This comment in a different thread got me thinking.

Recorder: small, light, robust, portable, inexpensive

Piano: huge, heavy, delicate, stays in one place, good one costs a fortune ...

I know we have polyphony and a huge tonal range - but unlike many other instruments we can't bend those notes (flute, trumpet, Sax, guitar) still less play all the notes in-between (violin, trombone, voice)/

But a piano ain't much use for laid-back gentle post-party stuff at 2 or 3 in the morning, and I've never heard one around a campfire. Nor is it much of a choice for busking - though I have seen enterprising types that drop off a piano in street corners from a flat back van.

Recorder may start out that way MT but recorder addiction soon takes over. Then they cost hundreds of pounds, then several thousand, we reason with ourselves that we need a full set of baroque instruments, then a few more to use as solo instruments, some odd sizes such as garkleins and contrabasses, renaissance and mediaeval ones just to see what they are like, some modern ones, some more modern ones with extra bits, a silver one, then a set of A415 ones, one in an unusual choice of wood. (My next one may well be made of pink wood.) and then a few huge cases to keep them in.

I think that one of the few advantages of the recorder is that it is possible and far easier to join in group music making sooner than pianists can. You've got be be playing at a reasonable standard to play piano with others but pre grade one recorders may join some groups and fit in well.

PS. The voice has to be one of the best instruments in the universe.

Before engaging in a positive discussion on this topic, agreement must be reached on the definition of 'best'.
Best in what way ? Best for what purpose ?
Smallness, portability and inexpensiveness do not make a musical instrument 'better ' let alone the'best' per se. The fact that on some instruments quarter-tones can be played does not make them 'better' than a keyboard instrument which cannot. So we come back to having to fix a definition of 'best' and I am not convinced we can do that. Without it, however, no objective discussion of this topic can take place.

Interesting question - though i dont really have an answer.

Another difference between piano and (most) other instruments is that pianos can't crescendo through notes.
x

Have to disagree with you on that one, Tom - many a party rounded off with a good sing-song / chill-out!

I agree, voice is THE instrument (sadly mine is dreadful). Other than that, shakuhachi .... minimum fuss, maximum technique

I don't believe in the concept of an absolute best instrument.

Some best instruments:

For a singsong at a party: chord bass accordian - portable polyphony

For a small homogeneous group (top four in order): trombone, 'cello, clarinet, horn

For summoning the clans: cow horn

No, the instrument to summon clans must be a bagpipe surely? That was unkind to cow horns.

MT, have you temporarily taken leave of your senses???!!
Piano is entirely the best instrument in this and all other alternate realities.

I'll grant bagpipes equal status for those clans, but hear "Gotterdameraung" (Solti on Decca).

As Frank shows here, pretty darned good at a quarter to three http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53sCut6XxZE

Yes!!!! and I wouldn't even have thought of it, shame on me.

'Best' is such a difficult word, though. I love the piano for its versatility, but yup, it's not very portable. Except these days you can always get a wee lightweight digital if you want to carry one around. And it very much depends who's playing it...I'm a bit music-bound, and not so good at just improvising, while my dad can pick up his guitar, and if you name a song, he'll play it. He is therefore more fun at parties than me.

Buttttttt...I have a couple of friends who enjoy singing showtunes and old standards, and I have a shelf full of them, and my dad can't play them for toffee. And it swings back again...

[That's just talking about the 'interactive' side of piano/guitar. If you're talking about classical/jazz, I'm back to "I my piano and it's THE BESTEST!!!!"]

Unfortunately, the most 'perfect' instrument nowadays is probably the computer

The Classical Guitar has to be the best instrument - it's a cheap, portable and quiet piano with a beautiful voice.

As with any instrument - only a nice one in the possession of someone who knows how to use it.

And yes, I'd agree that the piano has a lot going for it, but that different instruments will have different sets of things going for them, making it impossible to decide on an overall best. If I travel with a recorder, it's pretty portable, can be played on its own or to accompany another, but if I travel as a recorder player, the stuff I have to drag around is rather less portable, often, and as petrat says, it starts looking less like the cheap option MT suggests.

What happened to the idea of the fabulous-recorder-carrying-shift-dress?

When it was loaded up with recorders and associated paraphernalia, it was too heavy to shift

It was a real plan though - I'm sure anacrusis was going to make one!

The cheapest Yamaha Grand (GBK1) is still almost £6,000. A new Bosendorfer 175 is £60,000! Good second-hand Steinways are upwards of £20,000.

I think a top of the range Fazioli concert grand is IRO £250,000

Is this not a different price-league from any recorder??

that is still a definite plot, yes, though I stop short of designing something to fit a bass recorder, hehe .
*wonders what a piano-carrying outfit would look like*

MT - one recorder is well short of a piano, yes. A good treble will cost upward of £300, a professional model nearer to £600-1000: but in the process of acquiring the range of instruments a recorder player might need, the money will mount up into thousands, and for those specialising in bass instruments, tens of thousands.

In one way, yes but the problem is that recorder players need a lot of instruments and these can cost a few hundred upwards apiece. The alto recorder in baroque style that I want costs around £3000 and if I was still playing professionally it would be but one of many similarly priced instruments that I would have in my collection.

Especially in the alternate realities!

*disappears into alternate unreality*

Thank you - you are my new best friend

Oi! Not until you have finished designing that dress!

Was it pink enough also?

No dress can ever be pink enough for kj...

Thats a nice one!

Not with those earrings, mate!

You mean the earrings are all you object to?!

the earings are the only problem?!

Edit: great minds think alike. Not sure what happened here then!

Well, I don't do blonde either.....

Haha...

Best instrument ever invented AFTER THE PIANO OF COURSE!!! for me is the accoustic guitar. As a teenager not being able to afford a piano I took up the guitar and it provided hours of fun!!!
It's not small but I never felt it was too big either to take anywhere. Me and my guitar were very much an item! Growing up on the seaside I'd often sit on the beach in the evening with friends and we'd all be singing our hearts out for hours!!! Same at college/high school. Going on walks was never a problem either as friends were taking it in turn to carry it.
It's a brilliant instrument. A lot of people will know how to play at least one tune (even if it's made up of only 3 chords!!) so you can have a rest from playing while someone else takes over!! and lending the guitar is not a problem. It's not going to damage it if anyone else plays it (unless they drop it!!! )
It's also very affordable (a decent one anyway).

Well...

The most useful instument is the computer...

The most portable is your voice...

But, of course, the overall best is THE PIANO!