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Is the Piano Dying? Dame Fanny Waterman Thinks the End of Classic Piano Playing Is Coming

Dame Fanny Waterman, a world-renowned British music teacher, has said that she fears for the future of piano playing and that Britain is failing to produce performers internationally. So is she right: Is the piano really dying?Waterman, 94, spoke to the "Guardian" after announcing last week that she would stand down next year as chairwoman and artistic director of the Leeds International Piano Competition, one of the world’s most prestigious music competitions, which she co-founded in 1961.During the interview, she spoke about the future of piano in Britain. Waterman blames the popularity of electric keyboards and children starting to learn the piano at a later age in the U.K. than in other parts of the world for the piano’s demise.“The [future of the] piano is the cause of great worry for all us who love it,” she said. “First, lots of children are learning it from the electric piano. A waste of time, because you don’t get the speed of the key descent, you don’t get the different sounds.”
By Jaime Prisco