The Associated Press published an article today chronicling the decline of brand new piano sales over the past century. In 1909, over 364,500 new pianos were sold in the United States, and that number has been dwindling ever since. Now, the number of new pianos sold falls between 30,000 and 40,000 annually. This is due in part to the increasing popularity of electronic keyboards, as well as the numerous computer-based programs that can generate comparable sounds. This makes a lot of sense because as the article points out, the average cost of a grand piano in 2014 was just over $16,000, which is by no means affordable. There is, however, a more subtle reason for declining sales: With so many other extracurricular pass-times to enlist in, kids just aren’t widely encouraged to pick up an instrument anymore. You can read the entire article here.