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.

[ThisHorseCalledDonny]

Out local young farmers club used to hold a piano smash every few months, loads of people had pianos they wanted did of and they were impossible to get rid of.

[GnomeDePlume]

Wolpertinger I totally agree.

For all the pearl clutching hysteria on this thread I think that the messages from this and the first series have been fascinating.

I found the comment from Giles Coren that the people referring back to the 50s as a golden age were children at the time. Their experience was totally different from adults in the 50s.

DH can remember his brother dismantling the family piano. It wasn't a brilliant piano. It was old, out of tune and nobody played it. It was a 'thing' at the time. It was a sign of modernity.

Breaking up the old piano was not a rejection of music it was clearing the way to embrace new ways of accessing music.

[Quoteunquote]

Hundreds of free pianos on gum tee, small ads and ebay if you want one, I expect the bbc got one of those.

[Wolpertinger]

Thanks Gnome

I haven't liked this family as much as the last family as I haven't found the dad as insightful. He came out with a comment about how much he was enjoying spending time with his family now but hadn't really noticed that all this time was still heavily gendered i.e. mainly doing manly pursuits with his son, a few family pursuits with his whole family, nothing with the daughters at all and mum propping up all of it generally unthanked and in this episode deprived of her much loved piano

[OhGodWhatTheHellNow]

I would quite fancy a piano, a nice old one that went with our old sideboards but would still play OK - can't find any of these free ones everyone is trying to get rid of

misses point of thread

[UndramaticPause]

worra the problem with text is it doesn't convey sarcasm very well

[liinyo]

I can remember this happening back in the 60s. And people tearing out tiled fire places to put in two bar electric fires. Ripping out ornate plaster work and picture rails to put up brown geometric vinyl wallpaper. Replcing beautiful stained glass panels with aluminium double glazing.

We were animals back then - animals!

[ifyoulikepinacolada]

I want one of these free pianos nobody else does! also missing point of thread

[rosebiggs]

It's no more morally wrong than drinking expensive wine/champagne or spending hundreds of pounds on handbags.

[gobbynorthernbird]

It took me 6 weeks and loads of hassle to get rid of ex-H beautiful looking, tuned piano. It had to go as I was moving, and I couldn't afford to hire men with ven to take it to the tip. I was so close to smashing it and burning the remains. They're not in demand at all, especially as one can now get a fairly decent digital piano with weighted keys and volume control (or a headphone jack!) for not much money.

[fascicle]

Didn't see this, but do remember an episode of Friday Night Dinner where the family fell out with the grumpy piano tuner, didn't pay him and he smashed up the piano in revenge. Not keen on the idea of it, regardless of how rational it might be (in the same way that destroying books can feel wrong).

[landrover]

Actually its really quite a dangerous thing to do, apparently because of the way the strings are fitted (lots of pressure on the tightness). You have to be very careful that they don't snap and do some damage to you. (Useless fact that I picked up somewhere!)

[Andfaraway]

If anyone's wrong, its not tbe BBC. It's the philistines who broke up the piano.

[OhYouLuckyDuck]

rosebiggs I don't do that either so I can still keep the moral high ground I think

[Floggingmolly]

It's just what they did. In the Sixties, you mean? Why???

[liinyo]

flogging

Possibly because at the time pianos seemed as dated and archaic as outside loos, washing in a tin bath or doing laundry on a scrubbing board. Why would anyone take steps to preserve something that was unwanted, expensive to maintain and took up a lot of space?

And there were no local authority dumps then either. Any unwanted stuff was passed on to the rag and bone man. They took the unwanted stuff away on a horse and cart and recycled it (and sometimes paid a few pence for it if you were lucky ) . They then sold it on . I don't know if you have ever tried to move a piano, but good luck hefting one onto a horse drawn cart, let alone getting a horse strong enough to haul it. And there were thousands and thousands of them, all but the poorest homes had pianos back then. We used to live in private, rented rooms/houses and a piano was a standard part of the provided furnishings.

So the only alternative was to break them up, then at least you had some fire wood.

[Wolpertinger]

OhGod DH just looked on ebay, there are loads and loads for a tenner. Some of them are absolutely stunning looking - those tend to be a bit more expensive but still nothing over £100.

It's obvious you can't give them away. Meanwhile new electric pianos are £hundreds - of course you can plug in the headphones so you don't hear the endless practice or annoy the neighbours - and new Bechsteins are £thousands.

But an old upright is basically worthless.

[slanleat]

We are a family of musicians. We smashed up our piano when we had tried and tried to pass it on/sell it/rehome it. We got it valued and even though it was old it was worth about 50pound at the time,it simply was not worth any more of our time.

It made beautiful firewood.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I'm a musician psychopath and to me that's akin to smashing up a small child

Fixed that for you.

[fascicle]

Article about the trend for scrapping pianos, and their declining popularity:

www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9813479/How-we-fell-out-of-tune-with-the-piano.html

Amazing to think that At the beginning of the 20th century, every home had a piano.

[Kleptronic]

I paid £100 two years ago for a Kemble minx and was bloody glad to do so. It's a lovely instrument.

[Postchildrenpregranny]

Gave a piano-usable for a beginner-to British Heart Foundation recently They collected (they are heavy and its expensive to get them taken away) they got £120 for it

[scarlets]

I remember the piano smash scene in Billy Elliot. Sad.

[Wolpertinger]

Thanks for the article fascicle

Also interesting to know that the average upright has a life of about 80 years after which it the costs of maintenance become not worth it. I hadn't realised it wasn't as simple as just 'get it tuned and it'll be alright'.

DM has a piano at home given to us by a great aunt and piano tuner told us that various problems were very expensive to fix. Sounds right now. Clearly they just reach the end of their lives. Even the 'Piano Removal Company' was removing them to the tip.

[NewLife4Me]

Definitely no need to do this and it wasn't what was done.
These people had lived through wars and knew how to look after their possessions.
Maybe philistines did, but many kept or handed on to others.
Total rubbish and they didn't have to do that, they could have just narrated that some people did this.