Hey Brenda, thanks I'll try that. I need some lessons to give me structure to practice and play more often. My mom took lessons when she was a girl and she still plays almost every day on her baby grand piano. She also plays by ear; she can add a boogie-woogie tempo to almost any song too. Unfortunately I didn't inherit that gene! Thanks again, Jen

OK ... Stodard was possibly the name of the store that sold it ... check the innards for some other nameplate. Stodard was the name of a sheet music publisher, I think, and they might have had pianos with their name. Old pianos are often more valuable for the wood than as a piano, but only a musician or piano tuner can play it and tell you how it sounds. Some pianos were made by major manufactiurers and sold under store-brand names, others were truly cheap mass-market junk. Cleaning and polishing it would not hurt - the value of a piano is more in the sound than the wood, and a carefully refinished good sounding one is more valuable than a mahogany junker with the original finish. I can't do much with a picture, except give you the general age, based on cabinet style (they changed along with furniture styles). But ig you have a uncluttered well-lit view of the piano, and one of any ornamental detail, I might be able to get a vague age for you. Email me and I'll reply so you can attach something. GW doesn't let you attach things to the first email.

That sounds about right. I'm in the Midwest and we pay $15 for a half hour for my child. Our teacher played professionally. If you are going to a 'place' to get classes, they are probably going to run a little more to offset the company expenses. I would consider looking into finding someone in your area that may be retired and/or teaching part time even from home. You can usually work with them more if you need to change the dates or times for trips or illnesses, and vary the number of lessons to your kids' specific needs and schedules, (you can also drop out if you want) etc.. I've never heard of signing up for piano lessons around here for like 12 weeks in advance. Do these 12 weeks sessions piggyback and keep going without breaks? Will they be with the same teacher? Is it like at a music store or the YMCA? Just remember if your kids like piano and you decide to stay with it, lessons will probably go on for years so you may want to find an individual teacher you can stay and work with. p.s. Personally I'd do half hour classes if you have the choice. They should be of a bigger benefit to your child and a better financial decision for you. I know about 15 kids who take piano (with like 4 different teachers) and they all do half hour -- 2 busy kids do every other week instead of everyweek. The one hour lessons sound generally like a money maker to me - why bring in a teacher for only a half hour if you can do an hour? At $15 for a half hour per week, I budget $750 a year for piano lessons for my one kid. You should be able to find something similar if you don't live somewhere overly expensive like New York. You may even be able to get a break on the second kid if you piggyback the lessons.

Thanks very much to those who suggested such neat ideas! I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner; I've had evening rehearsals the last two nights and came home too late to write replies. Grandmaof3 and Olychick--I too have been thinking about reframing a board in a more attractive frame. Believe it or not, this is a little intimidating to me; I'm not quite sure how to do it. Camlan--thanks for the link. I like the fact that the cabinet has the cork board as well as the magnetic writing board and can also be used for storage. Polly929--those are great! So pretty and large enough for what I want to do. At this time, I will probably order one or two of the boards from Ballard.