The $50,000 question

[David Ilvedson]

What a wonderful dilemma!  To actually have the faculty listen to your
advice must have made your day.

David I.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-caut@ptg.org [mailto:owner-caut@ptg.org]On Behalf Of Mark
Graham
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 4:24 AM
To: caut@ptg.org
Subject: The $50,000 question


I'm back on the forums after a year's absence. I have an odd situation at
our college and I'd be interested in suggestions or information about
available pianos.

Baldwin-Wallace College near Cleveland, Ohio is looking for a Steinway D.
We have 2 on stage now, one from 1926 and one from about 1980. Both are
heavily used and are showing their age. Both need hammers and restringing,
which I'm pushing for, but I'm contracted for 20 hrs/wk, they have 90
pianos plus others on campus, and there is no shop. I'm stretched pretty
thin as you can tell, but that's another story.

Two new piano faculty members, both excellent musicians, are pushing for a
new D. One of them found a used Hamburg D. I went with them to see it, and
it sounded great but was the age of our better one and showed much wear.
In addition, the soundboard and ivories are cracked from low humidity. It
needed a great deal of work, but the one faculty member felt about it like
my son would about a sports car -- loved it and wanted it. Without my
knowledge, the administration secured a $50,000 grant to purchase it. When
I found out, I restated my original feelings, that this piano was not a
step up for us, pointed out its shortcomings, and said I couldn't support
purchasing it. The faculty went back to look at it, decided it really
wasn't for us, and thanked me profusely for saving the college from an
expensive mistake. Amazing!

But now we have $50,000. The college is holding it for us. We don't get
the interest and we can't invest it, but it can sit indefinitely. We want
a D, but don't have enough for a new one, and the development office and
other administrators can't come up with the difference. (I suggested a
bake sale and car wash.)(That's a joke.) For many reasons I think the
college should have a new one. The faculty wants a Steinway and nothing
else. I'd be thrilled to have a concert Yamaha or other, but absolutely
not, they say.

We will, of course, talk with Steinway, but that's not my department.
Perhaps something used from the artist department would be a possibility.
Anybody ever been in a similar situation? Anybody know of the perfect
piano for us? By the way, I'm posting to pianotech and the caut forum.

Mark Graham
Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music
Berea, Ohio