Certainly if the instrument displeases you, you can say so, but if a
misguided friend elects to strum on your piano you are helpless. So I
have no piano in my New York house. I have a cabinet of "canned" music
that can be turned on for small dances when need be, and that can be
hidden in a closet between times. Why not?
But suppose you have a piano, or need one: do give it a chance! Its very
size makes it tremendously important, and if you load it with senseless
fringed scarfs and bric-a-brac you make it the ugliest thing in your
room. Give it the best place possible, against an inside wall,
preferably. I saw a new house lately where the placing of the piano had
been considered by the architect when the house was planned. There was a
mezzanine floor overhanging the great living-room, and one end of this
had been made into a piano alcove, a sort of modern minstrel gallery.
The musician who used the piano was very happy, for your real musician
loves a certain solitude, and those of us who listened to his music in
the great room below were happy because the maker of the music was far
enough away from us. We could appreciate the music and forget the
mechanics of it. For a concert, or a small dance, this balcony
music-room would be most convenient. Another good place for the piano is
a sort of alcove, or small room opening from the large living or
drawing-room, where the piano and a few chairs may be placed.
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