Music
Trend instrument: The keyboard is back
The small keyboard instrument is inexpensive compared to the piano and can be easily transported. photo
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
Many were looking for a new hobby during the height of the pandemic – and making music at home was booming. An instrument that had been out for a long time benefited from this.
So big, so expensive – and yet the piano has been by far the most popular instrument in many music schools for years. Especially during the peak phase of the pandemic with lockdowns and restrictions on many leisure activities, many people tried it out at home and bought keyboard instruments, reports the SOMM – Society Of Music Merchants.
What was particularly in demand among specialist retailers, who are organized in the industrial association of manufacturers and dealers of musical instruments and musical equipment, was the piano’s little brother: the Keyboard. “Many retailers report that the keyboard has sold well – it has boomed compared to previous years,” says SOMM managing director Daniel Knöll to the German Press Agency.
The small keyboard instrument is inexpensive compared to the piano and can be easily transported. “It’s particularly suitable for beginners; it’s relatively easy to play,” says Knöll.
However, this pandemic effect has already slowed down again over the course of 2023. Everything has become more expensive – and less is being invested. Knöll reports that his industry is also feeling these effects. “And when investments are made, they tend to be in travel. People don’t want to sit at home anymore.” This is why many instruments that were purchased during the pandemic can currently be found in the second-hand market.
Trend: Making or listening to music together with others
The same applies to equipment for home recording: Everything you needed to record your own music or stream it to networks, such as microphones or software, boomed during the height of the pandemic, says Knöll. “There is only one product in this area that is currently doing well, but it is going through the roof: large Bluetooth sound boxes,” he reports. They are taken – outside, to festivals, to parks to listen to music with others.
There is another Corona catch-up effect in southern Germany: in 2023, brass instruments sold well at the specialist retailers that Knöll surveyed – such as the trumpet and the transverse flute.
During the peak phase of the pandemic with restrictions for orchestras, musicians invested less in these instruments. “There was also a fear of blowing the horn because of the aerosols,” reports Knöll of the music dealers’ experiences.
The musicians are now making up for it: they are playing together again and at the same time investing in new flutes, tubas, trumpets and trombones. “This is the first time that there are noticeable regional differences,” said Knöll.