T HE PIANO IS THE MOSTpopular musical in-strument in theworld, used in con-certs and also found

in many homes. The pianoenjoys a long and colorful his-tory as an important source ofinspiration and pleasure forboth professional and amateurmusicians. Its history reflects theevolution of culture.

Although digital keyboardsabound, nothing can trulyreproduce the sound of anacoustic piano. That’s whycountless of today’s artists fromBruce Hornsby to MichaelFeinstein, Diana Krall to EltonJohn still play them.

Perhaps you’ve never heardthe term “art case” piano. Thepiano has always been a musi-cal instrument first and fore-most, but at the same time theneed to win acceptance hasmeant its appearance has hadto take account of its sur-roundings. So pianos havealways reflected the furniturestyles of their day. Once theinternal layout of the piano,whether square, upright orgrand, had become firmly estab-lished, the casework could beused to make an aesthetic state-ment. The true art case pianois an art form in its own right—many with ornate decora-tion of astonishing elegance and beauty.

One of the foremost enthusiasts of older— and, especially art case — pianos is SonnyStancarone of Sonny’s Pianos in Bohema,New York. But who in their right mind in theMidwest would buy a piano from this man, sightunseen? Plenty of people. Because Stanca-rone’s longstanding reputation for integrityand piano expertise have won him legionsof customers worldwide, and his prices runthe gamut from a few thousand bucks to$1,000,000, meaning he offers somethingfor nearly every budget.

Stan has also pioneered something very

unique — a system for quickly learning howto play, that utilizes his “Piano Yoga”methods. Forget those tedius, mind-numb-ing piano lessons you had as a kid, and thatyou probably dreaded. With Stan’s ap-proach, you can be playing in minutes.

“People don’t have to spend years study-ing time signatures and learning how toread, they can just immediately start play-ing piano in a fun, intuitive, relaxed way,”Stancarone insists. Sonny says that throughusing breathing and relaxation techniqueshe has developed, combined with learningsome of the basic principles of piano play-

ing, children and adults of allages can enjoy playing thepiano and also reduce stress,increase energy levels, improvetheir moods and enhance theirsense of well being. mlSonny has created a websitecalled www.PianoYogaTV.com,which features free videos thatdiscuss the healing and thera-peutic benefits playing pianocan bring about and how toplay the piano using his tech-niques. Sonny developed“Piano Yoga” from years ofexperience studying, playingand teaching the piano. Healso credits the years he spentteaching yoga, and stress man-agement to athletes, coaches,teachers, students, corporateand government employees.Using “Piano Yoga” “you canconnect to your musician withinand start playing songs, impro-vising and creating your ownmusic.” According to Sonny“everyone can play the piano,it’s fun, easy to do, healing andtherapeutic. As soon as youstop worrying about playingperfectly and focus on breath-ing, relaxing, getting into theflow, the music will comestreaming out of you. It’s notabout how perfectly you playbut how much joy and happi-ness you derive from playingthat counts.”

Interesting origins

P IANOS HAVE A COLORFUL HISTORY,tracing back to Padua, Italy in1709, to the shop of a harpsichordmaker named Bartolomeo diFrancesco Cristo-fori (1655-1731).

Many other stringed and keyboard instru-ments preceded the piano and led to thedevelopment of the instrument as we knowit today.

Mankind’s knowledge that a taut, vibrat-ing string can produce sound goes back toprehistoric times. In the ancient world,

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Piano GrandeurFor centuries, a Baby Grand has been the epitome of a fine musical

instrument. You may have thought it was beyond your reach to afford one. If so, meet the Piano Man — Sonny Stancarone — who restores and ships

vintage pianos worldwide at a surprisingly affordable price.

A 1914 Vose with art case, only $8500

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strings were attached and stretched overbows, gourds, and boxes to amplify thesound; they were fastened by ties, pegs andpins; they were plucked, bowed or struckto produce sounds.

Eventually, a family of stringed instru-ments with a keyboard evolved in Europein the 14th century. The earliest of thesewas a dulcimer, a closed, shallow box overwhich stretched wires were struck with twowooden hammers. The dulcimer led to thedevelopment of the clavichord, which alsoappeared in the 14th century. These werefollowed by the spinet, virginal, clavecin,gravicembalo, and finally, the harpsichordin the 15th century.

The harpsichord, however, was limitedto one, unvarying volume. Its softness andloudness could not be controlled while play-ing. Therefore, performing artists could notconvey the same degree of musical expres-sion as that of most other instruments. Theartistic desire for more control led directlyto the invention of the piano, on which theartist could alter the loudness and tone withthe force of one’s fingers.

It was the Bach sons Philipp Emanueland Christian, as well as Mozart and Cle-menti, who learned to exploit and appre-ciate the advantages of the piano, andhelped its aceptance around the world.

The piano was first popularized in theU.S. during the industrial revolution, whichhad facilitated the production of pianos inlarge numbers. A successful campaign washeld in the 1920s and ’30s to introducemusic lessons into the nation’s schools. Thepiano found its way into the homes of theup-and-coming bourgeoisie and was nolonger the domain of the aristocracy. Thebiggest-ticket item on every householdbudget besides the home itself was itspiano. Everybody had to have one. It wasan essential part of life, sold in the millions.

There were over 300 piano manu-factuers in the U.S., especially in New York,Boston, and Chicago. There was the greatChickering piano made by a companyfounded in 1823 and which later led theworld in beauty and sound. There wasHallet and Davis in Boston, J. and C. Fischerin New York, as well as Strich and Ziedler,Hazelton, William Knabe, Baldwin, Weber,Mason and Hamlin, Decker and Sons,

Wurlizer, Steck, Kimball in Chicago, and,finally, Steinway.

Like most Boston makers, Vose & Sonsbuilt truly exceptional pianos. The firm wasoriginally established in 1851 by JamesWhiting Vose. In the 19th Century, Bostonwas home to a large population of OldWorld craftsmen who had immigrated tothe United States. These craftsmen pos-sessed amazing skill in woodworking andpiano building, and Vose was in a positionto take advantage of this skilled workforce.

The American piano industry was thegreatest in the world, not because we cameup with any new and great manufacturingtechniques, though there were some inno-vations, but because the economic condi-tions made it most favorable to bemanufactured here.

Then came the Great Depression and forawhile piano manufacturing halted.

In 1960, we began to see the first majorinternational challenge to the Americanpiano market. Japan was already makinghalf as many pianos as the U.S. By 1970, arevolution occurred as Japan’s productionoutstripped our country, and it has beendown hill ever since. By 1980, Japan madetwice as many as the United States. Thenproduction shifted to Korea. Today Chinais the center of world piano production.

They may be cheaper, but are theybetter? In many cases, no!

A lot of today’s piano manufacturers usemedium density fiberboard (MDF) insteadof fine hardwoods, vaccum mold plate inplace of the traditional wet sand cast plate,plastic action parts rather than traditionalhand crafted wood parts, plastic (polyester)finishes in place of hand-rubbed lacquer.

Well-made older pianos are instrumentsthat can last for generations and providea much higher level of playing experienceas well as sound quality.

And what happened to the once-belovedand irreplaceable American piano indus-try? Steinway survives to make luxuryinstruments that few can afford. Baldwinis still around too. But both appeal to thehigh-end market.

Happily, a lot of the “used” pianos madeby America’s top manufacturers survive,and are being lovingly restored and resoldat surprisingly affordable prices.

About one-quarter of all pianos boughtby Americans are grands, whereas aroundthe turn of the century only 3% were. Ashomes have gotten larger, people now havemore space for a piano.

While grands are perceived by many asbeing for the more serious player — hencefamilies, (especially those on a tight budget),may opt for spinets, consoles or other ver-tical pianos — studies have shown thathaving a grand often motivates students tobe more serious about their practicing.

The main drawback to the vertical, orupright (as the older ones are called)piano, is its action, which is pretty basic, con-sisting of only about 5,000 to 6,000 movingparts as compared to, say, an average of

10,000 for the grand. In the vertical action,also, because the strings run vertically, it isnecessary to place the tone-producingparts (such as keys, hammers and dampers)in a less than ideal location that does notalways allow for the best sound or feel.

Amazing new player technology

B UT EVEN IF YOU DON’T WANT TOlearn to play, and only enjoy lis-tening to live piano music, there’san instrument for you. Takingthings one quantum leap further,

pianos can now be outfitted with high techequipment that represents a modernupdate on the paper-roll player pianos youremember from old movies.

These are not digital instruments —they’re real, acoustic pianos with hammersand strings that can be played normally —but they can also “play themselves” usingsophisticated electronic technology. Insteadof punched paper, they take their cues fromspecially formatted CDs orWiFi systems.

You can, for instance, watch a live con-cert given by Elton John in London on ahigh-def device, and hear him via speak-ers installed on the underside of the piano.Every time he depresses a key on his key-board, the corresponding key is pressed onyours — so it’s as if Elton is in your homeperforming!

Several manufacturers offer vast librariesof pre-recorded titles for their systems —music in every genre from pop to the clas-

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Sonny Stancarone

Steinway M "THE "GREEN CHI" STEINWAY,with Chinese hand painted (ChinoiserieStyle) Gardens and Landscape Scenes.Completely Restored 2016 $125,000

sics — recorded by some ofthe world’s top pianists. Thesesophisticated systems captureevery nuance of the originalperformances and play themback with startling accuracy —providing something that’sactually much better than CDfidelity, because the perfor-mances are live.

Best of all, these player systemscan be installed on existing pianos,even antique ones.

Thanks to these new sys-tems, many people who don’tplay the piano are enjoyinglive piano music any time ofthe day or night. Whetherthey’re accompanying din-ners for two or entertaining ahouseful of partygoers, thesehigh tech pianos take centerstage. For people who do playthe piano, these systems canbe used to record their ownperformances, interface withcomputers, aid in music edu-cation, or assist with compos-ing and many other uses.

They feature no-contactoptical sensors that won’t affect the touchor playability of your piano; sympatheticstring and damper resonance; trills fromthe top or bottom of the key; auto andmanual key depth management; adjust-ment key trill positions and much more.

Everybody has heard of Baldwin andSteinway, but during the golden age ofpiano manufacturing, there were a numberof smaller companies that made some out-standing pianos. They were often charac-terized by ornate carvings and uniquewoods which are not even available today.

Sonny has such restored pianos listed foras little as $5500 — sometimes even less.

But the granddaddy of all his pianos isa million dollar instrument. Nicknamed “APrince’s Love Piano,” the Steinway grandpiano was built in 1900 by craftsmen at theSteinway factory in Hamburg, Germany.The piano is believed to have been sold toa Prussian Prince living in La Tour de Peliz,Switzerland.

As if straight out of a fairy tale, the Princeapparently commissioned an artist toimmortalize his love for his princessthrough a series of pastoral love scenespainted on the piano. Sonny Stancarone,owner of Sonny’s Pianos, explains: “Thisisn’t just a one in a million Steinway; thisis the only Steinway of this nature in theworld.”

When Sonny acquired this piano in2015, the years had taken their toll on theinstrument and the artwork. Sonny’s teamof expert technicians went to work andrebuilt the piano using the highest qualitymaterials and parts available. A team of twoartists completed the restoration of thepaintings with great attention to detail.

When he first saw the piano, Sonny knew

immediately that this was no ordinaryhand painted piano. Sonny said, “It was asif the piano spoke to me and told me thatthe paintings on the piano represented realpeople in history and were painted toimmortalize a love story.”

When Sonny says he ships pianos world-wide, he means it. “We just sent five Stein-ways to a dealer in Beijing,” he notes. “Overthe next couple of weeks we will be send-ing pianos to a church in Ohio, a dentistin Houston, an attorney in Michigan, adoctor here in the Hamptons, a mom in SanFrancisco, a music student in Boston, anda business man in Connecticut.

“Our pianos of course are gone over andover again before they leave — several tun-ings — and we generally go over the finishagain. All three pedals have to be workingcorrectly and adjusted, each and every notehas to be played to make sure the action issmooth and nothing is sticking or makingodd sounds — either in the keys or thedampers. Pianos have thousands of movingparts, lots of wood and screws and thingsthat can be adjusted.

“Bass strings must be played and someof the bass strings might have to be twistedto bring them up to full capability; we actu-ally have a 30 item punch list that my work-ers and I have to check before each pianogoes out.”

Stancarone says, “the piano is placed onits side on a specially padded pine boardcalled a skid, legs and pedals are removed,everything gets wrapped in thick pianoblankets, then strapped down and onto adolly and then strapped to the side of thetruck.

“We only use insured experienced pianomovers that we know and have used before.

Our main national mover is a large com-pany that has a fleet of 18 wheelers run-ning pianos around the country at anygiven time

“Then the piano is delivered to a localpiano mover in your vicinity — again, some-one we know or that [our mover] recom-mends and they call you to make anappointment, bring the piano into yourhome and put it back together. We thenhire a technician to come out and tune andcheck over the piano about two weeks afterthe piano arrives so it has time to adapt toits new surroundings and decompressfrom the move. On the very, very rare occa-sion the pianos gets scratched or dinged intransit, we find a local piano touch up guyto come out and fix whatever is the issue.Pianos for the most part are built extremelywell and hold together as they are movedaround the globe.” Pianos are warrantied.

Sonny’s passion for pianos and in par-ticular art case pianos goes back to his child-hood when he became enamored with hisfather’s decorative German upright pianoand his uncle's Steinway grand piano.Sonny first started playing the piano atseven years old when his father, a profes-sional pianist, gave him lessons.

As a child he suffered from a cripplingcase of asthma until he learned yoga typestretching, breathing and relaxation exer-cises which virtually cured him. Usingthese techniques, he went from being a frailasthmatic to a champion baseball and trackathlete, earning a full tuition athletic trackscholarship to a university.

“When it comes to pianos coming andgoing I always say leave it up to the pianoangels...they will find the right piano foryou,” Sonny concludes. n

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THE MILLION DOLLAR PIANO

CALL SONNY’S PIANOS AT 631-475-8046