Northwest Pianos is excited to bring a great new resource to you: Professional Audio and Video in our Mercer Music Hall.
The Piano Studio, a professional recording studio which has specialized in piano-based solo and ensemble recordings in the Seattle area since 2004, has moved its Steinway 9’ Concert Grand model D onto the stage, along with professional recording studio gear!
While all recitals in Mercer have been cancelled until further notice due to coronavirus, you can still have your talented and hard-working students come in individually to record their recital pieces! All that hard work can be captured - and you can use the professional videos for piano competitions and college applications, most of which now require video submissions.
Please contact Martin Buff at (206)851-3456, The Piano Studio owner and engineer, to schedule your private session or Live Stream concert today!
Piano manufacturing is, by its nature, a materials-intensive craft. A modern grand piano contains roughly 12,000 individual components. It requires carefully selected hardwoods — spruce, maple, beech, walnut — sourced from forests in multiple countries. It uses felt, leather, metal alloys, and chemical finishes. Building one well takes skilled labor spanning months.
In January 2026, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas included something that would have seemed out of place a decade ago: a piano technology exhibit generating genuine buzz alongside the televisions, smartphones, and AI gadgets that dominate the show floor. The products on display — connected instruments, app-integrated learning systems, multi-device MIDI setups — weren't novelties. They were the direction the piano industry is heading.
For years, the piano world operated on a fairly clean division: acoustic instruments for those who could afford the space and maintenance, digital pianos for everyone else. That division has been eroding steadily, and by 2026, it has given way to something more interesting — a category of instruments that refuses to sit neatly on either side of the line.
