Just at the back of Rob Lowrey’s piano shop, there lies a room home to seven or eight used and aged pianos at any given time. All of these pianos usually have their keys and strings dinged and frayed already. Hence, they are normally traded in for a better and newer model or handed off as a means of disposal. They are not being sent for repairs as the cost is usually too expensive and not worth it.
“They’re what I call piano zombies. They appear to be alive … they make piano sounds, but they’re pretty much ready to devour any musical interest that’s thrust on them,” explained Rob. These zombie pianos are actually pretty easy to come by. They can be found online, especially from individuals who are planning to shift house. For Lina Della Mora, her piano has been in her Toronto home accumulating dust since more than a decade ago. She actually acquired the piano for free from a friend around fifteen years ago. At that point of time, her husband thought of fixing it up and teaching their kids to play. Unfortunately, the process of restoring the piano was simply too troublesome for the busy family. Eventually, all of them lost interest and decided to remove it from their house. They figured out that selling the piano would not likely be possible, so they decided to give it away instead. “Some pianos simply aren’t worth fixing,” stated Rob, who began his career decades ago as a piano tuner in college, where he earn $30 on an hourly basis.
When broken pianos arrive to a new learner, the learner can get pretty agitated if the instrument does not produce and/or sound the right notes. “You’ll quickly get frustrated by the fact the notes don’t work right, that when you try to tune it, it won’t hold a tune, and it just does way more harm than good. If you want somebody to have a fighting chance of starting to play piano, you need to get at least a decent instrument,” explained Rob.
“The truth is, students need a good instrument at home and they need one that’s kept in tune,” added Elaine Rusk, publisher at the Royal Conservatory of Music and a private piano teacher. For more of the story, you can read it here.
At Awesome Piano, we understand that not every beginner is willing to commit in purchasing a piano at the initial stages as it isn’t all that cheap. Therefore, we have come up with the concept of piano rental, where one can simply rent the piano on a monthly basis. If one decides to retain it in future, they will just need to top up the remaining cost of the piano.