A little something from the archives from Newton... > We chained music stands to walls also and the same thing happened. They > disappeared. I had been advocating the department purchase cases of > portable stands and sell them at cost to the students. Their > responsibility and if it disappears _they_ have to replace it. > > Benches are a problem everywhere. My idea was to build boxes of 3/8" > plywood, 15" x 17" x 19", so they can be rotated to different heights > and paint them ugly colors. With a table saw, plywood )one side good), > some split 1x2s for cleats and some wood screws and Titebond they will > be easy and cheap to build AND replace. It is absolutely astonishing > how strong these boxes will be. The theatre scene shop can do this work > as well. (I found many piano benches in theatre spaces.) > > I got the ugly color idea from a dance teaching I found spray painting a > black boombox with bright yellow paint. I asked him why and he said > that it will not be stolen. He was right, five years later I saw it > being used in a class room. The unuglified music departmentboomboxes > disappear on a regular basis, every three to six months. David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- From: "Waldrop, Craig" <Craig_Waldrop at baylor.edu> To: caut at ptg.org Received: 10/2/2009 12:12:43 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] Benches >Hi Dave, >Funny that you should mention the chains that Mr. Boone put on. They do help, but >this past summer (when there was not as much activity in the practice room area) 3 >or 4 of those benches just 'disappeared' and have not returned. You might be >surprised at how many of those chains have nothing at the end of them. I ordered >eight replacements in August, because quite a few of the Jansen Petites have >broken frames. I actually have more trouble with the breakage than theft or >'re-arrangement.' >I've actually been pondering the construction of the Petites to see if there might be >a way to "beef them up." If anyone has a good idea about how to do that, please >share it. >Craig >Craig Waldrop, RPT >Staff Piano Technician >Baylor School of Music >254.710.1723 >________________________________ >From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Porritt, >David >Sent: Friday, October 02, 2009 9:28 AM >To: caut at ptg.org >Subject: Re: [CAUT] Benches >The chains have worked well. One professor who has an extra tall artist bench had >his moved out a couple of times so he asked me to chain his to his piano. He's had >no further problems! >I visited down at Baylor 20+ years ago back when Danny Boone was there. He had >all the practice room benches chained to the pianos. That's where I got the idea. >I have just ordered a really nice (and expensive) artist bench from Jansen for our >larger recital hall. This bench is a gas tube adjustable bench but looks like the >traditional crank benches. Jansen doesn't even have them in their catalog though >they have been available quite a while. I fear that this bench will move around a lot >too. >dp >David M. Porritt, RPT >dporritt at smu.edu >From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul T >Williams >Sent: Friday, October 02, 2009 9:08 AM >To: caut at ptg.org >Subject: Re: [CAUT] Benches >Chained?? I don't think our faculty would go for that. We're having wandering >bench problem as well. When I started here, every grand practice room had >adjustable benches plus a regular bench. Now...7 adjustables are gone. All have 2 >benches still. They didn't go to an upright room, nor did they go to GTA rooms. Go >figgur. Hey...gorilla glue them to the floor, then push the piano in or out to your >liking ;>) ha ha >Paul >From: >"Porritt, David" <dporritt at mail.smu.edu> >To: >"caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org> >Date: >10/02/2009 08:55 AM >Subject: >[CAUT] Benches >________________________________ >Does anyone have any great hints on how to keep benches where they belong? In >our piano major practice rooms we have an adjustable bench (Jansen Petites) and >each is chained to its piano. All 10 have remained in the rooms, no problem. >However, in our recital halls it's not possible to chain the bench so they do wander >off. In all my years here I have not found a solution. >Any bright ideas? >dave >_________________________ >David M. Porritt, RPT >Meadows School of the Arts >Southern Methodist University >6101 Bishop >Dallas, TX 75275 >dporritt at smu.edu
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