Guest guest Posted June 9, 2008 Report Share Posted June 9, 2008 i am in agreement with jacqueline. for me veganism is about reducing harm to animals, my health and the environment. plastic is one of the worst things for the environment; buying plastic keys to replace ivory ones might reduce your own squeamishness but it's harsh on the earth. for me, i refuse to buy animal products first-hand because it's important to me to avoid supporting the industry itself. i still won't buy leather because of the chemicals, but i buy wool sweaters secondhand to use the yarn, and so on. there is no purity! in anything! and there's no point driving ourselves crazy about it. we just do the best we can. if you're buying a used piano, your money isn't supporting those terrible industries, and buying secondhand is one of the best things you can do for the earth. i wouldn't worry about it. enjoy the piano and if you have kids, use those parts of it as object lessons. chandelle On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Jacqueline Bodnar <jb wrote: > Lorraine, > > I just wanted to throw my two cents in there... vegetarianism is about > doing the least amount of harm to animals when given the chance. > Everyday we do things that harm animals that we may not have a decision > over - such as the glue holding our cabinets together, the animal fat > used in the vulcanization process of our rubber tires, etc. There are > things we can help (purchasing meat, fur, etc.) and there are things we > can't control but wish we could. I would not avoid playing or buying a > piano because of the issue. Do what you can to make sure it meets your > standards and you are comfortable with it. Then enjoy playing the piano. > You are doing so much good in the world just by being a vegetarian! > > Jacqueline > > > -- " if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. " ~emma goldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 9, 2008 Report Share Posted June 9, 2008 I was going to say something similar to this. At least the refurbished pianos are being used again, so while it is unfortunate and sad about the ivory, wool and whatever else may be in there - at least it is getting a second life, and is not giving up it's life for YOU. On the other side, I know they have very good electronic pianos, with weighted keys so you get the right finger action and such. I've seen them for decent prices, still an investment, but they don't need the yearly tuning (or more depending on where you live) and they seem to be a bit more durable. They have some that 'look' more like traditional pianos, but we had a 66 key keyboard from a friend of ours when our son was taking Suzuki piano lessons. It was very nice, but was not like the uprights, it was on a keyboard stand. For the first year's lessons this was fine for us, because they don't use most of them for a while. Traditional lessons probably longer than that, though it has been a very long time since I had them to really know for sure. Good luck. It can be a tricky decision to make, but at least you're considering your options, and minimizing the animal suffering where and when you can. At least if you get something with ivory/wool/etc then it is at least being re-used and refurbished, rather than being tossed out or what have you - which would be a shame. Missie On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 7:03 PM, Jacqueline Bodnar <jb wrote: > Lorraine, > > I just wanted to throw my two cents in there... vegetarianism is about > doing the least amount of harm to animals when given the chance. > Everyday we do things that harm animals that we may not have a decision > over - such as the glue holding our cabinets together, the animal fat > used in the vulcanization process of our rubber tires, etc. There are > things we can help (purchasing meat, fur, etc.) and there are things we > can't control but wish we could. I would not avoid playing or buying a > piano because of the issue. Do what you can to make sure it meets your > standards and you are comfortable with it. Then enjoy playing the piano. > You are doing so much good in the world just by being a vegetarian! > > Jacqueline > > -- http://mszzzi.zoomshare.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/mszzzi/ ~~~~~(m-.-)m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 9, 2008 Report Share Posted June 9, 2008 Hi Jacqueline and Chandelle, Thanks so much for your input. It ends up that the piano has been re-keyed with plastic (or at least it looks that way from this uneducated eye with a little internet research behind it), so the ivory isn't an issue, and we've decided that the glue and wool is so prevalent in other things in our house (which we sometimes knew about and sometimes not, until this research), that we will be okay with it. So, we're getting piano mover quotes tomorrow! Yayy! Funny that you both had " doing the least amount of harm " and " there is no purity " kinds of comments - that was sort of the direction we were heading in with our discussions . . . but once we mentioned the chance of ivory keys to our 3-1/2-year-old and he found out ivory is from elephant tusks, he freaked out. So, we had this big talk with him last night about how nobody and nothing is perfect, and that we try to follow our ideals as closely as we can, but that perfect is impossible. We talked to him about the rennet in cheese in restaurants, about the glue in our furniture, the bone in our inherited china, the wool in caps that loving friends make for him . . . and he started seeing the point that we can only do what we can do. But, today when I asked him what he thought of the piano, he asked, " does it have elephant tusks? " When I said no, he cheered. So cute. Thanks for your great input - supporting what we really were leaning towards already, to be able to have a wonderful, big musical extravaganza in our dining room - for a steal, at that! :-) Thanks! Lorraine On Behalf Of chandelle' Sunday, June 08, 2008 5:36 PM Re: Pianos and vegetarianism i am in agreement with jacqueline. for me veganism is about reducing harm to animals, my health and the environment. plastic is one of the worst things for the environment; buying plastic keys to replace ivory ones might reduce your own squeamishness but it's harsh on the earth. for me, i refuse to buy animal products first-hand because it's important to me to avoid supporting the industry itself. i still won't buy leather because of the chemicals, but i buy wool sweaters secondhand to use the yarn, and so on. there is no purity! in anything! and there's no point driving ourselves crazy about it. we just do the best we can. if you're buying a used piano, your money isn't supporting those terrible industries, and buying secondhand is one of the best things you can do for the earth. i wouldn't worry about it. enjoy the piano and if you have kids, use those parts of it as object lessons. chandelle On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Jacqueline Bodnar <jb@jacquelinebodnar <jb%40jacquelinebodnar.com> .com> wrote: > Lorraine, > > I just wanted to throw my two cents in there... vegetarianism is about > doing the least amount of harm to animals when given the chance. > Everyday we do things that harm animals that we may not have a decision > over - such as the glue holding our cabinets together, the animal fat > used in the vulcanization process of our rubber tires, etc. There are > things we can help (purchasing meat, fur, etc.) and there are things we > can't control but wish we could. I would not avoid playing or buying a > piano because of the issue. Do what you can to make sure it meets your > standards and you are comfortable with it. Then enjoy playing the piano. > You are doing so much good in the world just by being a vegetarian! > > Jacqueline > > > -- " if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. " ~emma goldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 10, 2008 Report Share Posted June 10, 2008 Hi Missie, Thanks so much for your input! You know, we have an electric key board, we just never use it. It just doesn't feel substantial enough, and the sound doesn't feel real to me. We have a friend who has one, too, and he loves it and uses it all the time - and never plays his piano. :-) I'm so excited about this piano - and so glad it's working out for us! Thanks again! Lorraine On Behalf Of Missie Sunday, June 08, 2008 5:47 PM Re: Pianos and vegetarianism I was going to say something similar to this. At least the refurbished pianos are being used again, so while it is unfortunate and sad about the ivory, wool and whatever else may be in there - at least it is getting a second life, and is not giving up it's life for YOU. On the other side, I know they have very good electronic pianos, with weighted keys so you get the right finger action and such. I've seen them for decent prices, still an investment, but they don't need the yearly tuning (or more depending on where you live) and they seem to be a bit more durable. They have some that 'look' more like traditional pianos, but we had a 66 key keyboard from a friend of ours when our son was taking Suzuki piano lessons. It was very nice, but was not like the uprights, it was on a keyboard stand. For the first year's lessons this was fine for us, because they don't use most of them for a while. Traditional lessons probably longer than that, though it has been a very long time since I had them to really know for sure. Good luck. It can be a tricky decision to make, but at least you're considering your options, and minimizing the animal suffering where and when you can. At least if you get something with ivory/wool/etc then it is at least being re-used and refurbished, rather than being tossed out or what have you - which would be a shame. Missie On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 7:03 PM, Jacqueline Bodnar <jb@jacquelinebodnar <jb%40jacquelinebodnar.com> .com> wrote: > Lorraine, > > I just wanted to throw my two cents in there... vegetarianism is about > doing the least amount of harm to animals when given the chance. > Everyday we do things that harm animals that we may not have a decision > over - such as the glue holding our cabinets together, the animal fat > used in the vulcanization process of our rubber tires, etc. There are > things we can help (purchasing meat, fur, etc.) and there are things we > can't control but wish we could. I would not avoid playing or buying a > piano because of the issue. Do what you can to make sure it meets your > standards and you are comfortable with it. Then enjoy playing the piano. > You are doing so much good in the world just by being a vegetarian! > > Jacqueline > > -- http://mszzzi. <http://mszzzi.zoomshare.com> zoomshare.com http://www.flickr. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/mszzzi/> com/photos/mszzzi/ ~~~~~(m-.-)m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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