[CAUT] caut Digest, Vol 1090, Issue 3

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Paul,
	Sounds like this is a good opportunity to sit down with piano  
faculty and revisit the entire piano maintenance program. I wouldn't  
want to "pick sides," and I think you should make clear that your  
attitude is positive toward both (I like Chris Solliday's term: you  
are the "Advocate for the Inventory"). Explain the balancing act you  
go through even without the intrusion of a major demand on resources.  
Someone else needs to make the decision, in all likelihood,  
especially since you are new, but you definitely want to be in the  
middle of the decision-making process. In my department, if such a  
request came forward the chair would ask my advice and would almost  
certainly take it.
	"Special" versus regular, on-going budget? I think I'd vote for  
special in this case, but it depends how your on-going budget is set  
up. One doesn't want to use operating budget for capital expense or  
vice versa, at least on a regular basis. A comprehensive piano  
maintenance budget should have similar categories. I would want to  
assign this to "capital," which would include replacement and major  
rebuild, but I guess from your post that there is no such portion of  
your budget, that all you really have is on-going maintenance and  
tuning budget. So the real aim should be to create a capital budget,  
long term. From what source? Ideally from the capital budget of the  
university at large, or from a targeted endowment. Lacking those, a  
student fee might work (that's what I have).
	Some sort of compromise position may be possible, wherein you get  
training to allow you do to a major portion of this rehab work  
without requiring quite as much money going to the outside expert.  
Long term, this makes you more valuable to the department, and saves  
them money (assuming the fortepiano remains important at your  
institution - faculty leave and priorities change). Who knows, maybe  
there is some kind of staff professional development pot that could  
be tapped for this.
	What kind of rehab? Recover hammers? Restring? General action and  
key recondition? Or is it more major than those?
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Sep 18, 2006, at 1:34 PM, Paul T Williams wrote:

>
> Hi List,
>
> Some of my greenish hue is starting to wear off on being a CAUT,  
> but on budget matters with piano faculty, in particular, I shine  
> brighter that the emerald city!!  We have 105 keyboard instruments  
> here at the university, one of them being a Belt forte-piano about  
> 25 years old.  The professor who plays it primarily is demanding a  
> major rehabilitation to it which will require some outside help  
> with my assisting this outside expert.  The estimated cost of  
> bringing this "expert" in will take over 28% of my yearly budget.   
> The instrument is used in concert 6-8 times per year as compared to  
> our 3 Steinway D's, 1 concert Baldwin and 3 Steinway B's which are  
> used constantly.
>
> Some of the other faculty are up in arms about using the piano  
> budget and insist that this is a "special project" and should use  
> "special funds" like grants and the like.  Of course I agree  
> strongly both ways!  It is a university instrument, so it should  
> use university funds.  On the other hand it is used so  
> infrequently, that I can't see using a huge slice of my pie.  On  
> the third hand, one of my responsibilities is to see to it that all  
> instruments are happy.
>
> Having such a limited budget as I do, if I had to replace a good  
> quality grand, (not even concert level), I would be spending far  
> more than one year's budget, leaving all other instruments on hold  
> until next year whatever the need may be.INCLUDING the concert  
> instruments.
> So I ask for a bit of seasoned advise from you all.  How have you  
> handled such delemmas? Thanks for your help.
>
> Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.....
>
> Paul T. Williams RPT
> University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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