by Stephen N. Reed
Yamaha makes a wide variety of piano models, of a wide range of quality. For example, some Yamahas are made with better woods than other of their models.
As a result, the smart piano buyer will want to do one’s research to determine whether the Yamaha models in their price range have the quality they desire. Understanding the different Yamaha model series is therefore very important.
The Essex line, developed for the entry market piano buyer by Steinway & Sons, has the same essential quality throughout their models. That includes the Steinway sound, which Steinway’s engineers brought to the Essex’s manufacturing process.
For comparative piano models, one may wonder which is the better piano, the Essex or the Yamaha. For the purposes of this comparison, we will compare the Essex EUP-123E vs. the Yamaha U-1 for upright pianos. Both brands have created quality products in these models, and one’s preference may come down to the two pianos’ tones.
By the time you’ve finished this article, you will be better informed as to the differences in these two piano brands and models. You’ll want to know these differences as the two models are essentially equivalent in price, between $9,000–$10,000 new.
Yamaha’s U series of upright pianos has gone through a redesign that has created some significant changes. For example, these pianos have major changes like refined scale designs, along with smaller touches like wider music desks.
Steve Hauk, Sales Manager for M. Steinert & Sons has seen U series models like the U-1 increase in popularity over time, noting that it has a bright sound that beginning students often enjoy.
“In a way, this bright quality to the U-1 goes well with early pieces a student learns, like those of Bach and Handel,” says Hauk. “But more tonal complexity is desirable as students continue in their piano lessons.”
This Yamaha brightness quality to their pianos’ tones is a frequent topic among piano users and online reviewers. Some have a concern that, however bright a U-1 piano is at the time of purchase, it will just get brighter as the hammer felts compact with use over time.
Others have noted that even a brand new U-1 can sound so bright as to be a piercing or punchy sound. Still others note that the touch seems too light and therefore is difficult to adjust well between dynamics. Still, many are pleased with this Yamaha model overall.
Refinements in all elements of sound production have given today’s U-1 a more resonant, if bright, voice with evenly balanced timbre across the entire keyboard.
The U-1 has rib configurations that add strength to the soundboard, while other advances further enhance rigidity, resonance, and structural stability.
U-1 hammers use materials selected for each model to provide optimum tone production, response, and long-term durability. U-1 is known for its light action.
A damping mechanism, formerly used only in grand pianos, prevents the fallboard from dropping abruptly onto the keyboard, guarding against accidental injury or damage.
The U-1 comes in the following colors: Polished Ebony, Polished White, Satin American Walnut, Polished Mahogany, and Satin Ebony.
In contrast to the Yamaha brightness, Essex models, including the EUP-123E, are characterized by a more warm tone, one with tonal complexity, and a reverberating bass.
The EUP-123E is also noted for a controllable action that can easily handle changes in dynamics.
Of all the aforementioned differences with the Yamaha U-1, the tone of the Essex EUP-123E is perhaps the most notable. When Steinway & Sons’ engineers created the Essex, they imported as much of the Steinway sound as possible to the Essex manufacturing process.
The result is a close approximation of a mellow tone known the world over from the public hearing it every time they listen to a Steinway & Sons piano on stage.
The EUP-123E is the tallest of the Essex uprights at 48.5, a half-inch taller than the Yamaha U-1.
Made by Steinway & Sons in collaboration with furniture designer William Faber, the EUP-123E has a grand-style leg top, a fold-back Top lid, brass hardware, and classic-style legs with a choice of Ebony Polish and Sapele Mahogany Satin finishes.
The EUP-123E uses high-grade, straight-grained, quarter-sawn spruce is selected for its resonant qualities and high strength-to-mass ratio. The soundboard is solid and not laminated, which creates the best resonance and projection of sound.
Like all Essex uprights, the EUP-123E has large backposts, giving a solid foundation for the resonating soundboard and tensioned vibrating strings. EUP-123A backpost locations are staggered, placed where the string tension is greatest.
A low tension string scale, designed by Steinway & Sons, gives a fuller, richer tone by allowing more of the lower partials to sing. It also has more sustain and has a more dynamic range than Yamaha’s U-1.
Materials play a role with the EUP-123E’s action touch, as well. The EUP-123E has all-wood action parts and solid spruce keys.
Like its sister brand, Boston, Essex grands and uprights have the distinction of having the benefit of Steinway & Sons’ nearly 170 years of innovation in creating their pianos.
With Essex, Steinway engineers had as their goal both an affordable line for the entry-level market yet also one that incorporated as much of the Steinway engineering as possible in a manufactured piano process.
As a result, for its price, Essex models, including the EUP-123E, surprise piano buyers by having a touch and a warm, mellow tone that is known around the world as “the Steinway sound.”
The result is a U-1 piano with a bright tone and a light action that may be decent for beginning piano students. However, its tone is limited for the more intermediate and advanced piano student. Such a student will need a piano with a more complex and subtle tonal range like the Essex EUP-123E provides.
To be clear, despite the fact that it gets brighter in tone with age, Yamaha’s U-1 is a good piano in several respects. It has become a popular model, such that Essex’s EUP-123E doesn’t always get the attention it deserves as the new kid on the block. Once you try the Essex EUP-123E, you may find that it is a worthy alternative to the Yamaha U-1.
The best way to determine which of these affordable, new uprights is for you is to play them for yourself. At M. Steinert & Sons, we encourage prospective customers to try other brands first at other piano companies and then compare ours to them with a visit to our showroom.
That is always the best way to find the piano that is best for you.
Meantime, read more about the Yamaha and Essex models in the articles linked below:
by Stephen N. Reed
Piano lessons hold a storied image in American life. For generations, submitting to the expertise of one’s piano teacher, has been a cultural rite of passage for millions of young people.
Like everything else, piano lessons have increased, in some places dramatically. In this article, we will explore the range of piano lesson costs nationally and in the Greater Boston area. We will also address the value of such lessons for students, whether or not they make a career in music.
Nationally, the cost of piano lessons typically ranges between $15 and $50 for a 30-minute lesson. Lesson rates can vary depending on things like where you live and your teacher’s expertise.
According to M. Steinert & Sons piano consultant Patrick Elisha, piano lessons in the Greater Boston area typically range from $30-to $75 per 30-minute lesson. These piano teachers often have exceptional educational and performance credentials. Other factors also affect lesson costs including:
The benefits of working with a private music teacher are obvious: you get one-on-one professional guidance, a customized lesson plan, and a teacher to hold you accountable to your musical lessons and goals.
A qualified piano teacher will help their student in the process of learning how to open the door into and traverse the vast world of music. It is important to find a balance in what this mentor can provide, both in their pedagogical capacity and in their capabilities to accentuate the mostly solitary practice of learning how to play the piano.
Unlike other instruments which have the clear opportunity to engage in orchestral repertoire through local youth symphony orchestras, piano playing is like a “Swiss Army Knife” in terms of the varied mediums carried by the instrument.
Collaborative piano in its many forms should include but not limited to accompanying and chamber music should be an integral part of early learning. Quite often, the latter is only available at summer music festivals.
Consequentially, if the pedagogical method or venue can’t provide these opportunities, the teacher needs to inspire the artist and their family to engage in summer music festival programs, “extracurricular” ensemble learning, and performing.
Performing is as integral to the art of piano as practicing. Imagine a world where we prepare for an athletic event such as a basketball game, practicing each day with our team, only to realize that there never really is a game to look forward to. The “game” is the opportunity to perform, on a consistent, semi-annual, or quarterly basis with performances set up by the teacher or school associated.
A good piano teacher helps their students understand the mathematics around how music works. This is key to a developing artist’s voice and analytical capability. This more cerebral part of piano learning is both fun and a core tenet of a complete piano education.
Like any language or dialect all of these elements, from learning solo repertoire to understanding the world of collaboration with others, performing and music theory are needed in order to offer the learner the best opportunity in learning the art of piano.
The more complete the education, the more likely one is to continue and maintain this art in one’s life, allowing this craft to endure with their own children and families as time goes on.
“Anyone who makes a distinction between entertainment and education doesn’t know the first thing about either.” So said Canadian social philosopher Marshall McLuhan.
Like all good teachers, a gifted piano teacher knows how to challenge students while making learning fun. Without piano playing having an element of enjoyment to it, a student is not likely to stay with it for long.
Whatever the rate that a given piano teacher charges, if they are capable both technical mastery of playing the piano and finding fun and interesting ways to engage their students, then they are probably worth every dollar they charge.
For not only will they be opening up the world of music to their students but will be building up their sense of self-discipline, self-confidence, and intellectual curiosity as to how subject areas like mathematics and music intersect.
Piano playing is on the rise, as people turn to music making at home during different periods of the pandemic. Read more about that in piano teacher Elizabeth Reed’s following essay:
“How the Pandemic brought life back into our living rooms.”
by Stephen N. Reed
Digital pianos, first popularized in the 1980s, attempt to replicate the sound and feel of an acoustic piano. While great strides have been made towards that end, they still haven’t reached that lofty goal, and depending upon who you ask, never will. Yet, for many, the quality digital piano is a great alternative to the old, out of tune, used piano that many first-time buyers gravitate towards.
At M. Steinert & Sons, we have closely followed the digital piano market since the first ones were available. While we carry Roland digital pianos and have always been satisfied with their high quality, we acknowledge that some other top brands have quality models, as well.
Four of the most recommended digital brand pianos include:
All four are known for their quality of sound (usually sampled from their acoustic counterpart), and their realistic action, which makes it feel as close to an acoustic as possible. By the end of this article, you’ll understand better the top four digital piano brands and what we believe is the top digital piano.
Yamaha digital pianos are often known by their Clavinova brand name and use samples (recordings) from other Yamaha pianos as the basis for their sound. They have a wide range of quality and feature levels – and are grouped, priced, and marketed differently through a wide variety of e-commerce and retail channels.
Model numbers can change quite frequently – and it’s often a challenge to know which models are currently in the line-up. In general, the higher the number within a given series (ie P125 vs P45), means a higher price point and feature set within the series.
While not as well-known as Yamaha, Kawai digital pianos offer a variety of different quality/function options. They have 7 different piano action designs that appear across their many different models.
Like most, the higher the number within a series means higher feature/price, but some year-to-year changes will blur this
generality in Kawai’s line. Kawai digital pianos feature the sampled sound of Kawai acoustic pianos. Kawai instruments are generally sold through piano stores and major music retailers.
Casio, long known for their inexpensive portable keyboards, has been making digital pianos under the Celviano trade name since the 90s. They have recently gained broader distribution in the US and have sought to move upmarket from their low-end beginnings. Their newer trade name, Privia is sold in many mass merchant stores.
At Steinert, we’ve chosen to exclusively partner with Roland digital pianos. Roland has served the professional music community for almost 50 years – and while not as widely distributed or well known as Yamaha – Roland has earned its reputation for physical and musical quality as well as excellent durability.
Their focus on physical modeling sound technology has resulted in major advances used in various ways across their digital piano line and distinguishes Roland digital pianos from other digital pianos in the market. Since Roland doesn’t make acoustic pianos, they are free to select from any piano source they choose–and Steinway-based and inspired sounds are present in every Roland digital piano.
Today’s digital pianos have come a long way as compared to past generations of electric and digital pianos. This goes for each of the brands we’ve reviewed. The engineers at Yamaha, Kawai, Casio, and Roland are to be commended for their efforts towards making affordable instruments that have improved touch and tone.
Having said that, Roland has gone in a different direction than the other leading digital brands. Patrick Elisha, former piano consultant for M. Steinert & Sons, notes that Roland does not seek to be a hybrid of acoustic and digital solutions.
“Rather, Roland seeks to be a maintenance-free, all-encompassing digital piano solution that does not rely on acoustic components to function,” says Patrick. “This, coupled with their mastery of acoustic engineering and piano modeling technology, creates an instrument that is reliably accurate, in both touch and tone, and caters to many playing styles.”
As a result, while the competition is comprised of some solid alternative brands, Roland offers more to the buyer who wants a reliable touch and tone, based on the engineering Roland has invested in modeling technology. For the piano student who wants to play a wide variety of musical genres, Roland offers a digital piano that is just as playable for jazz and contemporary pieces as classical.
For these reasons, a good argument can be made that Roland is the best of these top-of-the-line digital pianos.
Should you decide to buy a Roland digital piano from M. Steinert & Sons, you will have the potential to take advantage of the M. Steinert & Sons Lifetime Steinway Trade-Up policy, which gives you 100% of what you paid for your Roland towards a new Steinway & Sons piano, excluding taxes and delivery, towards another M. Steinert piano that has a higher cost.
This enables many buyers to see first if their interest in playing the piano sticks. If it does, many then purchase their ultimate piano.
As with shopping for an acoustic piano, the discerning digital piano customer will take in a good sampling of makes and models. At M. Steinert & Sons, we encourage people to compare different digital models, including our Roland series, before making a purchase. After all, a digital piano is a significant purchase, one you want to be satisfied with going forward.
We would welcome the opportunity to introduce you to our current Roland digital piano models at either of our two showroom locations in Boston and Newton. Please feel free to set up an appointment with one of our experienced piano consultants to listen to your piano needs and to show you some models to play.
While visiting our showrooms, take a look at our acoustic offerings, too, to compare with our digital offerings.
To learn more about the difference between digital and acoustic pianos, read this article:
Digital vs. acoustic pianos: Which is the best for me?
by Stephen N. Reed
Choosing a piano for one’s home or institution is an expensive proposition. But there is a difference between “expensive” and “costly.” An expensive piano may come at a price, but at least you are getting many years of great learning and playing on the keyboard.
But a piano purchase can become unfortunately costly and disappointing if you don’t have reliable sources for information. You could end up with an outright lemon of a piano or just something that is different once you get it home than what you thought you were getting. What could be more disappointing than that?
At M. Steinert & Sons, we have spent over 160 years helping tens of thousands of customers find the piano of their dreams. We do this by listening to each customer’s individual needs and aspirations and advising each and every customer to find the right piano to achieve their goals.
By the end of this article, you will begin to understand the key considerations towards finding the best piano for you. You will be a more informed buyer, ready to approach your nearest piano merchant confidently.
You’ll walk into a piano store knowing that, though many pianos look the same, they’re not. Understanding the differences between piano brands, models, and designs is key to a sound purchase of a piano that is well-suited for you.
The day of your piano delivery will be an exciting one. All the research and planning, all culminate in this one key moment when the piano becomes yours.
As a result, the last thing you want is to buy impulsively, not understanding of how wide a quality range of piano brands and models are out there. What about the pros and cons of buying used vs new?
For many, buying a piano is a huge purchase. Done right, buying a piano can bring years of music to your home.
However, done carelessly, buying a piano can become a source of stress, annoying you every time you see your purchase, sitting there, taking up space.
Any decent piano seller wants their customer to be truly satisfied with their purchase. However, this can only be achieved through careful consideration. Putting thought in ahead of time can greatly increase the odds that your piano purchase will be satisfying to you. Three key steps are involved:
In this previous article, we examined some of the essential aspects of buying a piano: one’s preferred size, color, touch, and tone. If you’re unsure about whether you have enough room to have a grand, piano templates are available to determine if you can accommodate one.
Of course, one’s budget needs to be examined in light of one’s preferences. This helps to narrow down possible pianos for you to try. If you find that the piano you resonate with the most goes beyond your budget, some dealers have financing options available.
Taking one’s time to sample a variety of makes and models of pianos with the help of a seasoned piano consultant is critically important. Such an expert helps you to further narrow down your choices to a few that meet your budget and other needs. Then you can zero in on the piano that was meant for you.
This is not just an individual buyer’s strategy but an institutional approach, as well. For example, many colleges and universities that become All-Steinway Schools secure the help of an Authorized Steinway Dealer in their search for a new grand piano for their music program.
Such schools can avail themselves of the Steinway Selection Process, which is available to both institutions and individuals.
After narrowing down their search, they visit the Steinway factory in Astoria, New York, where they try four brand new models, usually the Model D. After trying each one, the college’s committee decides upon the one Steinway grand piano that meets their needs.
There are several more angles to consider when choosing your piano. Frankly, this additional information is too detailed for a single article like this. The discerning piano buyer will want to learn more about the other dimensions of finding the right piano by consulting a piano merchant’s buyer’s guide.
A comprehensive buyer’s guide like M. Steinert’s can help you make a better-informed decision that fulfills your current and future needs–whether for education or entertainment. It covers everything from the types of pianos, the popular brands of pianos, technology-enhanced options and more.
Such a buyer’s guide can be very helpful in your selection, whether you buy a piano from the dealer who developed it or another.
Because we want you to succeed in your quest for the right piano for you, we offer M. Steinert’s buyer’s guide free of charge, regardless of whether you buy your piano from us.
Buying a piano should be an educational, interesting, and even fun experience. Learning from your own readings and having the guidance of a seasoned piano is the best way to have a positive experience.
Then the result will be a new addition to your home: a cherished musical instrument that can be in your family for generations.
Go to our main page to download the M. Steinert’s Buyer’s Guide.
by Stephen N. Reed
Buying a piano is a significant investment. Seeking solid information and asking questions of a seasoned, trustworthy piano consultant is simply prudent anytime one buys an instrument costing several thousand dollars.
But how do you prepare for a piano appointment? If the “piano world” is completely new to you, going into the process essentially blind can be a recipe for confusion.
It’s a jungle out there, filled with a variety of brands, price points, and varying degrees of musical quality in each piano you sample. Without a guide, you could easily get lost and quite possibly make a poor choice for your piano, which would be a lasting regret.
In contrast, discovering a guide in the form of a knowledgeable, honest piano store consultant can be a relief. Now you have a professional who can start answering your questions and who will begin to learn your priorities for your upcoming piano.
M. Steinert & Sons has always taken this relational approach to its customers and prospective customers. Our piano sales consultants take the time to understand your piano needs and then work to find the kind of models that may hit the target for you.
By the end of this article, you will understand how to reflect and prepare yourself to make this kind of process work best for you. Additionally, you will learn about the piano buying fundamentals of understanding pianos’ sizes, colors, touches, tones, and budgets.
You’ll come away from this article with the information you need to make the first meeting with your piano consultant a productive one.
Before launching into your piano search, take some time to reflect on what has brought you to this point. Why do you want a piano? Is it simply for you or a family member to learn how to play? Is it something you’ve always wanted that you are now in a position to afford? A little bit of both?
Jonathan Yourtee is a piano consultant with M. Steinert & Sons, with a background in playing the piano. Jonathan encourages each customer to do some thinking on their own before they come to the showroom.
“I ask my customers to sit down for 5-10 minutes or more and just refresh their memory as to their goal in purchasing a piano,” says Jonathan.
Every customer is different. Some people may have wanted to learn to play since childhood and never had the time or money before to pursue it. Others played before but life got in the way. So now they want to get back into it.
“The individual customer’s reasons for purchasing a piano informs the five areas I ask them to think about next before buying a piano,” says Jonathan. “Size, color, touch, tone, and their budget.”
People who can afford a Steinway Model D concert grand may be swept away by its epic size and volume. But unless they have a space that can accommodate a nearly 9’ concert grand, it may well be more piano than they can use.
“A piano shouldn’t take up more than half of a room,” says Jonathan. “That’s a good rule to keep in mind not only in terms of whether a given piano will fit well in the room but also in terms of the size of the sound.”
The piano industry has accommodated all manner of sizes and sounds for individual buyers over the years. Not only are there a wide range of grand piano sizes, from concert grands to baby grands, but upright pianos have long had a favored place in smaller spaces.
Jonathan uses piano templates to determine what kinds of pianos can fit a given space at a customer’s home. Such templates can be extraordinarily helpful early on to narrow down the field of piano models for a given space.
Many are surprised to see how a grand piano can often fit in the space allotted to an upright.
Whether it’s an ebony polished look or a black satin matte, black has emerged over the years as the color that goes with anything and has top re-sale value. A walnut or mahogany finish might be popular one year but not another; meanwhile black is always “in.”
Having said that, many buyers like having the option of individualizing their purchase. They enjoy reading information about different colors and designs for a piano’s case online before their visit with their piano consultant.
For example, Steinway’s Crown Jewel Collection of pianos features a wide variety of cases with exotic woods from around the world. These are the same exact Steinway model otherwise–just a jazzy exterior to add something special to a room.
One new trend that offers the buyer even more solid colors to choose from involves wrapping. Wrapping is becoming more popular and is offered at M. Steinert & Sons.
How do you want the keys to feel? Unless you’re a professional pianist, you may not have thought about this before. But brands differ in feel and weighting of touch, which involves the piano’s action, the hammers hitting the strings. Is the feel stiff, easy, or something in between?
A piano’s touch is one of the most practical of considerations because if you take home a piano whose touch is one the player doesn’t like or is not able to express their musical intentions, there goes the ballgame! This is especially true with young piano students.
“I always tell customers to bring their children with them, too, if they will be playing the piano,” says Jonathan. “Bring them to the first visit with the piano consultant. Have the kids involved from the beginning.”
While some jazz pianists like the way a brighter sounding piano punches through the sound of the other instruments in the band, more classically-associated brands like Steinway have their jazz pianist fans, as well.
After all, the same various colors stemming from a Steinway’s soundboard and rim can be used to express emotions in a wide range of music.
Steinway’s tone is characterized by its warm, well-rounded, bell-like tone. Elements of that Steinway sound is found in the designs of its sister brands, Boston and Essex.
Reading about how others describe the tone of various piano brands will give you a better understanding of what you hear when you sample different pianos later with your piano consultant.
As with any significant purchase, calculating your budget is naturally a key factor for the piano you purchase. Would a better model be worth stretching one’s budget?
Like anything else, the more expensive piano models have advantages, like a more nuanced touch and tone, resulting in greater musical expression.
Moreover, if they are made of better woods, they will usually last longer and will definitely have greater resale value if you want to buy another piano later.
The higher-priced pianos like Steinway, which are handcrafted rather than manufactured, have prices that reflect U.S. and German labor costs at their factories.
However, the piano industry has met the need for more affordable pianos, so if your budget is something lower than a new Steinway price, look into Steinway-designed Boston and Essex lines, as well as Yamaha and Kawai.
Jonathan says that as you begin to get familiarized with these five subject areas for pianos, you’ll be able to hit the ground running with your first piano consultant visit. You’ll have a lot to talk about, so try to carve out adequate time for your visit to the showroom.
“I ask customers to try for a 60 or 90 minutes initial meeting, just so we can get acquainted better and so that I can begin to get a feel for their particular piano needs,” noted Jonathan.
Choosing a piano deserves a bit of time to do it right. If you were in the market for a luxury automobile like a Lamborghini or a Porsche, wouldn’t you want to know about their features? What makes them special. How are they made?
An experienced piano consultant can save you time and money by spending a little more time upfront to really understand why you’re buying a piano and what your expectations are.
We hope to see you in one of our two showrooms in Boston and Newton, where one of our highly-experienced piano consultants will show you hospitality and start understanding your piano needs.
In the meantime, keep reading in preparation for your first meeting with the piano consultant of your choice. If you want to learn how a piano maker like Steinway makes their piano, you’ll enjoy the following piece. Steinway craftspeople create the company’s pianos touch and tone daily:
What is a Steinway factory tour like?
by Stephen N. Reed, updated January 2023.
Buying a piano is an investment–an investment in the musical quality of the instrument, which, in turn, is protected by thoughtfully caring for the instrument and the high-quality materials used to make it. As strong as the woods are in a grand or upright, they are still susceptible to the elements, like high humidity in coastal regions like Boston.
As a result, determining the best place in your home for your new piano is an important consideration. After all, what could be worse than investing thousands of dollars in a beautiful instrument with exceptional musical value, only to see that value diminished more quickly than necessary over time?
At M. Steinert & Sons, we have been helping our customers not only buy the best piano for them but also always consider how they will be happy after any purchase. That includes thinking about things like the best placement for their new piano in the home or institution.
Piano placement is an important decision, perhaps an even more critical decision than regular maintenance. Why? Because once a piano is placed, it often remains in that position for years.
All the more reason to make that placement a good one.
By the end of this article, you will know where the best potential places are for piano placement, understanding why some places are best while others are not. You’ll also understand how piano placement affects the mechanical, structural, and aesthetic dimensions of your piano, even its longevity.
Understandably, your piano placement may be constrained by the space and structures in your home or institution. Having said that, there are some areas to avoid placing your piano.
While having a piano by a window may seem a pleasant placement, this may be one of the worst possible places for the overall well-being of a piano, whether a grand or an upright. The air around windows change with the conditions outside, both on a daily and seasonal basis.
Temperature and humidity rise and fall, and a piano placed near a window experiences all of those atmospheric changes. This causes your piano’s wooden action parts to shrink and swell. Additionally, your piano’s tuning will be affected, causing your piano to need tuning more often.
Another place to avoid for atmospheric temperature issues is an air vent. Obviously, in this case, the atmosphere affecting your instrument is from inside your home, not outside.
Whether with air vents or other areas affecting the interior environment (e.g. fireplaces, heaters, air conditioners), your piano will not respond well to a frequently changing environment. The fewer changes in temperature and less airflow, the better.
Think “climate-controlled” for your piano’s space.
Whether near a window or skylight, you risk more harm than you may suspect from allowing direct sunlight to hit it even a little while each day. Even that much sunlight, day after day, month after month can cause your piano’s beautiful finish to fade.
Wood finishes are particularly susceptible to fading in sunlight.
Proper placement safeguards your piano’s structural, mechanical, and aesthetic condition. One major advantage is to put the piano in the best place in an insulated room. Having good piano placement results in your piano having its best possible performance, sound, and longevity.
According to Total Piano Care, a home or building’s inner walls and climate-controlled conditions are paramount when considering piano placement. Grand pianos, when placed in a room are better secured and sound better when their straight edge is against an inner wall, distanced from sunlight, air vents, or windows. Uprights should be similarly placed.
Ideally, grand pianos should be placed in such a way as to allow the pianist to look into the room and not into a wall. The bass side of the piano should run parallel to the wall. This allows the bass to bounce against the wall to the wider room and the treble to project into the middle of the room.
If necessary, a grand piano can also be placed at a 45-degree angle towards a diagonal corner.
A few exceptions to the inner wall placement are possible for adequate piano placement. For example, the middle of the room can be used if exceptional acoustics are possible with high ceilings and hardwood floors, or materials that aid in sound amplification and continuation are in place.
Again, wherever the specific piano placement is, the main concern is airflow and atmospheric changes near the piano. This safeguards your investment and its musical quality from unnecessary deterioration and tuning instability.
A bit of good news: Mature piano brands like the Steinway Family brands, Yamaha, and Kawai are more resilient to environmental changes due to their careful materials selection, expertise, and experience via warranty claims over the years.
Homes are not always built with pianos in mind. As a result, a few inches may make the difference between placing your piano in your favorite room or another.
At M. Steinert & Company we know that it’s difficult to fully think about placing a piano until you have it in your home. That’s why we created piano templates that our piano consultants can bring to your home, if you’re in the greater Boston area, to ascertain the best piano placement and size.
Learn more in the articles below. Read how about floor patterns and how to determine what size piano will fit in your space. You’ll soon see why floor patterns can be so helpful.
Make an appointment to talk with one of our piano consultants at our Boston or Newton location. They can assist you as you decide on the right piano–and right piano placement–for you.
by Stephen N. Reed
Upright pianos have long had a welcome place in many American homes. For those who don’t have the space or the budget for a grand piano, uprights can be a perfect fit. But which among the modern top quality uprights is the best model and why?
Let’s explore the main contenders for “best quality upright” among the models produced today. After all, who would want to select a new upright, only to find out later that a better upright would have only cost a bit more?
Here at M. Steinert & Sons, we’ve sold thousands of upright pianos over the past 160 years, including the period at the turn of the 20th century when they were intensely popular in America. As an Authorized Steinway Dealer, we naturally believe Steinway pianos have a lot to offer. However, so do other high-quality piano brands, some of which we’ll examine in this article.
Then and now, we have helped our customers find the best pianos for them, many of which were upright pianos, whether serving as a beginner’s first piano or a starter piano that could lead eventually to a further investment in a grand piano.
By the end of this article, you will understand the upright piano’s background and will be familiar with the top upright piano models across several top-quality brands. From these top models, we’ll explain which one is the best upright.
The immediately noticed difference in an upright piano is that the strings and soundboard run vertically, perpendicular to the keyboard. Early uprights had strings that started upward from the same level as the keys.
As a result, these earlier instruments were considerably taller, providing ample space on the case for a variety of decorative designs.
The strings in today’s upright pianos run upward from the bottom of the case, that is, near the floor. This design dates back to 1800, created by Sir John Isaac Hawkins, a leading English piano maker living in Philadelphia.
Uprights have come in a variety of heights. The shortest ones are cons0les or spinets. Due to their shorter strings and smaller soundboards, they have less power and quality to their tone. The larger upright pianos (more than 50” tall) took off in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and remain the preferred size for uprights today.
One important difference between the grand and the upright is in the action of both. Grands have a quicker, more responsive action due to the horizontal strings, which allows the hammers to fall naturally back into place thanks to gravity after they strike strings.
The upright’s action returns to a resting position with the help of springs rather than gravity alone. As a result, the upright has a different touch.
Uprights, therefore, are not made for the concert stage. A practice room, yes. Definitely the home, especially one with a premium of square feet.
Yamaha has put considerable effort into a comprehensive redesign of their U series of upright pianos. These uprights have refined scale designs, as well as wider music desks for the player’s sheet music or music books.
Steve Hauk, Sales Manager for M. Steinert & Sons, says that Yamaha’s U Series of upright pianos are well-regarded. He notes that the U-1 (48” tall) and the U-3 (52” tall) are popular first pianos for many piano students.
“Beginning piano students are often enamored with the brightness of the Yamaha sound,” said Steve. “In a way, it compliments a lot of the early repertoire, like Bach and Handel. But as students progress musically, more tonal complexity is desirable.”
Steve Hauk says that Kawai K-series uprights compete with the Yamaha U-series and have a similar tone.
Kawai calls this series its “Professional Upright Pianos.” Popular with some parents and teachers, these pianos are produced with the Kawai Upright Action with plastic/composite parts rather than wood.
Kawai swears by this composite action, citing its stability. Others maintain that a quality wood action, despite its occasional swelling and shrinking, is still the standard.
Merriam Music has an unbiased take on the wood vs. composite action debate. They state that a composite action might last longer than a low to mid-grade wooden action. However, a top-quality wooden action can last just as long. Additionally, composite actions appear to have no impact on tone. Also, they have no discernible benefit or risk to resale value.
Steve Hauk says that, like the Yamaha U series, Kawai’s K series uprights remain a popular choice for first-time piano students. They come in three sizes: the K-400 (48”), the K-500 (51”), and the K-800 (53”).
Steinway-designed Essex pianos, the least expensive of the three brands in the Steinway Family (Steinway, Boston, and Essex), are considered the gateway to the full Steinway sound.
Steve Hauk cites four popular Essex uprights: the smaller EUP-108 (42”), the EUP-111 (44”), the EUP-116 (45”), and the EUP-123 (48”).
“The Essex uprights are excellent for everyday use in the home,” says Hauk. “And they are quite affordable. They share many features with the more expensive Boston and Steinway uprights, including a tapered solid spruce soundboard for long sustain, lower-tension scale design for a richer tone, and a responsive all-wood action made from high-quality maple.
One benefit to buying an Essex upright is that any payments on a new Essex (or Boston) can be applied to a later Steinway purchase, per Steinway’s Lifetime Trade-Up Policy. This is due to their being a part of the Steinway Family of pianos.
Boston is a step up from its Essex cousin, both in materials and design. Aside from being a production piano in contrast to a handcrafted Steinway, the distinctions between Bostons and Steinways can be hard to discern. Both have the Steinway touch and tone. Both have enormous power in their grands, as well as their uprights.
“When Steinway engineers started to consider their designs for Boston pianos, they decided to get feedback from many music professors,” says Steve Hauk. “To a large extent, what you see in today’s Boston pianos is what the music professors wanted in a piano. They are built with music conservatories in mind, as well as for residential use.”
Steve notes three popular Boston uprights: the UP-118 (46”), the UP-126 (50”), and the UP-132 (52”).
“All of these models have an exceptional sustain and clarity, due to Steinway’s renowned lower-tension scale designs,” notes Steve. “The soundboards are of the highest quality. They each have the Hard Rock Maple you see in classic Steinways, including the patented Hexagrip pin block. All Boston uprights feature the staggered backposts for added structural integrity. In short, Bostons play better and last longer.”
Boston’s launch in the early 1990’s was the most successful in modern piano-making history.
Steinway & Sons is best known for their iconic grand pianos, whether for the stage, practice room or home. However, they are quick to point out on the upright piano page on their website that their famous Model K-52 is handcrafted in the same Astoria, New York factory as their grands.
Steinway’s uprights continue to have the same materials, techniques, conditioning processes and craftspeople. They are simply built in the “vertical department” at the Astoria factory, where the processes are vertically oriented.
Steinway’s 1098 upright is no longer in production, though one can still find several of these models on the used piano market. It was a small upright, 46.5” in height.
Currently, Steinway is putting all of its upright focus on the K-52, a large, powerful instrument. Introduced in 1903, the 52” K-52 uses the highest grade of materials and features a larger soundboard than many grands, giving it an unusually resonant voice for an upright.
Many professional piano players seeking an upright piano buy the K-52, because of that resonance and power. Additionally, they like the structural integrity that the solid wood, staggered backposts provide the K-52.
“Steinway doesn’t want to cede any part of the piano market,” says Steve Hauk. “That’s why they have intentionally chosen to retain and refine the K-52 upright over the last hundred years. What gives it that rich, deep sound is its design.
Hauk believes that the K-52 simply has one of the best-engineered scale designs of any piano, grand or upright.
“Obviously, many people need an upright for its smaller size.,” notes Steve. “But you know what? When a potential buyer sees that they can get this kind of Steinway sound in a much less expensive package, that speaks to them, too.”
For the aforementioned reasons–a well-engineered scale design, the highest grade of materials, a larger soundboard, and a deep, rich Steinway sound–Hauk believes that the K-52 is simply the best upright piano built today.
“The others we’ve mentioned are all respected piano brands and models,” says Steve. “Yamaha and Kawai each have something to offer. For example, some pianists may prefer the quicker composite-based action in the Kawai piano. Similarly, some jazz pianists may prefer the brighter sound in Yamahas.”
But Steve maintains that Steinway’s K-52 is unique, particularly its bell-like Steinway sound.
“It’s handcrafted, and that adds so much to every dimension of a piano, especially an upright, with its super responsive action,” says Steve. “There’s a reason Steinway has been making the K-52 since the turn of the 20th century. Professionals and regular players just like them. They like the power, the resonance, and that warm Steinway sound.”
Any payments made on a new K-52 can be applied to a later Steinway grand, per M. Steinert & Sons lifetime Trade-Up policy.
Learn more about the cost of modern upright pianos by reading the following article:
How much does an upright piano cost?
Vivian Handis, piano teacher, piano expert and retired team member of M. Steinert & Sons contributed material for this article. Vivian is known to “not hold back” in her conviction that the piano makes a difference, and takes great pride in having served many hundreds of families and pianists at Steinert’s over the years.
This popular article has been updated for 2023.
Most of us know that in any professional or recreational endeavor, a better tool increases one’s chances for satisfaction and success.
A quality acoustic or digital piano, in essence, partners with the student and teacher to implement instruction, supports effective practice between lessons and awakens the artist within.
The instrument, hands down, makes a significant difference. Without a proper instrument, the learning process is compromised from Lesson One.
Ultimately, the best piano for a beginner is the best quality piano one can afford.
There are a number of best piano candidates and paths to choose from that lead to inspiration. Once understood, the following question is where the journey really begins.
Consider that a student typically meets with their teacher for a piano lesson (in a studio or school) once weekly, anywhere from 30-60 minutes. In most cases, the student will practice at home during the week between lessons. If the teacher travels to the student, regular instruction may rely exclusively on the piano in the home.
As a result of the current pandemic, remote piano lessons have become increasingly popular, making it even more challenging for teachers and students to create the ideal environment for piano study. Restated, without a proper instrument, the learning process is compromised from Lesson One.
Many well-intended parents (who may, or may not have ever played an instrument) seek out the finest and most compatible piano teacher for their child. They are willing to pay dearly for quality instruction, which IS worth every dollar of tuition.
Unfortunately, too many of these same parents do not think it is of equal importance to invest in the piano, or “tool” that is the best fit to implement the teacher’s instruction, support effective practice between lessons, awaken artistry, ignite inspiration … help actualize their child’s potential.
What is the outcome when a student cannot read music with accurate translation to the keyboard because they do not have the correct 88 key orientation? Do expression and musicality have a chance when a piano or keyboard cannot express a range of dynamics, sound a pleasing tone, or help develop a budding pianist’s technique and discerning ear?
Considering a child’s formative years … this is time we do not get back. What we may get back is the opportunity to begin again, as I experience with adult learners either coming back to piano, or fulfilling a lifelong dream of learning how to play.
An adult beginner can choose which piano path offers the best fit … a child, however, is completely dependent upon the instrument chosen by a parent or guardian. Children receive a beautiful and powerful message, unspoken, when the best piano a family can afford is invested in, on their behalf.
Whether it is a beginner’s first piano or an upgrade at any stage of a pianist’s development, the message is the same: Your music study is important and worthy. I/We value, respect, and support you and your hard work, as well as your teacher’s hard work. I/We believe in you.
There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to a first piano, but there are a number of paths for choosing a beginner’s best piano fit. First, a few minutes of homework will provide you with the best chance of success, inspiration, and enjoyment!
1-Think about the following criteria and which are important to YOU?
Addressing and thinking about these will clarify and simplify your piano decision.
2-Term of use: Is it a short-range or long-range piano plan?
Are you thinking “quick fix” or a potential heirloom?
3-Type: The Major Categories of pianos:
Do you know about these? Grand Acoustic / Upright Acoustic / Digital
4-Condition: New or used?
Contrary to myth, pianos don’t last forever – but sometimes used makes sense.
5-Your Environment and Space limitations:
Are you willing to tune and maintain an acoustic piano? Are there options for the location of the piano? What size and location combo is best?
6-Commitment and timing of ownership:
Will it make sense to rent, purchase, or finance?
7-Features:
Which of these statements might apply?: Touch and tone is the highest priority / Technology is a priority / Practicing with headphones a must
8-Assistance:
Know whether your teacher or a technician is able or willing to assist with the selection process.
9-Warranty:
What level of purchase security are you looking for? Sample warranty terms include Manufacturer’s New, a Certified-Used, or a 90-day warranty.
10-Case Design and Finish:
Will the piano be featured in the room, somewhat important, or ‘just there’.
11-Investment Range:
The realistic range of investment you might consider today with an eye towards musical growth.
See our article on what does a piano cost for more information on pricing and cost ranges.
Answers to the questions above may lead anywhere from the purchase of an entry-level Roland digital, to a quality acoustic rental at just over $100 per month, to a Steinway Spirio | r at well over $100,000. The range is truly that wide. Most importantly, if the piano fit is right, the goal of VALUE has been achieved, to provide the best quality affordable piano for a beginner’s success, inspiration, and enjoyment.
Offers flexibility for folks not ready to purchase or who prefer a step-by-step longer-range piano plan with a solid quality acoustic piano. Up to 12 months of rent can be applied toward purchase. Credit approval is required, with arranged automatic deduction payments. See rental page.
Offers lower purchase price. Never needs to be tuned. Receive 100% of your purchase price as trade value towards any piano of double value for up to 5 years. Roland currently offers desirable interest-free financing for 12 months. Scholarship or value certificate option with school or teacher affiliate on a new digital purchase.
Picks: HP702, HP704 for child/teen/adult. HP704 offers outstanding value over time and is our best seller with state-of-the-art touch and tone, 10-year manufacturer’s warranty parts + labor, and piano essentials kit. A student will not outgrow this model quickly. Prices range from low $2K to mid $3K exclusive of tax and delivery.
This collection of pianos includes many options in new/used/rental return/trade-in/ and consignment upright and grand pianos. I advise folks if they are stretching their budget to afford a Steinway-designed Essex, it is a wonderful choice. With a Steinway-designed piano, they will benefit from longer sustain, a smooth key action, and a lively colorful tone.
If one can afford a Boston for a beginner, it is my consistent recommendation. Boston is the closest relative to Steinway and offers exceptional value at its price point. You may stay with your Boston for several years, or as I have experienced with many Boston owners, trade up to a larger Boston!
With Essex and Boston, you will receive 100% of your purchase price as trade towards any piano of double value for up to 5 years. Also, any piano, new or used, acoustic or digital, purchased from M.Steinert & Sons receives 100% of the original purchase price for the life of the original purchaser towards any new Steinway & Sons piano of greater value. All pianos come with a warranty: New, Certified, or Used.
Vivian worked with folks who chose a Steinway from the start for their child’s music journey, or as adults, are coming back to music (often after decades) to invest in themselves, and in the piano of their highest aspiration. If you are interested in exploring the full Steinway family please visit our pianos as well as the used piano listings. All pianos on our website include pictures, video, commentary and text.
Here are some of the favorite models for beginners. Costs below reflect 2023 pricing. Feel free to inquire regarding current promotions. Also, please ask if we have any rental returns or used inventory. Essex upright: EUP108 – $7,200 plus tax and delivery. Essex grand: EGP173 – $20,900 plus tax and delivery. Boston upright: UP120S PEII ebony polish – $9,800 plus tax and delivery.
Also, the Boston grand: GP156 PEII – $25,400 plus tax and delivery.
If you embrace these ideas and answer the questions above, we are confident that it will be well worth the self-discovery you will experience on your piano journey! We believe you will be delighted by how efficiently we can guide you to find your best fits, and by how generous we are with our time to do a “deep dive” into any and all models of interest.
And, if we do not have the right piano for you … we will still help! M. Steinert & Sons has adapted to historical events since 1860 and continues to create new opportunities for supporting pianists regardless of where they buy. As we celebrate 160 years, there has never been a better time to welcome a piano home. We look forward to serving you!
We introduced our new PIANO BUYERS GUIDE to help you learn about the amazing world of pianos.
by Stephen N. Reed (updated for 2023 pricing and pianos on 1/30/23)
Since John Isaac Hawkins built the first upright (i.e., vertical) piano in 1800, these pianos have been quite popular. Their smaller size has made them perfect for use in the home.
Uprights have often been seen as a good first piano, especially for beginners. Culturally speaking, they have helped introduce piano playing to millions of people, especially in America, where they became a fixture in many families’ parlors.
Like all musical instruments over the years, the cost of upright pianos has steadily increased, especially in the 2021-2023 period. You may wonder if they are still the most cost-effective way to enjoy an acoustic piano. The answer is yes unless an upright is at the end of its life cycle.
However, uprights come in many brands and models, new and used, and the savvy buyer will investigate the range of upright options in the current market.
Here at M. Steinert & Sons, we have listened well to our customers for over 160 years, allowing us to help them find the right piano for each of them. Uprights can be an excellent first piano for many in terms of price, size, and learning to play the piano.
By the end of this article, you will become familiar with several upright models across a range of prices. As a result, you’ll be better positioned to choose the upright piano that is best for you.
At the low end of the upright spectrum, one can expect to find many free pianos, which are generally worth what you pay for them. We examined this before in a previous column.
Occasionally, a used upright piano from a reputable brand may be found if the owner wants to expedite the sale of their piano. Craigslist and other sites like it might have the occasional deal in this range – but keep in mind moving costs and the potential for unknown issues.
Within this range, a recent and more lightly-used upright is possible in fair to good condition if from a reputable brand. The difference between these uprights and those in the $0-$1,000 range is the quality of the brands of the used pianos available.
Examples in this range, as advertised online*, include:
*Please note that used piano prices posted here and online are ballpark figures, not actual values. Those can only be estimated after review by a trained independent technician. Age and musical quality are critical factors in determining value.
We see better quality used uprights and even the beginning of some brands’ economy uprights in this price range.
However, for many buyers, the relatively low cost does not make up for the instability and poor tone quality frequently found in used pianos within this range. Stencil and economy pianos are manufactured to a single design.
Stencil and economy pianos tend to use lower-quality materials and easier-to-build designs. They are built to meet a price point rather than a quality standard.
Examples include:
Within this range, one’s options greatly expand when buying a good, production upright, whether new or used. The quality of new and used uprights in this price range is higher.
Buying new in this range allows for some significant benefits, including multi-year warranties and, for Steinway-designed models, a Trade-Up policy that allows all of one’s investment in a new upright to be applied later to a new Steinway if desired.
This range begins to allow for some used handcrafted pianos, like Steinway and Bosendorfer.
Examples include:
This range covers most quality new production brands and top-quality used models. For example, the Boston, Steinway’s top brand next to Steinway itself, has some new upright models within this range. Also, better quality used handcrafted pianos are available.
This is the range in which one’s quality options for a new upright piano really kick into high gear. The selection includes a wide variety of excellent new production pianos and a growing number of new handcrafted pianos.
Examples include:
Hopefully, the examples of used and new uprights above give you a better idea of what you can get within each price range. We want to offer one thought for your consideration on your buyer’s journey.
A poor or mediocre grand is not better than a fine-quality upright. Indeed, fine uprights are several times more costly than lower-quality grands. It is not merely the design that establishes the overall quality of a piano but the materials and workmanship. Only the best grands are better than the best uprights.
But if a grand piano isn’t an option right now, then getting the best possible quality upright is a fine choice, especially in terms of fitting the space available in one’s home and the space within your checkbook.
Ultimately, a good quality vertical piano will outperform and outlast a poorly made, inexpensive grand piano.
The best way to get a feel for the differences between upright models is to try some models yourself. We encourage you to go to other stores first to try their models. Then come to M. Steinert & Sons to look into the uprights in the Steinway family of pianos; Steinway, Boston, and Essex.
The upright models in all three brands possess the Steinway tone and many of the same materials. Boston and Essex are production uprights, while Steinway’s K-52 is handcrafted. Any payments on a new Boston and Essex can be applied to a later Steinway purchase, per Steinway’s lifetime Trade-Up policy.
For more information on New vs. Used pianos and how pianos age, click here.
by Brendan Murphy, President, M. Steinert & Sons
Our family is most definitely musical: piano is a family tradition. In fact, piano is the family business. For four generations, our family has been at the helm of M. Steinert & Sons, the oldest Steinway & Sons piano dealer in the world.
While piano is definitely in our blood, playing the piano has never been a prerequisite for successfully operating a nearly two-century-old piano retail operation. For over a century, my family has been piano lovers, admirers, listeners, appreciators, aficionados, experts… but not pianists. Until now!
At four, my son Colin told me he was going to be a rock star. He somehow knew, at that young age, the exact guitar he’d play on stage (a red Fender Stratocaster). He was an air guitarist/rock and roll fanatic, with loads of stage presence.
He asked for a guitar for his fourth birthday and Christmas the same year, but we hesitated. Guitar lessons are usually not recommended at four, as children’s hands are too small to really work the fretboard and too sensitive to depress the strings adequately.
We thought if we introduced guitar too early, Colin could end up frustrated by these limitations and give up on music. That would be tragic.
My wife and I believe music is vital. Learning to play an instrument and to read music is critically important to a child’s brain development. The positive effects are real and undisputed.
For business, I’ve consumed articles and papers about the effect of music on the brain for years, well before starting a family of my own.
One particularly powerful quote is, “Unlike language, music activates every subsystem of the brain, including the structures involved in motivation and emotion. This makes it especially effective in creating bonds between individuals and in a group, and can contribute to well-being throughout one’s lifespan.”
It was tough, but we eventually convinced our young rock star-wannabe that he was too young for guitar, at least for now. He accepted that he needed to start with piano. At age five, he attended a week-long “piano camp” for beginners at South Shore Conservatory (SSC).
Honestly, we weren’t sure how this would work out, concerned that piano lessons every day for a week would burn him out. Well, it turns out to be one of the best things we’ve done.
It all starts with the teacher. Maral Annaovezova at SSC is fabulous: the right mixture of kindness and “no-nonsense” required to get an energetic, soccer-playing boy to focus on the importance of practicing and playing. Maral is the reason Colin is not a guitar player–yet.
Colin’s piano journey has continued at SSC with three years of weekly private lessons with Maral. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, but thanks to Maral, Colin continues to practice and progress in his musical journey.
During COVID-related restrictions, Colin took lessons over Zoom. Fun at first, it was just not the same. Colin became bored and less interested in the piano.
We knew it was screen time burnout, and not the curriculum or the piano lessons. We’d seen it with his Zoom calls at school, and experienced it ourselves at work.
In 2020, Colin made the decision to “pause” his lessons. We wouldn’t let him quit, but we also knew the negative effects of constant screen time and were ok with this pause. We didn’t know how we’d get him to restart.
Colin thought he was done with piano, on his way to his coveted red Fender Strat. Thank goodness for Maral and South Shore Conservatory! Maral texted me asking if Colin was ready to start lessons again, alternating in-person and on Zoom.
Her personal reach-out was just the motivation for Colin. “Maral asked if I wanted to play piano again? Tell her, yes, I’ll do it.” This is the power of a good piano teacher, and the importance of supporting local community music schools.
If South Shore Conservatory hadn’t figured out how to get lessons going again in person (at least partially), Colin would probably not have restarted his lessons.
Since restarting lessons, being a pianist has become part of Colin’s identity. He recently met “an older kid” and quickly connected by saying “Oh, I play piano too!” Having this as his own thing has done a lot for his confidence.
On top of the physiological benefits of learning and playing piano, he has learned accountability, resilience and determination. He feels a sense of accomplishment when he finishes a recital or competition. He’s a soccer-playing, swimming, sailing piano player… and future rock star.
Learn more about South Shore Conservatory at https://sscmusic.org/ or find South Shore Conservatory on Facebook or Instagram.
