STEINWAY:
IMMIGRATION, FAMILY BUSINESS, NEIGHBORHOOD.
A NEW YORK STORY.
TEACHER'S GUIDE
Introduction
Lessons Overview
  		• The Great Migration
  		•  Kleindeutschland-Little Germany
  		• Letters from America
  		• The Age of Improvement & Piano Production
  		• The United States in 1860 & A House Divided
  		• The Life Story of Piano 2166 & Family Stories
  		•  Steinway Success
  		•  Sales Agent Training Course
  		• Steinway Workers
  		• Steinway Village
    Educational Resources
  		• NYC History-General
  		•  Immigration
  		• Population & Kleindeutschland-Little Germany
  		• The Age of Improvement & Piano Production
  		• Piano 2166
  		• Steinway Workers, Steinway Village & Queens
  		• Schedule a Tour
    Ó 2001 La Guardia and Wagner Archives

    Web Designer: Kate Zou
    EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: THE AGE OF IMPROVEMENT & PIANO PRODUCTION

    Steinway factory workers, 1908.

    For a general outline of this period of American history as it pertains to New York, see the general sources mentioned earlier.


    • Technology

    Steinway sons Henry and Theodore constantly looked for ways to improve the strength and sound of their pianos. They protected their ideas from use by other manufacturers by filing for patents. Students can learn all about the process of generating ideas and patenting an invention at the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office http://www.uspto.gov/

    Under "Special Pages for…" use the drop-down menu and click on "kids" http://www.uspto.gov/go/kids/ The "Kids Page" contains games, puzzles, contests and more. For general information about patents and inventions for kids, click on the "whowhatwhenhowwhy" link at http://www.uspto.gov/go/kids/kidprimer.html

    Here they will learn that the youngest American to be granted a patent was a 4-year-old girl from Texas! She devised an aid for gripping round door knobs.

    See also "Steinway & Sons" below.

    • The Piano and Musical Culture

    Binkowski, Carol J. Musical New York: An Informal Guide to Its History and Legends and A Walking Tour of Its Sites and Landmarks. Philadelphia: Camino Books, 1999.

    Dolge, Alfred. Pianos and Their Makers. New York: Dover Publications, 1972.

    The Discovery Channel School: Science Collections. Sound. This CD-ROM contains a 2-minute video clip entitled "The Piano," which explains how the parts of a piano work together to make sound. For more information see www.discoveryschool.com.

    Fine, Larry. The Piano Book. Boston: Brookside Press, 1994.


    Historic American Sheet Music     at Duke University.     http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/timeline.html
    What were people playing on their pianos in 1860? This website of the Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library at Duke University provides complete sheet music of selected popular songs from 1850-1920. Presented by decade, with timelines of major political, cultural and scientific events.

    Loesser, Arthur. Men, Women and Pianos: a Social History. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954.

    "The Piano and Its Antecedents." Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (1879), pp. 854-863.


    The Piano Education Page    .     http://www.unm.edu/~loritaf/pnoedmn.html
    A thorough exploration of the world of pianos, produced by the West Mesa Music Teachers Association. They say it best: "a one-stop resource for teachers, students, parents of students, and fans of the piano with over 600 pages of free information, upgraded bi-weekly."

    Piano 300 Project. http://www.piano300.org
    The year 2000 marked the 300th anniversary of the invention of the piano. To celebrate that event, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC has undertaken an important project, "Piano 300," consisting of a major exhibition, educational programs, and an extensive on-line guide to the project with images, music and helpful links. As of June, 2001, the exhibit is scheduled to remain open through October 21, 2001 (check their website for current information).

    New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/relomay.html
    Located at Lincoln Center, this library is currently undergoing renovation and is tentatively scheduled to re-open in October, 2001.

    • Steinway & Sons


    Steinway & Sons.http://www.steinway.com/
    Learn about the history of this famous company and the magnificent pianos they make by touring their website.

    Chapin, Miles and Rodica Prato. 88 Keys: The Making of a Steinway Piano. New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 1997. Illustrated. For children and adults.


    Lieberman, Richard K. Steinway & Sons. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
    Read the six-page Introduction for an overview of the family and its business in historical context (provided courtesy of Yale University Press). For more information about the book see: http://www.yale.edu/yup/books/063644.htm)

    Ratcliffe, Ronald V. Steinway. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1989.