These old pianos that no one wants anymore

Have you noticed the number of old pianos being given away on social media? It’s crazy! These instruments made of wood, metal and ivory, which were once a source of happiness in Quebec homes, are doomed to disappear. And woe betide those who try to prolong their life. An obstacle course awaits them.

Line Maisonneuve experienced a real saga when she wanted to offer a piano that she had owned for 35 years. It was a Lindsay dating from 1910. The CW Lindsay & Co. store, which was located on Sainte-Catherine Street at the turn of the 20th century^e century, bought Lesage and Craig pianos and sold them under her name. “Mine belonged in turn to two aunts, Andrée and Jeannette, before I took possession of it,” she told me.

This Montrealer recently sold the duplex where she lived. The transaction was completed within days. She had to quickly empty her home. Initially, she wanted to keep her piano and transport it to her residence in Eastman. Cost of moving: $1200. “It would have been installed in the glass roof where it is very hot and pianos don’t like the heat,” she explains. It cracks the soundboard. »

So she advertised on various channels, including Marketplace, that she wanted to offer it for free. But before that, she contacted a technician to make sure it was in good condition. “He told me it could still have its regular maintenance and that it could be tuned.” I should point out that in the past, the instrument had undergone restoration work that cost nearly $2,000.

Line Maisonneuve also communicated with schools, RPAs and community centres. She tried, without success, to contact the organization Pianos publics Montréal, which is responsible for placing these instruments in public places throughout the city. These efforts came to nothing. “The more time went by, the more it was a terrible stress,” she told me.

In desperation, she offers to pay for half the move. Yes, you read that right. “I couldn’t imagine that piano ending up on the sidewalk,” she says. “I wanted someone else to enjoy it.”

In this story, this is what I find most beautiful. Line Maisonneuve wanted her instrument to be able to make someone else happy. She wanted to offer her piano the continuation of her epic, a bit like that of the Red violin by François Girard.

The publication she puts on Facebook goes viral. Line receives tons of messages. People ask questions, hint at the idea that they will take it before finally saying that they are not interested. Some offer to pick up the piano for Line Maisonneuve to take it to the scrapyard “.

“A girl came to our house. She played for 45 minutes. She told me she really wanted it. Finally, she changed her mind.”

After five weeks of disappointment and frustration, a resident of the neighborhood where Line Maisonneuve lived showed up. He fell in love with the instrument at first sight. The cost of moving from one ground floor to another is set at $400. The operation is epic. “The piano weighs 400 kilos,” explains Line Maisonneuve. There were only two movers. »

The piano that brought sunshine to Line Maisonneuve’s family for decades has finally found a new owner. “One of the movers was Ukrainian and the other Russian,” she says. “I found that symbolic.”

This wave of abandonment of old pianos is not new. Heavy, bulky and requiring proper care, they are often seen as a source of problems.

Isabelle Lamontagne, owner of L’as du piano, has observed this phenomenon for years. Specializing in piano removals, his company regularly recovers these old instruments. Sometimes, we even come across player pianos that once inspired Claude Léveillée.

“Not so long ago/Do you remember the time of puppet shows, of lace? We got drunk inside on pathos/It was the golden age of nostalgic piano”

Faced with this overabundance of piano donations, an employee of L’as du piano had the idea of ​​creating Piano au following, an organization that collects and offers pianos free of charge (the donor and the new owner must however pay the collection costs and delivery). Isabelle Lamontagne receives a lot of requests. “Our warehouses are full right now,” she said. We even have a waiting list”

I stopped at a piano store a few weeks ago. It’s crazy how technologies have evolved. They’re smaller, lighter, and still sound surprisingly good. And then, digital keypads have a function that promotes their presence in an apartment. “Yes, I know, we can wear headphones,” says Line Maisonneuve. But I really liked hearing my children practice on the piano. It created a certain atmosphere. »

There was a time when almost every Quebec family had a piano. There was always a child more talented than the others who became the pianist of the clan. The instrument was a source of joy, a sign of life. All this disappears. TikTok won the battle against For Elise by Beethoven.

I can’t help but make a connection between the disappearance of pianos from family homes and the plummeting place of music in our schools. It seems that learning music no longer counts.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be nostalgic. If I were a father, I would probably want my children to take hip-hop dance lessons. But I would also like musical instruments lying around the house, even if they are big and bulky.

The presence of a battery would, however, be the subject of a major negotiation.