[dave brum]

I wonder what are users' comments on this. I grew up on a council estate in Birmingham and when I asked my mother could I learn the piano as a) my cousin was taking lessons and b) there was a girl in my class called Nicola Munro who was learning (hiya Nicola if youre reading this by any chance!) but unfortunately I was told no because of the price and, how's this for prejudice, because according to her, only posh kids in Sutton Coldfield go to piano lessons! Now I'm teaching myself to play as I cannot afford to go to lessons, but shouldn't learning to play piano, whatever style or method, be more available to everybody regardless of social background. I notice that the price of basic 76/88 key digital pianos in a certain English catalogue superstore have actually come down, and only a few weeks ago a secondhand shop in Gloucester had one for only £129, weighted keys and all. I also understand Bryan Ferry who is a pianist of course, comes from a working class background. Any comments?

[Gill the Piano]

Well with this wonderful government throwing money at music (320 million quid betweeen ALL the state schools in Britain? How very generous... ), I'm afraid that it IS now elitist, in that as with so many other things, only the relatively well-off can afford it. As a kid in the 1960s, playing the piano was relatively rare in my infants & junior schools, but when I got to the next school, lessons were subsidised by the local council and every school of secondary age given a certain number of free lessons to be allocated as the music staff saw fit. Then schools were given full charge of their own money, and anything involving sport, and later, computers, got precedence. School pianos were no longer tuned three times a year (oo, we could buy some FOOTBALLS with that), and the rot set in.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. That's why the government are suddenly encouraging singing - free instrument, see? They don't have to fork out for it.
So yes, even if people can afford the piano, they often can't afford the lessons. Yet they can often afford 98" flat screen plasma tellies and packs of faggs. It's down to priorities, I suppose in those cases.

[Stuart]

The arts have always been elitist - which is the negative slant, when family background and money are considered. However, the arts are for the few: those that value artistic expression and aspects of life that do not revolve around acquiring material possessions. Musical history is full of poor people who have bucked the system and created great art. Yes, they have to fight harder and no doubt many more with talent/genius failed, too.
I am even older than Gill. At 13, in the '50's (1950's, that is, Gill!), I had to give up music at school because I was studying languages. My parents sacrificed a good deal to keep me in private piano lessons and I have not only enjoyed playing - and still do - for private pleasure, but have also earned some small fees for public performances. No-one in any of the arts has it easy, even with money behind them. Enthusiasm and hard work are the two main requirements.
Stuart

[dave brum]

Okay, I've no wish to turn this into a political discussion or a debate on class conflict (remember, politics divide but music unites!) so I'll focus on the positives, music does have appeal across the social spectrum - look in the NME to see the amount of inner city kids forming bands and expressing themselves through music. But as far as playing the piano is concerned, if young kids' peers play piano, then more kids will want to follow their lead. Right now, there is a bit of a renaissance going on of piano-led bands and artists (Muse, Keane, Alicia Keys et al), and my only wish is that it continues to gather momentum and we see a challenge to a guitar dominated genre. But sadly, kids' only introduction to music is the X-Factor, and wallpapery Top 40 radio. For now, I'm glad to think that I am trying to buck the elitism trend when it comes to learning a musical instrument.

And it's good brain training as well!

[markymark]

I do agree with you there! I can't really think of hardly any popular musicians that lead bands or perform from the piano. Today, Jools Holland, Elton John and Jamie McCullum are the three British pianists in popular music that spring to mind. Laying aside, classical performers, who else is there really? I was watching American Idol last week and I think I counted four contestants that chose to perform and sing from the keyboard out of 200-odd other contestants, many of which with musical experience. I'm looking forward to a few more pianists appearing on the British popular music scene I have to say.

Here's something else for the discussion: has anyone ever encountered the attitude that piano playing, by modern standards, is an effeminate past-time. I'll explain what I mean; I moved to a new school two years ago, the only male teacher in the school, and I was treated as a bit of a phenomenon, firstly, because I was a male teacher, and secondly, because I was fulfilling the role of music co-ordinator for the school! I think people were expecting me to burst through the door in a dirty rugby gear, two hockey stickers under my arm and a dumbell between my teeth!

[dave brum]

Yes indeed, Marky. We know a chap who used to go to Weight Watchers (I'm the only bloke that goes there too!) who works in the same job as you, and is gay. And because I used to loathe playing sports at school, preferring to listen to music and reading, I was looked on as an outcast by my peers. I'm a great fan of both Jools H and Jamie Cullum, but neither of them, in the eyes of English youth, are 'cool'. They're Radio 2 fodder. Unfortunate but true. I wish there were more Alicia Keyses on this planet.

Coming back to my original argument, did a bit of research last night and it seems that here in the town in which I live we have a music school, that does piano/keyboard lessons, located slap bang in the middle of our urban ghetto!!

[Gill the Piano]

I know that a lot of teenage boys give up the piano; it isn't 'cool', but for 'cool', you can read 'masculine'. The cleverest teachers flip them on to jazz/blues at that point, because that, paradoxically, IS cool, when classical isn't. Go figure, as the colonials say...