The piano's status in U.S. living rooms is declining

The Los Angeles Times discusses the declining presence of the piano in American homes, noting how the acoustic piano “seems to be a relic of another era.” The story quotes James Parakilas, the James L. Moody Jr. Family Professor of Performing Arts and author of Piano Roles: 300 Years of Life With the Piano. While opportunities to hear and make music seem to be increasing, he notes, most of them are less demanding and expensive than actually playing the piano. Then there’s the guitar, which has “displaced the piano in a lot of the music people listen to — and not just kids,” he says. (View Text)