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> Before the radio a piano was a household staple Uh, maybe for wealthier households. Definitely not the case for people who grew up a bit poorer than average.
by Blackthorn 3y ago
> Before the radio a piano was a household staple
Uh, maybe for wealthier households. Definitely not the case for people who grew up a bit poorer than average. Piano upkeep is not a trivial expense!
- viraptor 3y agoThat's very true. However people on the poorer side did what they could historically (see cigar box guitars, washboards, jug bands, singing, tap dance).
- ROTMetro 3y agoI strongly disagree. My lower class sets of grandparents both had pianos. Other family members had violens, accordions, portable little organ things. Making music was the norm before the radio just like the original poster said. Do you think classic blues pianists came from rich families?
- Blackthorn 3y agoHonestly I think I just misread "before the radio" as "before the internet" and didn't realize it until it was pointed out a second time to me. I don't actually know what life was like before the radio, even my grandparents would have been too young for that.
- slothtrop 3y agoThat's a single generation. What about before then?
- marricks 3y agoHalf of households had a piano: https://daily.jstor.org/what-player-pianos-meant-to-american-families/ https://daily.jstor.org/what-player-pianos-meant-to-american... So… good point it was middle class status symbol, but a huge number still had access. My real point was music creation was more a part of people’s daily lives.
- notmypenguin 3y agoWe were poor as dirt. We had a piano. It got tuned once a year at best