---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Wim: I don't think we can prove what you're trying to prove. We're there, not for the investment value, but for the artistic value. If a music school isn't going to teach artistic playing -- that can only be done on pianos capable of artistic playing -- then they should shut down the program and turn the building into dorms for football players. I don't think we should be bringing up ideas (no matter how badly the administration would like to hear them) that we can't substantiate, and I don't think we can. dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 6/12/2003 at 4:57 PM Wimblees@aol.com wrote: In a message dated 6/12/03 12:35:22 PM Central Daylight Time, fssturm@unm.edu writes: I don't know, Wim. I can't see how we can argue that a piano _lasts_ longer if we do the recommended maintenance as you describe. In fact, it seems to me that doing what we recommend costs more and makes pianos last less long - or at least makes the components of pianos last less long. Regular hammer filing makes hammers die quicker; repinning shanks to maintain frictional parameters means more rapid replacement of shanks and flanges; regular re-stringing means more rapid replacement of pinblock; etc. Now there are schools where quality rebuilding and maintenance isn't part of the picture, and where, particularly with regard to performance pianos, there is a tendency to replace more often than necessary. The hammers get beaten in, some zings appear, key bushings get sloppy, knuckles and tails are glazed - the piano just isn't that wonderful instrument they picked out so carefully. Better get a new one. I've seen that often enough, and I expect many others have as well. It means piles of money goes to replacing prominent pianos, leaving next to nothing for maintenance and replacement of the rest of the inventory. In that kind of circumstance, you can certainly argue that hiring a qualified tech would save you money. But for the most part, I think the only argument that makes sense is that you have to invest in maintenance by a skilled tech if you want to have instruments at a quality level adequate to higher education needs. Period. Keeping pianos a performance level requires a constant investment of time and skill. Regards, Fred Sturm Universidad de Nuevo Mexico Unfortunately, trying to convince bean counters that the school needs to spend money on piano tuners is going to fall on deaf ears, if we can't show them it is going to save them money. Just telling an administrator that WE say one full time piano tuner is needed for 70 - 100 pianos, because WE say what needs to be done to keep piano working the way WE say they should work, is just not going to cut it. I think we have to show, with actual case studies, that investing in a piano tuner is going to save them money in the long run.. We have to show, in writing, with examples, that, to paraphrase the Fram Oil Filter commercial "you need to pay a piano tuner now, or you will have to buy new pianos sooner." If we can show that a qualified piano tuner can postpone the purchase of new pianos by 20 or even 40 years, they might listen. But just telling them that investing in a piano tuner is going to make the pianos play and sound better, only a few piano professors are going to agree with you. But the bean counter, and maybe even the rest of the department, is going to say, so what, I'd rather have the money for scholarships, or some new music, or a new desk in my office. The new Guidelines are very good, and helpful, and hopefully it will give a few department chairs the ammunition they need to get a qualified piano tuner. I'm trying to suggest a few ways to make the guidelines even better. It will require some more work on our part. But we've gone this far, so why not go the extra mile, and make it even better? Wim **************** END MESSAGE FROM Wimblees@aol.com ********************* _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________ ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/f7/3a/12/08/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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