Dan's Papers - August 10, 2007

"When it comes to buying and playing pianos, one must remember that one is dealing with an instrument, not a commodity," says Paul Schenly, director of the Hamptons summer Pianofest program. This notion of subjectivity makes the selection of a piano for your home on the East End--or anywhere--all the more difficult. Unlike purchasing a computer, cell phone, or sports car, for which there are often easy answers, selecting a piano often forces one to rely mostly on personal taste and musicality. Mike Scainetti, owner of the Piano Barn, a quaint piano shop located near Montauk Highway in Water Mill, says, "It all boils down to personal preference, as long as the piano is in good physical shape. Since they're very consistently all well-made nowadays, it all comes down to what sounds pretty to the individual buyer."

But does that really sum it all up? Mr. Schenly, a professional musician and music director, disagrees. "In my opinion, there is certainly a hierarchy in pianos, and my colleagues and I at the Cleveland Institute of Music have always considered Steinways to be at the very top." According to Schenly, Steinways allow for the most intricate variety of "colors" between treble and bass notes as well as having fantastic pedal capabilities. Schenly attributes Steinway's superior assets to a large number of them being hand-made. The touch is also superior, says the piano guru: "For slow movements of concertos or sonatas, when one is attempting to rise above an orchestra or imitate a human voice, Steinways are the best."

But what about the sector of consumers that consists of beginner and intermediate pianists, or simply passionate admirers? Chuckling, Schenly says, "If you're a beginner, don't worry about the make, just worry about getting one!" Both Schenly and Scainetti suggest that one's ear, whether trained or untrained, is one's most reliable indicator when purchasing a piano. "If you don't feel comfortable to depend on your ear, bring a musician friend with you to the shop to test the pianos and listen to the sounds," Schenly says. "A piano should be comfortable to play but should also look nice in your own home," says Scainetti. If there isn't a pianist in the household, he recommends purchasing a player piano that enables the instrument to play "by itself." So if you're planning an intimate gathering - rather than, say, a boisterous cocktail party - a live musician is highly recommended.

Prices for pianos vary greatly, ranging from around $4,000 for a 3-to-4-foot Yamaha or Baldwin upright to $150,000 for an 8-foot Steinway grand. While larger pianos are intended for greater space so that their sound can fully flourish, uprights fit well in smaller rooms. Schenly and Scainetti agree that prices don't always represent their worth accurately. "The irony is that a piano's price does not necessarily amount to its quality," says Scainetti. To make his point, he jokingly suggested blindfolding oneself in a piano store while testing out various makes in order to make the choice. Scainetti also mentioned that brand names tend to live off of their prestige and hype, but that if buying a brand name piano makes a customer happy, then "so be it!"

Both Schenly and Scainetti strongly recommend keeping a piano out of direct sunlight and any room of extreme temperature. They also advise covering it with a blanket in the winter to reduce moisture, and, most importantly, tuning it at least once a year. Besides its action becoming dull (a result of an untuned piano), "the worst enemy of the new piano is humidity," Schenly says, as it causes harmful air flow and leads to the hammers deteriorating. Scainetti also recommends that piano purchasers pay special attention to the acoustical settings, suggesting that carpeting is usually beneficial for its action and sound.

Be it large living rooms or intimate family rooms, spaces in homes yearn for this beautiful instrument, as a piano can be so aesthetically pleasing in one of the many slick variety of colors now available, with a lovely curved lid, and, most importantly, a perfectly calibrated set of strings capable of producing a wonderful array of melodies and harmonies. According to Schenly, "The best thing you can do as you get older is to study music--it nourishes your memory."