Cauts, As part of the effort to produce a revised "Guidelines for Effective Institutional Piano Maintenance," I am proposing to develop a rather brief appendix to the document, which will give an idea of actual, real life conditions in music schools/departments. This is something several on the caut list have expressed an interest in. It could form part of the Guidelines, or simply be a supplemental document, available to CAUT's if they would find it useful. My notion is to acquire raw data from technicians (ie, you, the reader of this), and to present it as follows (precise wording to be edited and refined later): "In 2000/01, the CAUT of the PTG surveyed a large number of music programs from around the country to determine the actual ratio of pianos per technician in various situations. The results of this survey are as follows: 1) Prestigious conservatories 2) Prominent music schools 3) Music departments of national reputation 4) Average of all data collected, including smaller and less well-endowed institutions." For each of these categories, I would provide both an average ratio and a range, and I would list by name institutions included in the first three categories. The 4th category would include the results of the most recent caut survey, and well as any other data I might come up with. I would also add a disclaimer statement noting that circumstances vary widely from inst. to inst., including age of instruments, whether or not pianos are rebuilt in-house, and many other factors, and that this information is simply intended to supplement the guidelines. Before I broadcast a fairly simple survey to try to gather some of this data, I'd like to solicit your input and feedback. Thanks, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC