Hi Ed, Jim, Ed & Dave, Good points all the way around. I think you would be wise to ask a few more questions to the faculty and administration on this one before jumping into something you wish had never come to the school. 1. Who is the faculty member willing to basically be the keeper of the instrument and advocate to the administration for its upkeep, and training of the piano tech staff to keep it in good order? Oftentimes the instrument will be kept in this professor's studio as they are the one requesting its acquisition for their performance/ teaching use in the first place. This professor will also make sure that - like a harpsichord - the room's relative humidity is kept stable and that performances it is used for are scheduled through her/ him with you being alerted to rehearsals and performances well in advance. 2. Don't go cheap on an instrument if this is the only one in your collection - i.e. are they willing to pay $30-$40+K for an instrument? There will be as many skeptics on its purchase (and likely more) than advocate. So, this has to be the best representative of a truly Period instrument to justify the purchase and maintenance. Wrapping your brain around Mozart being played on something oftentimes viewed as a "toy" will only will only be given the time of day if the action regulation and tuning are flawless. Otherwise, a poor first-impression will be broadcast among the faculty and students that those dusty old boxes are better heard (or not!) in museums rather than modern performance venues. As Dave pointed out - the best fortepianos will come with a builder behind it or reference to someone who regularly works on these type of instruments in performance and recording situations who will not leave you hung out to dry! I would put Paul McNulty (Prague), Rod Regier (Freeport, ME), Tom & Barbara Wolf (Washington, D.C.), and Chris Maene (Belgium) as the top fortepiano builders in the world, at present. 3. Attach a performer to the purchase who will give a master class and concert for its debut/dedication. Malcolm Bilson, f'pianist at Cornell U., Robert Levin, f'pianist and musicologist at Harvard U., David Breitman, f'pianist and director of performance practice at Oberlin Conservatory, or Penny Crawford, f'pianist at U. of Michigan would all be good choices. These are all tenured piano faculty well- respected in their piano departments and used to promoting the instrument in an educational setting. 4. Are they willing to have you properly trained to care for this instrument? Learning how to work on a Viennese action is not rocket science, but there are not the correlations to say, an English-action Broadwood that you may be able to figure out on your own. And yes, I would recommend a Viennese-action replica. Whether you get a 5-octave Mozart f'piano or a 6 to 6 1/2-octave Schubert period instrument (i.e. Graf-copy) would be a decision that you want the piano faculty to make, as well. Hope this helps. Feel free to call me or e-mail me off-line if I can help you with any other particulars. Best, Robert --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert A. Murphy Piano Technician & Curator of Fortepianos Oberlin Conservatory of Music cell: 517.285.3269 shop: 440.775.8275 On Aug 31, 2010, at 12:57 PM, caut-request at ptg.org wrote: > Send CAUT mailing list submissions to > caut at ptg.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/caut > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > caut-request at ptg.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > caut-owner at ptg.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of CAUT digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Fortepiano for University (Ed Sutton) > 2. Re: Fortepiano for University (Jim Busby) > 3. Re: piano purchases (G Cousins) > 4. dowd harpsichord parts? (John Minor) > 5. Re: Fortepiano for University (David Doremus) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:48:52 -0400 > From: "Ed Sutton" <ed440 at mindspring.com> > To: <caut at ptg.org> > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Fortepiano for University > Message-ID: <B65C61E36BDF44D18A04DAE6EDF81876 at EdPC> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > My impression is that the finest harpsichords and fortepianos need a > personal owner/protector, who uses them regularly, understands what > the instrument is meant to do, and makes sure regulation is up-to- > date. > (I can tell a very sad story of a fine, historic replica French > double which was ruined by institutional treatment. A Zuckerbox and > Challis harpsichords were tough enough to hang in there in the > situation.) > > A less-than-ultimate instrument may make a better stable horse, > capable of surviving without a personal advocate. > > Perhaps someone with more experience than me can comment on this > relative to fortepianos. It seems to me pointless to buy a fine and > delicate instrument if no one is there to understand and use it fully. > > Ed Sutton > > > _______________ > > > On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Ed Foote <a440a at aol.com> wrote: > > Greetings, > The school is considering acquiring a new fortepiano or > a pianoforte. The first question is which era, as they are not > homogenized like pianos. Another question is style of action, and > yet another question is durability, I don't want to get a prima > donna instrument that gets weird every time it is moved. > I also don't want to re-invent the wheel, so was hoping > that other Cauts that deal with the 18th century in an academic > environment would offer a suggestion or two. > Thanks, > > > > Ed Foote RPT > http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100831/62742318/attachment-0001.htm > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:46:31 -0600 > From: Jim Busby <jim_busby at byu.edu> > To: Ed Sutton <ed440 at mindspring.com>, "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org> > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Fortepiano for University > Message-ID: > <739660BE4D87C748B380D5E57CD3A60BBF58267DEF at harrow.exch.ad.byu.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Ed, > > I agree, and we have such a person here at BYU. Nobody plays our 4 > harpsichords and various "historical" instruments w/o his OK. This > makes it easier on us as piano techs. No one can randomly request an > instrument without his signature. We maintain them, however, and he > keeps us apprised of use and needs. Before his help it was a "will- > nilly-whomever-wanted-something-on-a-whim" situation. > > My only experience with a fortepiano was a recording session with > some a duo from Boston. I was on-call and about every 15-30 minutes > they would have me touch-up notes. The fellow tunes, but wanted me > to tune it because he said tuning it took him away from the mood, or > something like that, and he didn't want to deal with it. I was there > 8 hours, until very late. So... after this experience I REALLY think > you have a great point; the instrument should have a benefactor of > sorts. > > Jim Busby > > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf > Of Ed Sutton > Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 7:49 AM > To: caut at ptg.org > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Fortepiano for University > > My impression is that the finest harpsichords and fortepianos need a > personal owner/protector, who uses them regularly, understands what > the instrument is meant to do, and makes sure regulation is up-to- > date. > (I can tell a very sad story of a fine, historic replica French > double which was ruined by institutional treatment. A Zuckerbox and > Challis harpsichords were tough enough to hang in there in the > situation.) > > A less-than-ultimate instrument may make a better stable horse, > capable of surviving without a personal advocate. > > Perhaps someone with more experience than me can comment on this > relative to fortepianos. It seems to me pointless to buy a fine and > delicate instrument if no one is there to understand and use it fully. > > Ed Sutton > > > _______________ > On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Ed Foote <a440a at aol.com<mailto:a440a at aol.com > >> wrote: > Greetings, > The school is considering acquiring a new fortepiano or a > pianoforte. The first question is which era, as they are not > homogenized like pianos. Another question is style of action, and > yet another question is durability, I don't want to get a prima > donna instrument that gets weird every time it is moved. > I also don't want to re-invent the wheel, so was hoping that other > Cauts that deal with the 18th century in an academic environment > would offer a suggestion or two. > Thanks, > > Ed Foote RPT > http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100831/a1f4f8a3/attachment-0001.htm > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:45:37 -0400 > From: G Cousins <cousins_gerry at msn.com> > To: CAUT <caut at ptg.org> > Subject: Re: [CAUT] piano purchases > Message-ID: <COL124-W25FE73727301A5A2E18A029F8A0 at phx.gbl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > My favorite quote: > It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that > one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a > government contract. > Alan Shepard > > Gerry C > > >> To: caut at ptg.org >> From: rwest1 at unl.edu >> Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:28:06 -0500 >> Subject: [CAUT] piano purchases >> >> Jim Busby's comment about buying in quantity to get a good price made >> me wonder why colleges/universities don't work together to get the >> same kind of deals that Jim is talking about. Why don't the big >> conferences (Big 12, Big 10, SEC, etc) agree to share purchasing of >> common items the conferences all need? It would be a win-win >> situation. Schools would get a discount and manufacturers would sell >> pianos. Maybe such program already exist but not directed toward >> schools of music. >> >> Richard West >> >> > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100831/c8d17c3c/attachment-0001.htm > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:55:37 -0500 > From: John Minor <jminor at illinois.edu> > To: caut at ptg.org > Subject: [CAUT] dowd harpsichord parts? > Message-ID: <4C7D17E9.1040708 at illinois.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Anyone know a source for replacement jack tongues for a Dowd > harpsichord? > > John Minor > University of Illinois > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:47:01 -0500 > From: David Doremus <algiers_piano at bellsouth.net> > To: caut at ptg.org > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Fortepiano for University > Message-ID: <4C7D3205.2030508 at bellsouth.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed > > I semi agree, if you have someone nearby or on staff who has the > knowledge and willingness to do it, they can be kept in very good > condition now matter how finicky. Usually makers will be happy to > provide training, advice, parts and even regular visits if necessary. > It's to their benefit as well to have the instruments present > themselves > as best they can. It is a big commitment from the institution and > needs > to be there before the decision is made to buy. > > --Dave > Tulane > New Orleans > > On 8/31/10 9:46 AM, Jim Busby wrote: >> >> Ed, >> >> I agree, and we have such a person here at BYU. Nobody plays our 4 >> harpsichords and various ?historical? instruments w/o his OK. This >> makes it easier on us as piano techs. No one can randomly request an >> instrument without his signature. We maintain them, however, and he >> keeps us apprised of use and needs. Before his help it was a >> ?will-nilly-whomever-wanted-something-on-a-whim? situation. >> >> My only experience with a fortepiano was a recording session with >> some >> a duo from Boston. I was on-call and about every 15-30 minutes they >> would have me touch-up notes. The fellow tunes, but wanted me to tune >> it because he said tuning it took him away from the mood, or >> something >> like that, and he didn?t want to deal with it. I was there 8 hours, >> until very late. So? after this experience I REALLY think you have a >> great point; the instrument should have a benefactor of sorts. >> >> Jim Busby >> >> *From:* caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] *On Behalf >> Of *Ed Sutton >> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 31, 2010 7:49 AM >> *To:* caut at ptg.org >> *Subject:* Re: [CAUT] Fortepiano for University >> >> My impression is that the finest harpsichords and fortepianos need a >> personal owner/protector, who uses them regularly, understands what >> the instrument is meant to do, and makes sure regulation is up-to- >> date. >> >> (I can tell a very sad story of a fine, historic replica French >> double >> which was ruined by institutional treatment. A Zuckerbox and Challis >> harpsichords were tough enough to hang in there in the situation.) >> >> A less-than-ultimate instrument may make a better stable horse, >> capable of surviving without a personal advocate. >> >> Perhaps someone with more experience than me can comment on this >> relative to fortepianos. It seems to me pointless to buy a fine and >> delicate instrument if no one is there to understand and use it >> fully. >> >> Ed Sutton >> >> >> _______________ >> >> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Ed Foote <a440a at aol.com >> <mailto:a440a at aol.com>> wrote: >> >> Greetings, >> The school is considering acquiring a new fortepiano or a >> pianoforte. The first question is which era, as they are >> not homogenized like pianos. Another question is style of >> action, and yet another question is durability, I don't >> want to get a prima donna instrument that gets weird every >> time it is moved. >> I also don't want to re-invent the wheel, so was hoping >> that other Cauts that deal with the 18th century in an >> academic environment would offer a suggestion or two. >> Thanks, >> >> Ed Foote RPT >> http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html >> > > -- > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > CAUT mailing list > CAUT at ptg.org > http://ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/caut > > > End of CAUT Digest, Vol 22, Issue 123 > ************************************* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100831/ffdf119f/attachment-0001.htm>
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