"I remember every time I went to his house on a visit I had to listen to Bob give a recital on the piano first," Cousy said by phone Monday from his home in Florida.   "His family was so proud of the way he played.   Once Bob finished, then we could talk basketball."   Basketball and the piano. It's what Dukiet's life revolved around.

On a recent Tuesday night at Bass Hall, the roll call of nations included Bulgaria, Israel, Italy, Korea, Russia, Australia, Germany, China and Japan. That night, when the semifinalists for the Cliburn International Piano Competition were announced, one nation was conspicuous by its absence: the United States.   Again.

Legendary jazz pianist Chick Corea recently took Yamaha's newly launched AvantGrand N3 hybrid piano for a "test drive."   Initially skeptical about the world's first stringless piano to feature the sound, touch and action of a concert grand, the 67-year-old jazz superstar was quickly won over.

Good music isn't lost on the young.   They don't care only about rap -- some of them relish ragtime.   Alan Sebag, 17, plans to compete in the 35th annual World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Peoria, Ill. Saturday.   He'll play "Maple Leaf Rag," the famous 1899 work from composer Scott Joplin, and a second piece he hasn't selected yet.   Ragtime, says the American Heritage High junior, "has a lot of expression.   There's lots of freedom in the music, there aren't strict guidelines. I'm free to interpret it as I like."

Meeting in the lobby of San Francisco's Kabuki Hotel, Randy Weston brings a photo album from his recent tour of Japan.   Flipping through the photos, laughing and pointing out how he was playing piano barefoot, he's like a kid who just got back from summer camp, eager to show off his scrapbook.

A man sits at the piano and - across seven decades - the magic happens: Master imparts wisdom to student.   Jazz giant Billy Taylor, 87, is giving pointers to budding pianist Donte Ford, 17. Taylor spreads his famous left hand over a dozen keys and ripples off a chord.   "That looks like it hurts," says Steven Fox, 17, also a pianist.   Taylor, bandmate of Bird, Duke, Dizzy, and Miles, surprises them by saying, "Sure it does. But keep on doing it. I don't have a big hand. I just had to work at it."

Mary Leah Gilbert Chavies has one instruction for her piano students before the final recital of her career.   She told us to "make it good," said Tessa Honnen, 18.   Gilbert Chavies hosts her 60th annual End of Year Recital at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 17, on the grand piano at the First United Methodist Church, 522 White Ave.   It will be the last recital for the 80-year-old piano teacher born and raised in Grand Junction. The public, including Gilbert Chavies' former students, is invited to attend.

Using an internet connection and a web cam, Miller can see his students hands and they can see his communicating as if they were sitting side by side with each other.   Miller says, "I have students around the world.   I have a 7 year old in Spain, and 85 year old in Chicago."

Performing at a concert hall in Manhattan in the heart of New York City is a long way away from farming in Montana, but that's where Gy Salvevold is going in December.   As a second-place winner in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, Salvevold is traveling to New York for a live piano performance at a yet-to-be determined venue.   Salvevold found out late last week he'd taken second place in the competition and was delighted to hear the news.

Even though the PL-400 is the lowest priced in the range, it has many professional characteristics.   The keyboard features 88 weighted keys, 64 voice polyphony and seven touch sensitivity settings. 8 high-resolution sampled sounds add versatility to this piano, allowing for playing diverse instruments such as Church Organs and Harpsichords alongside the conventional piano sounds.   Layering allows for construction of varied and intricate sounds across the piano.

"In January, I decided that I would teach myself how to play, so I ordered some beginner books and started to learn how to read music," he said.   "Once I felt comfortable with the notes, I started out with easy Christmas music.   At first, it took almost a minute to find each key."   After a while, Began decided to move on to other types of music.   After hearing some classical music, he decided to learn a ballad by Ludwig van Beethoven.   Before long, that became too easy, and he moved on to the concerto version of "Fur Elise."

There's no "use by" expiration date on a piano career. Some artists enjoy years in the limelight; others toil fruitfully out of the public eye.   Becoming a contestant at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition historically has been the gateway to any number of careers - as concert artist, chamber musician, university professor, festival administrator, or, in the case of Diane Walsh, Broadway star.

Designed for students, hobbyists and professional players alike, the DCP-300 is equipped with audio inputs and a built-in stereo mixer, which allows users to plug in an iPod or CD player for interactive practice with pre-recorded backing tracks.

It's the birthday of the man who invented the piano as we know it: Bartolomeo Cristofori, born in Padua, Italy (1655).   He built on the existing harpsichord, which was similar to a piano but could only be played at one volume because harpsichord keys plucked at strings.   Cristofori put hammers and dampers onto the harpsichord model, and since hammers hit the strings, the volume changed according to how hard someone played the keys.

According to Elliott, the impact of the trucks crashing back on terra firma affects the tuning of the shop's fine instruments, some of which are very rare and cost more than a luxury car.

Kemble and Co in Bletchley has been making pianos for almost 100 years.   Main shareholder Yamaha decided that it was no longer viable.

Moving it was not easy, however.   After grunting and groaning to get the piano up an incline and onto the sidewalk, participants estimated its weight in the neighborhood of 800 pounds, perhaps much more.   Local businesspersons who worked to transport the piano included Roger Boe, Tom Watson and Heath Peterson, plus City Clerk Jonathan Smith, Mayor Hank Ludtke and Councilperson John Dermody.   All were a bit surprised that the weight was more than initial "eyeball" estimates.

After all, at the start of World War I, the family had lost much of its fortune by investing in Austrian war bonds (no worries, there was plenty of money left), and several sons had served heroically on the battlefield.   Paul survived experiences that would have destroyed heartier souls.   Not only did he lose his arm, the amputation was performed in battle, and his so-called recovery took place in some of Siberia's worst prison camps.   Waugh is full of grisly details and medical facts: After a limb is gone, the brain still tells you it's there, sometimes with pain.   How to kill pain in a limb that no longer exists?

The old upright caught Carla Gustafson's attention a few months ago.   An illness during the summer of 2007 had forced the musician to stop performing at nursing homes in the Fargo-Moorhead area.   The sight of that "nice little piano" paired with a renewed sense of strength prompted Carla, 84, to make an inquiry.   "She asked me if she could audition," recalled Gordy Richardson, who owns the piano and The VIP Room in downtown Fargo where it's located.

Her hair was in pigtails and her white dress was new when Zhanna Arshansky took the stage in a little theater in Ukraine in 1942.   The 15-year-old piano prodigy played Chopin, Brahms, and Schubert, all from memory.   When she was done, the men in the audience rose to their feet and shouted "Noch einmal!"   "Once more!"

Researchers have discovered the manuscript of a hitherto unknown piano piece by German composer Robert Schumann.   Experts speak of "a sensational discovery".

Nevada City has dozens of original, antique buildings, but in its music hall, it has as many vintage auto-play music machines, and some of them are really quite grand.   I don't mean "great" but you could argue that too, I mean "huge" and there's no two ways about it.   Some are periodically out of order, though they do have a guy who comes in from counties away to keep them in running order (if not tuned), but on any day of the week you're sure to find more odd, haunted, screamingly loud and impressive music machines.

Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms. History's greatest composers wrote their masterpieces on the piano.   But the instruments they played were very different from the grand pianos we see in contemporary concert halls.   A group of music students from the College of the Holy Cross will take a trip back in time at the Historic Piano Festival.   They'll play on pianos from a large collection that date back to 1790.

An educational and entertaining application for moms and kids alike, Farm Piano delivers musical prowess of adorable farm animals right into the user's fingertips with a multi-touch real-time piano feature.   With four lovable virtual animals - pig, cow, sheep and duck - moms and kids can finally hear the childhood tunes as they were meant to be heard: sung by adorable farm animals for less than $0.99.

Pianos haven't changed much in the last century or two, and while we have seen a few wacky concepts, no piano has ever looked as speedy as the Schimmel Pegasus Guoqin.

She started giving piano lessons at age 13, when a woman who lived up the street asked her to teach her two daughters.   "I told her I didn't know how to teach, but she said as well as I played, I should."   She charged 35 cents for a half-hour lesson, and by the time she was 18, she had 50 students.

"If the Steinway is like the Cadillac, this (Fazoli) is like the Lamborghini or Ferrari," said Manuel Bernaschek, president of Showcase Pianos in Vancouver, where the Edmonton doctor bought his pricey new piece.

Amy and Jolly Joe met through Bessie's Hope, an organization that encourages relationships between the elderly living in nursing homes and the young.   Until about a year ago, the group was known as Rainbow Bridge.   Amy has been playing piano for three years, Joe since he was 4.   In his career, Joe has played with an all-star cast, including band leader Glenn Miller and singer Frank Sinatra.

The praise for the creator of arguably the largest piano in the world, 20-year-old Adrian Mann, was even greater.   There were even a few damp eyes as Mr Mann's dream became reality on Saturday, and his 5.7 metre-long piano was unveiled in its Pareora shed.

Watch this dog try to play a Casio keyboard.   The puppy isn't particularly good at it, but the pooch is playing his heart out regardless.   Truly inspiring.

Marcus Roberts describes his new album as music that has crept its way into the American bloodstream and set up residence in our very marrow.   The Jacksonville native's "New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1" was released Tuesday. It's the first album in eight years by the man recognized as one of the nation's leading jazz pianists.

The weekly radio program Marian McParland's Piano Jazz is turning 30 this month.   To celebrate the anniversary, McPartland will return to Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York on April 14th.   She will be joined by several guest performers, including Karrin Allyson, Kenny Barron, Joanne Brackeen, John Bunch, Jackie Cain, Bill Charlap, Cyrus Chestnut, Dena DeRose, Taylor Eigsti, Kurt Elling, Laurence Hobgood, Grace Kelly, Mulgrew Miller, Arturo O'Farrill, Renee Rosnes, Daryl Sherman, Grady Tate, Kenny Werner and Randy Weston.

"I'm going to seem very tense and unpleasant about this," said Ms. Grimaud, shoulders squared, during a recent interview.   "Through the years there's been a lot written about the pianist running with wolves, this sort of thing. I can't tell you how many inappropriate amalgams have taken place. I try to separate the image people have of my relationship to the wolves, because it's very different than what's been made of it. And I get very defensive about it."

Lynne Mackey, a professor at Eastern Mennonite University, can play the piano keys with one hand while reaching in and muting the strings with the other.   She even wedges nuts, bolts, screws, plastic and rubber into the piano strings to make different sounds.

Ethan Bortnick, 8, has had his share of remarkable experiences.   He's played piano on The Tonight Show three times, chatted up Oprah and was the opening act for Beyonce.   But none of those things inspired him to make a career in music.   "I want to be a zoo keeper," Ethan said in a telephone interview Thursday. "I'll play music for the animals.   They like it, you know. It makes them happy."

When he was a boy, Andy Palpant practiced his piano. You never know, his mother used to tell him: You might need to fall back on that skill. He grew up and became an IT manager at a health care company with a $30 million budget and 130 employees under his direction, and the piano-playing scenario seemed unlikely. Then he was laid off, and his six-figure salary went poof. And he remembered Mom's advice.

Kemble & Co was founded in 1911 and employs 96 people in Milton Keynes. Its future hangs in the balance after the Japanese company, which owns 91.8% of its shares, announced an "immediate operational review" because of falling sales.

Regular maintenance of pianos is essential, said Eli. "The longer a piano is out of tune, the harder it is to get it back in tune," Eli said. Waiting until an instrument is far out of tune makes it more costly to set it right, he said. In the Cape Region's humid climate with salt air, it is especially important to keep up with regular tuning, he said. Wire strings stretch and shrink as air moisture changes, and strings can rust as well, said Eli. The felt on pedals and hammers can expand and shrink as well.

Steve gets different payoffs. "One time, some old guy from, like Alexandria, was snapping pictures of me with his cell phone," he said. "He's shaking his head saying 'My dad never would have believed it. He had a hardware store up in Alexandria. A guy wearing a tux and playing the piano at a hardware store? Unbelievable.'

On Monday, March 16, Sante Auriti, master Steinway & Sons casemaker and craftsman, will move his workspace to the front window of the renowned Steinway Hall in New York City for a unique, two-week exhibition of Steinway craftsmanship. From March 16th-27th, Auriti can be seen Monday through Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm, in the window of the Hall's main rotunda. During this exhibit, he will be fitting the braces, fitting and gluing the case moldings, rough carving the bottom edge of the rim and fitting the legs of a new Steinway Louis XV (Model 501A) grand piano.

A grand piano played by rock and roll legend Elvis Presley is expected to fetch a stunning $1 million at auction. The white Knabe piano, which was installed at the singer's Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee is among items at a rock and roll memorabilia sale. The auction also features one of Presley's most famous stage outfits, a gold and blue jumpsuit and cape worn by The King when he thrilled fans at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1972.