When it comes to pianos, I am extremely picky. It took me many years to find the perfect grand piano. To me, the perfect piano has not only a wonderful sound, but also great variety in touch – much beyond just loud and soft. The perfect piano can sing, it can weep, caress, it can shatter ears and souls.

Five and a half years ago I found and bought what we call “the first Kawai” which was perfect (still is) and then nine months later the “second Kawai” – second because we bought it after the first, and because it was second in quality. It wasn’t 100% perfect but it sounded like it could be, with a bit of work. Unfortunately, after nearly five years and at least two different piano technicians who worked on it, it still didn’t sound and feel exactly the way I thought it would and could. Somehow I wasn’t able to communicate to the technicians exactly what kind of sound and touch I was looking for. Still, it is a very good piano and I felt very fortunate to have two grand pianos in the studio.

Once in a while, I like to go to the piano store to browse, just for fun, or to look for a piano for a specific student. A week ago, Friday, I played several of the pianos and to my surprise completely fell in love with one of the grand pianos. It was simply perfect – I loved the tone, the touch – I can make it sound velvety, or bell-like, or booming bombastically, anything! It is considerably more expensive than the second Kawai, but we decided it was worth it to invest in this upgrade. We traded in the second Kawai, and last Friday Mid-America Piano delivered the new Yamaha. “New” as in new to me. It is a 1988 Yamaha C7, made in Japan. (Some of the newer Yamahas are made in Indonesia and are of lesser quality.) With good care, a good piano will keep its value, will depreciate extremely slowly. Not sure I would want a car from 1988, but a 1988 piano can be as good as one built just this year!