The Art of Persuasion: Students who need Grand

[Chitch]

I register a lot of my students in local piano competitions whenever they're happening. I teach off of an upright (pretty good Kawai) and am pushing like a woman giving labour for a grand. At the music festivals they always play on grands and I keep telling there parents - if they can afford it, that with the amount of times they perform on grand pianos, they should really go all out and sell the upright for w/e you can and to try and get a good grand. We all know there's simply no comparison between an upright to a grand, and if they're mostly playing on grands it'd be worth it to buy a baby grand...riiiiiight  

[Chitch]

I'm on a baby grand to, if that makes any difference

[eddie92099]

Firstly, a large upright has longer strings than a baby grand. Secondly, I know many pianists who themselves do not own grand pianos yet concertise regularly. It is never the case that one needs a grand. Yes, a 6ft Steinway would be nice but anything much smaller can be equalled by an upright,
Ed

[Hmoll]

Etienne,
It sounds like you're a dedicated teacher, and care about your students. However, why not look at the big picture?

What you should say to parents is 1) encourage them to be involved in their kids' lessons, 2) take their kids to concerts and expose them to music, 3) reinforce the idea that music is a life skill, and a good music student is a good student in other areas, 4) keep their pianos regularly tuned and in repair - all of which I'm sure you're doing.

Telling them about the advantages of a grand vs a vertical is fine, but what you should not do is make them feel guilty by pestering them about buying an expensive instrument  you don't really have any idea whether they can afford.

[cellodude]

... Yes, a 6ft Steinway would be nice but anything much smaller can be equalled by an upright,
Ed

Yes Ed, but...

I found myself making the same decision 5 months ago with an added twist. The good upright costs almost 20k and the grand 23k. After discussing with my wife we went for the grand. For an extra 3k we have a more impressive looking instrument in our living room to show-off to our friends  (sorry Bernhard).