More Pianos Are Playing Last Notes in the Dump

鋼琴報廢 棄置場鳴絕響

By Daniel J. Wakin

SOUTHAMPTON, Pennsylvania – The Knabe baby grand did a cartwheel and landed on its back. A Lester upright thudded onto its side with a final groan of strings, a death-rattling chord. After the 10 pianos were dumped, a yellow loader with a claw crushing keyboards, soundboards and cases.
Knabe的小演奏琴側翻個跟斗，四腳朝天倒地。一架Lester直立式鋼琴砰的一聲跌落在它旁邊，發出琴弦最後的呻吟，這是它臨終喉鳴的和弦。在卸下10架鋼琴後，一部有鐵爪的黃色裝載機把這些鋼琴的琴鍵、音板和外殼壓扁。

The site, a trash-transfer station in this town 30 kilometers north of Philadelphia, is just one place where pianos go to die.
這個位於美國費城北面30公里南安普敦市的廢物轉運站，只是鋼琴報廢的場所之一。

The value of used pianos, especially uprights, has plummeted in recent years. So instead of selling them to a neighbor, donating them to a church or just passing them along to a relative, owners are far more likely to discard them, technicians, movers and dealers say. Piano movers are making regular runs to the dump, dismantling instruments, selling parts to artists, even burning them for firewood.
這幾年，二手鋼琴的價值一路下滑，尤其是直立式鋼琴。修琴技師、搬運公司和交易商們說，這麼一來，鋼琴主人不會把舊琴賣給鄰居、捐給教堂或送給親戚，最可能的做法是直接丟棄。鋼琴搬運工人定期往廢物堆置場跑，拆解鋼琴，把零件賣給藝術家，甚至拿來當柴火燒。

“We bust them up with a sledgehammer,” said Jeffrey Harrington, the owner of Harrington Moving and Storage, in Maplewood, New Jersey.
新澤西州楓木市哈林頓搬運倉儲公司的老闆哈林頓說：「我們用大錘把它們打爛。」

Pianos consist of hundreds of kilograms of metal, wood and intricate machinery able to channel Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, along with honky-tonk, “Happy Birthday”’ and holiday tunes. It is strange to think of them as disposable as tissues. Yet economic and cultural forces have made many used pianos, with the exception of Steinways and a few other high-end brands, prone to being jettisoned.
鋼琴由幾百公斤的金屬、木頭和精細機械組成，能彈奏巴赫、莫札特和貝多芬，還有酒吧音樂、生日快樂歌和耶誕歌曲。把它們當成衛生紙丟掉，令人匪夷所思。不過，經濟和文化力量使很多二手鋼琴常落得被丟棄的下場，只有史坦威和少數其他高級品牌除外。

Pianos are expensive to repair, requiring long hours of labor by skilled technicians whose numbers are diminishing. Excellent digital pianos and portable keyboards can cost as little as several hundred dollars. Low-end imported pianos have improved remarkably in quality and can be had for under $3,000.
修理鋼琴花費不小，需要技術純熟的修琴師長時間工作，這樣的技師已愈來愈少。品質極佳的數位鋼琴和手提式鍵盤幾百美元就能買到。進口的低價鋼琴品質也大為精進，不到3000美元就能買一架。

“Instead of spending hundreds or thousands to repair an old piano, you can buy a new one made in China that’s just as good, or you can buy a digital one that doesn’t need tuning and has all kinds of bells and whistles,” said Larry Fine, the editor and publisher of Acoustic & Digital Piano Buyer, the industry bible.
鋼琴產業的聖經、「傳統與數位鋼琴買家」雜誌主編兼發行人范恩說：「與其花幾百或幾千美元修一架舊鋼琴，不如買一架全新的中國大陸製鋼琴，品質一樣好，或是買一架數位鋼琴，不需要調音，還有各式各樣附加功能。」

Used pianos abound on Web, driving prices down. With moving costs of several hundred dollars, even giving a piano away can be expensive. Abandonment often becomes the only option.
網路上充斥二手鋼琴，把價格拉低。搬運費動輒幾百美元，連送人都所費不貲。丟棄往往成了唯一選擇。

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before radio and recordings, pianos were the main source of music, even entertainment, in the home.
在19世紀末和20世紀初，收音機和錄音機問世之前，鋼琴是家中提供音樂，甚至娛樂的主角。

So from 1900 to 1930, American factories churned out millions of them. Nearly 365,000 were sold at the peak, in 1910, according to the National Piano Manufacturers Association. (In 2011, 41,000 were sold, along with 120,000 digital pianos and 1.1 million keyboards, according to Music Trades magazine.)
因此，在1900到1930年間，美國工廠生產的鋼琴數以百萬計。根據全美鋼琴製造商協會的資料，銷售顛峰年1910年售出近36萬5000架。（據「音樂交易」雜誌統計，2011年鋼琴售出4萬1000架，另外售出12萬架數位鋼琴和110萬個鍵盤。）

The life span rarely exceeds 80 years, piano technicians say. That’s a lot of pianos now dying.
技師說，鋼琴的壽命鮮少超過80年。也就是說有很多鋼琴隨時準備報廢。

Beethoven Pianos, a restorer, renter, mover and dealer in New York, has a warehouse in the Bronx with scores of pianos awaiting disposal, said the owner, Carl Demler. “In wintertime we burn them,” he said, pointing to a round metal stove. “This one has eaten many pianos.”
貝多芬鋼琴公司是紐約的鋼琴修復、出租、搬運和交易商，老闆鄧姆勒說，公司在布朗克斯區有個倉庫，裡面有幾十架鋼琴等著報廢。「冬天我們就把它們燒了」，他指著一個圓形的金屬爐子說。「這個爐子吞噬過很多鋼琴。」

O’Mara Meehan Piano Movers, founded in 1874, dumps five to 10 pianos a month. The company tries to give away discarded pianos. But Bryan O’Mara said there is limited room in his warehouse. Churches and school often do not have room or the means to maintain them.
奧瑪拉．米漢鋼琴搬運公司成立於1874年，每個月把5到10架鋼琴運往棄置場。這家公司試著把被丟棄的鋼琴送人。可是奧瑪拉說，他的倉庫空間有限。教會和學校往往又沒有足夠的空間或資源來保有、維護鋼琴。

“You hate to see them go,” he said.
他說：「我們真不喜歡看到它們報廢。」

But piano movers can also take a clinical view of piano disposal, since they understand the economic realities.
不過鋼琴搬運公司既然了解經濟現實，也就能客觀的看待鋼琴的報廢。

While noting that piano disposals can be painful, Brain Goodwin, who owns Piano Movers of Nashua, New Hampshire, and who had 30 pianos in his warehouse ready for the dump recently, said: “To be honest with you, the guys enjoy it. They try so hard all day not to scratch anything. And all of a sudden they get to throw it off the back of a truck.”
古德溫是新罕布夏州納舒厄市的鋼琴搬運公司老闆，他的倉庫裡最近有30架鋼琴準備丟到棄置場，他表示把鋼琴丟掉很讓人心痛，不過他說：「老實對你說，搬運工人很享受這過程。他們一整天小心翼翼不在鋼琴上留下一道刮痕。然後突然之間，他們要把它從卡車後面推下去。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/arts/music/for-more-pianos-last-note-is-thud-in-the-dump.html

Slideshow: Where Pianos Go to Die
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/07/29/arts/music/077292012PIANOS.html

Video: A Requiem for Pianos: O’Mara Meehan Piano Movers has been in the business since 1874. The vice president, Bryan O’Mara, laments the fact that he has to dispose of 5 to 10 pianos a month.
http://nyti.ms/QZpjPM

2012-09-04聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 田思怡譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版下