“Keep practicing, Van Cliburn does,” many a mother might have said when a piano was found in many American homes. The decline in piano ownership is a reason why Sheet Music Magazine was discontinued. (Associated Press)
Pallbearers carry the casket of classical pianist Van Cliburn into the Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, for his funeral service on Sunday, March 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Star-Telegram, Ron T. Ennis, Pool)
Pallbearers carry the casket of classical pianist Van Cliburn into the Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, for his funeral service on Sunday, March 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Star-Telegram, Ron T. Ennis, Pool)
American pianist Van Cliburn performs in Moscow on Sept. 21, 2004, in a concert dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Beslan school massacre. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
American pianist Van Cliburn performs in Moscow on Sept. 21, 2004, in a concert dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Beslan school massacre. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
Russian Ambassador to the United States Yuri Ushakov toasts Fort Worth pianist Van Cliburn at the Cliburn Foundation Gala in Fort Worth on Saturday, March 1, 2008. The gala, held in a massive tent on the lawn of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, celebrates the 50th anniversary of Van Cliburn’s upset win of the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Pianist Van Cliburn, 78, has been diagnosed with advanced bone cancer. He won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at age 23. (Associated Press)
** FILE ** Pianist Van Cliburn poses for a portrait at the Steinway & Sons showroom in New York on March 18, 1994. The renowned classical pianist has been diagnosed with advanced bone cancer and is resting comfortably at his Texas home, his publicist said Monday, Aug. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Wyatt Counts, file)
** FILE ** Pianist Van Cliburn poses for a portrait at the Steinway & Sons showroom in New York on March 18, 1994. The renowned classical pianist has been diagnosed with advanced bone cancer and is resting comfortably at his Texas home, his publicist said Monday, Aug. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Wyatt Counts, file)
