Growing up, many people remember taking piano lessons, or having several friends who learned the instrument.
But as generations change, some hobbies evolve too…
When it comes to the amount of people learning to play the piano, is it really on the decline?
“I don’t think you see it quite as much today just because there’s so much more distraction nowadays,” Steve Buckman, a piano instructor at Vancil Performing Arts Center said.
Buckman says when it comes to taking lessons it’s very different than 50 years ago.
He says between video games, social media, and other hobbies, the piano can sometimes take a back seat when it comes deciding what to spend your free time on.
Another factor is something that typically has a large weight in our decision making…money.
• 1917 ~ Norman Luboff, Choral leader, The Norman Luboff Choir
• 1925 ~ Patrice Munsel, Soprano, Metropolitan Opera diva at age 17; actress in The Great Waltz, Melba; radio performer: The Great Sopranos – Voices of Firestone Classic Performances; radio host: The Patrice Munsel Show
• 1937 ~ Duke Ellington and his band recorded the classic, Caravan, for Brunswick Records.
• 1943 ~ Jack Bruce, Musician: bass with the group Cream
• 1943 ~ Derek Leckenby, Guitarist with Herman’s Hermits
• 1944 ~ Troy Shondell, Singer
• 1945 ~ Gene Cornish, Guitarist with The Young Rascals
• 1952 ~ David Byrne, American rock composer, singer, American rock composer, performance artist and movie director
• 1957 ~ The musical, New Girl in Town, opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. Thelma Ritter and Gwen Verdon starred in the Broadway adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie. New Girl in Town had a run of 431 performances.
• 1971 ~ The Honey Cone received a gold record for the single, Want Ads. The female soul trio was formed in Los Angeles in 1969 and scored two million-sellers, Want Ads and Stick Up. The trio had a total of four songs on the charts that were moderate hits. Only Want Ads, however, made it to the number one position.
• 1971 ~ Danny Wood, Singer with New Kids on the Block
• 1998 ~ Frank Sinatra, one of the world’s greatest popular singers, died.
• 2001 ~ Loften Mitchell, a Tony Award-nominated playwright and early leader of the black theater movement, died at the age of 82. Mitchell was nominated for a Tony Award in 1976 for his book for the musical “Bubbling Brown Sugar,” a performance of black music and dance. He also wrote “A Land Beyond the River,” “Star of the Morning,” and the books “Voices of the Black Theater” and “Black Drama.” For many years he taught at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.
• 2003 ~ Otto Edelmann, whose dark bass-baritone propelled him to some of the world’s most renowned opera stages over a career spanning more than four decades, died. He was 86. Edelmann was often associated with masterful performances as Ochs in “Der Rosenkavalier,” and Hans Sachs in “Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg.” With his powerful voice, Edelmann was a favorite choice for Wagnerian roles. Edelmann trained at the Vienna Music Academy, now the Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts, under coaches including Gunnar Graarud. After a 1937 debut as Figaro in Gera, Germany, he sang in Nuremberg until 1940, when he was drafted into Hitler’s army. Captured by the Soviets, he spent several years as a prisoner of war. Edelmann’s postwar debut at the Vienna State Opera, as the hermit in “Der Freischuetz” in 1947, was the first of a 36-year engagement in the Austrian capital that included 430 performances in 36 different roles. He also was a regular for decades at the Salzburg Festival and other annual music events across Europe. Edelmann later turned increasingly to teaching, and in 1982 was appointed singing professor at the Vienna Music Academy.
• B.B. King, “the King of the Blues,” whose stinging guitar solos and husky, full-throated vocals made him an international music icon and the most commercially successful performer in blues history, died at the age of 89.
