budget

[Alan McCoy]

Ed, et al,

This issue is huge. One of the most important functions of a piano course
would be to educate pianists and piano faculty just what is possible. Too
often when even just one aspect of a piano is perceived as "bad," the whole
piano is forever dismissed as a bad instrument. The faculty then becomes a
force for considering rebuilding instead of replacement. The process will
take some time though, so we might be around to see the fruits of our
education!

Alan McCoy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of
> A440A@aol.com
> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 4:13 PM
> To: caut@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: budget
>
>
> Fred writes:
> <<  My
> chair tells me he is almost certain the upper administration will approve
> our request for a new course fee of $5/credit hour for all music dept
> courses, targeted at pianos. This will generate $40,000 to $60,000/year,
> but the bulk will go to piano replacement.>>
>
> AAAAAAARRRRGGG!!!
>    I see this all too often!   Several years ago, I found that a
> major state
> university had received the funds to purchase a new Steinway D.
> They had two
> older ones, one of which had been horribly "rebuilt" about 5
> years before, and
> was  unusable.  The other was in poorly regulated and voiced limbo.
>    I tried to tell them that for the price of a new one, the old
> one could be
> completely, (and I mean COMPLETELY) restored and they would still have
> $50,000 left over to bring others up to par.   It didn't wash,
> they had been
> convinced that a NEW one was the only way to have the 'genuine'
> experience.
>   I just returned from that school where I spent time with the
> "other" piano.
>  I repinned the hammerline and assorted whippen problems,
> reshaped hammers,
> worked over the stringing, regulated, tuned and voiced.  When I
> was done, the
> first faculty member that played it said, "Wow,  I wish our new
> piano played
> and sounded this good"!  Maybe we can figure out a way for you to
> restore the
> really bad one".
>    As Caut members, we really need to get our sales pitch down to
> a science
> so that schools can be made to understand that replacement of
> better brands of
> pianos is far more expensive than restoration, and the results are NOT
> superior.  It blows my mind to see a school turn in a handful of
> worn out Steinways
> in trade-in on a like number of new ones.  That is a great deal for the
> factory, but the school is getting taken to the cleaners.
> Regards,
> Ed Foote RPT
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
>  <A
> HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html">
> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
> _______________________________________________
> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives