, you were in for a lot of silence at home. Some families were lucky enough to have a fiddler or guitar player, but the simple fact was, the only entertainment people had was what they made.
No surprise, then, that once pianos became affordable, they were all the rage. It’s another post for another day, but as the piano industry exploded, so did the sheet music business. People snapped up the hot new songs and played them.
Underlying all of this, though, was the idea that families were well-off enough to afford and enjoy the amusements. Showing off a little musical skill is one more way to demonstrate that you have “culture.”
And piano lessons remained an appropriate accomplishment long after other forms of entertainment were available. I remember my grandmother encouraging me to stick with piano because “a girl who can play piano will always be popular.”
As it happened, I was lousy at piano…and pretty decent with a bassoon.
So much for popular.
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
For more than a century, the piano and the ability to play it were an important sign of status for families, as generations of kids forced to sit at the keyboard and struggle with scales can attest.
Music has long been a key part of being considered an accomplished person. Everyone from Irish bard-kings to Greek philosophers took pride in being able to play a tune. By the Renaissance, Henry VIII was composing songs, and his daughter, Elizabeth I, even had a little royal play-off with her cousin and rival Mary, Queen of Scots.
They had courtiers compare their performances on the virginals, an early keyboard instrument, and surprise, it was a tie! (YOU want to tell either of those ladies that someone was better?)
By the late eighteenth century, many upper-class families had a pianoforte in the drawing room, and the daughters of the house were expected to entertain guests, and perhaps impress potential husbands. Gradually, with the invention of the modern instrument, and industrial production methods, the family piano moved down the social spectrum.
In the late 19th century, it was an important symbol that a family had arrived in the middle class. Even a relatively cheap, mass-produced instrument still represented a huge investment. At that point, traveling salesmen (and they were almost always men) were crisscrossing the country signing up families to buy instruments “on time,” so more and more people had them.
Once you had the piano, you had to be able to play it. Plenty of genteel ladies supplemented waning family fortunes by teaching the next generation of pianists, whether they wanted the lessons or not.
Early on, those pianists were almost always girls. Piano playing was an important accomplishment for a young lady. Eventually, though, many families decided that boys, too, should be able to noodle a bit on the keyboard – as you’ll hear from generations of fellas glued to their scales by a stern glare.
A piano and a few moderately-skilled players, though, weren’t just a sign of class. They were also a very practical upgrade to a family’s life. Before the phonograph or radio – and long before television – unless you wanted to sing, you were in for a lot of silence at home. Some families were lucky enough to have a fiddler or guitar player, but the simple fact was, the only entertainment people had was what they made.
No surprise, then, that once pianos became affordable, they were all the rage. It’s another post for another day, but as the piano industry exploded, so did the sheet music business. People snapped up the hot new songs and played them.
Underlying all of this, though, was the idea that families were well-off enough to afford and enjoy the amusements. Showing off a little musical skill is one more way to demonstrate that you have “culture.”
And piano lessons remained an appropriate accomplishment long after other forms of entertainment were available. I remember my grandmother encouraging me to stick with piano because “a girl who can play piano will always be popular.”
As it happened, I was lousy at piano…and pretty decent with a bassoon.
So much for popular.
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
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