to think that the BBC are morally wrong to do this?

[OhYouLuckyDuck]

On Back in Time for the weekend the family take out the piano and replace it with a television. They are then shown smashing the piano. I am incensed at the waste and the message that this sends out to people that it's OK to throw away perfectly good stuff that can be used still.

[gobbynorthernbird]

As a sort-of aside, the chap who took our old piano had been looking for a while. He had viewed many pianos which (even if they were free) would have cost hundreds to move, and ours was the first one which actually worked properly. If he hadn't known anything about pianos/music he could have spent a significant amount of cash on something useless, or costing thousands to repair.

[KidLorneRoll]

"Somewhere out there is a child who would have loved their own piano."

Yes, and somewhere out there are about a thousand people trying to get rid of one.

[Billington]

Akin to smashing up a small child?

Really?

[Playthegameout]

We destroyed ours too. To be fair it was on its way out and after our old piano tuner finally retired we really had a job finding someone to come out and do it. We did try to pass it on but we couldn't give it away. It was very heavy and solid so moving it was nigh on impossible. I did feel sad about it at the time as the piano had been a big part of my life, my mum's and grandmother's. But it was obsolete. I do have a great digital piano now, but I do miss the 'real thing'.

[GnomeDePlume]

Lockheart

Exactly.

I think the issue that some people have with this is similar to the issue so many people have when a book is damaged. It is as though they believe that an angel dies every time a book or piano is destroyed.

IME this is displayed by people with pretensions rather than genuine academic or musical ability.

[gooseberryroolz]

YANBU. I saw the piano smash on the 'next week' section of the previous week episode and cancelled 'series link' right away.

Horrible pointless, needless vandalism. Somewhere out there is a child who would have loved their own piano.

[Cooroo]

I put my old piano on Freecycle. It was snapped up by a lovely woman with a little girl. Was a bastard to get out of the house but I'm so glad the old thing is getting a few more years of use.

[sashh]

I wasn't happy about it but it fitted in with the rest of the programme. Did everyone else miss the contemporary films of people smashing pianos? It seemed to quite a hobby in the day.

[geekymommy]

Is it wasteful to smash up a piano that you don't want and nobody else wants, and that may not even work properly? If you applied that logic to other unwanted items, you'd sound very much like a hoarder.

Is it also bad to throw out a fridge that doesn't get cold enough? Why is that different to a piano that can't be tuned or has some keys that don't work?

[Lockheart]

1. You couldn't (and you still can't) give pianos away. People didn't / don't want them. They are massive bits of furniture, difficult to move, a bugger to clean, and expensive to tune. Most people don't have room or need for them.
   
   
2. In most cases, they are absolutely not dismantle-able. At least, not if you ever want it to resemble a piano again.
   
   
3. Given your only remaining option is to take it to the tip, and given it's not going to go in a car, smashing it is really the only thing you can do.
   
   Yes, it's wasteful, and I don't like to see it either. But what else can you do when you can't even donate it? Unless some posters on here are proposing to open this Elton John's home for retired musical instruments?

[BusyMummy55]

I love an old piano and we have one, which is not cheap to move around and to keep tuned, but I wouldn't replace with a new one as I love the character it has. Though I disagree with the message of replacing it with a TV, they should be more careful around that, but things like that are difficult to avoid in general I find.

[LalaLeona]

in the 80s when I was a kid, mum and dad smashed our old piano up in the garden, while my sister and I were at school, because it was permanently out of tune and they couldn't afford to get it fixed. My sis and I cried our eyes out when we got home it was horrid! But old pianos are useless

[RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog]

I can't stand the programme, but DH watches it and I did see the piano bit. Whilst I agree it's a shame, we also did that to ours about ten years ago as we couldn't find anyone interested in buying it when DS gave up playing. Tried listing it on eBay, but no takers and I wasn't aware of any freecycle type groups then. No charities wanted it either. DS - who is very musical and had been a chorister for several years as well as learning piano, guitar & clarinet - took huge delight as a teenager in taking a sledgehammer to it

[OhGodWhatTheHellNow]

Thanks for the links maryz they're a bit thinner on the ground in our corner of Wales but we have talked it over as a family and will be giving an old piano a new home, just as soon as we find the right one that isn't a 100 miles away, so that is one more saved from a sad end

[itsbetterthanabox]

They showed clips of people doing it in the 60's. Young People did it when the TV became popular.
I don't get why you care? You don't know the wood wasn't recycled. They aren't telling you to throw things out. They are saying it was done in the 60's. The show isn't telling you at home to live like people in the 60's.

[Wolpertinger]

Same piano - but it wasn't the best piano ever. There's a difference between 'playing fine' and 'worth something'

You could play a nice tune on my mothers but it's still worthless and has the odd key that doesn't work.

[CasanovaFrankenstein]

So was it the same piano they were playing fine in previous episode or a useless one?

[ZiggyFartdust]

You might as well argue against crushing cars that can't be driven or stereos that no longer work. Once a piano has passed a certain point it is no longer a musical instrument, its just a big pile of wood.
Its the music that is the beautiful thing, the important thing. A shell that used to play it....you're missing the whole point if you think everyone of those needs to be saved.

[RedOnHerHedd]

I felt the same when I saw it, but the same as others have said, we couldn't give it away, tried all the churches, schools etc, most charity places refused it, but one did eventually take it and it was such a beautiful piano. We just didn't have room for it. :(

[gobbynorthernbird]

Would the people who don't like the idea feel the same of it was an old, knackered, not working properly CRT TV? Or any other piece of home entertainment equipment that had past the end of its useful life?

[geekymommy]

My mom has an old piano. I took lessons as a kid, stopped after my piano teacher's dog bit me (really). I haven't played the piano since, and have zero interest in ever doing so. If there were space in my house where it could fit, I'd fill it up with bookshelves instead. I'm hoping my sister wants Mom's piano when Mom passes on. I'm pretty sure the market for used pianos here in America isn't much better than it is on your side of the pond.

[ElizaCBennett]

I felt physically sick when I saw that. I actually flinched every time they hit it with the hammer. I was shocked at how upset I was really. It never occurred to me that they would actually smash it up like that. If I had been in the programme I think I would have refused.

[gobbynorthernbird]

TSSDNCOP it probably wasn't working. Chances are it had got to the stage where you could buy a quite fantastic new piano for what it would cost to repair.

[TSSDNCOP]

I find it hard enough to watch the waste of food on Masterchef, smashing up a real working piano wouldn't be fun to watch for me.