Recital Piano Usage

[Jeff Tanner]

Hi Don, comments interspersed.

>Hi all,
>
>So who *exactly* is being served--the staff or the student?

The society as a whole gives and receives benefit.  Education is a cycle.
Students of today will be the taxpaying, institution supporting,
contributors to society of tomorrow.  If taxpayers and donors get the idea
that what they are paying for is becoming a bottomless pit without obvious
benefits being realized, then they may eventually begin to second guess
future investments.  (Three letters: N E A)

> If it is the
>staff, then the current mode of operation is *just fine*. If it is the
>student then what we have is a very poor environment where students are
>encourged to *NOT* practise.

This is why they are provided with keys to practice rooms with good to
excellent quality pianos which are maintained as well as budget allows.  I
don't see how imposing reasonable time limits on an instrument they will
perform on for one 30 minute recital a year is encouraging them to not
practice.  It is a bit like saying that the vocalist is encouraged to NOT
practice because he/she doesn't get the luxury of rehearsing with a full
audience because the difference in perceived acoustics has the same effect
as if they hadn't even rehearsed in the hall.

Again, nearly all other instrument concentrations must provide their own
instruments for rehearsal AND performance.  I see piano concentration
majors as being highly doted on (maybe as much so as the football players).
They are provided with the highest quality of instruments free of charge,
and they don't even have to pay for maintenance (or an accompaniest either,
for that matter).  I fail to see your reasoning that the student is not
being served.

I wrote:
>>That being said, I need a raise.

This was actually intended as a humorous tension breaker, not as a part of
my ranting.  However, I could be providing a much higher standard of living
for my family if I were doing lots of other things.  Private sector techs
are NETTING as much or more than twice my salary.  Other people are
enjoying this booming economy a lot more than we are.  I wouldn't mind a
cut of the pie.  But state employees were given a 2.5% raise this year --
less than the current rate of inflation -- and then they imposed an
increase in insurance rates.  In other words, we took a pay cut.

Regards,
Jeff

in response to:
> My 2 cents worth.
>
>At 12:04 PM 08/09/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>>
>>No.  The student IS NOT the paying customer.  I see it as quite the
>>opposite.  The tax-payer and the donor foot the bill for piano inventory,
>>at least here, anyway.
>>That being said, I need a raise.
>>
>>My thoughts,
>>
>>Jeff Tanner, Piano Technician
>>School of Music
>>University of South Carolina
>
>Regards,
>Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T.
>
>Tuner for the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts
>
>drose@dlcwest.com
>http://donrose.htmlplanet.com/