Fred, Well put, Fred. I believe that the more effort we put into the establishment of institutional standards for piano inventory, piano maintenance and the qualifications of university piano technicians, the greater the likelihood of success in meeting those goals. Right now there is no pressure except the economic pressure which is being met most successfully (and most dismally) by the dealer lease programs. The refining of the Guidelines and the sub-specialization of CAUT technicians, along with a long term effort on the part of the PTG to promote these things, will most certainly create increased expectations all the way around. This should influence not only NASM reviews, but even recruitment efforts! Bill Shull, RPT La Sierra University, CSUSB In a message dated 10/4/01 12:33:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time, fssturm@unm.edu writes: << Gary, Newton and others: You are entirely correct in saying that NASM accreditation doesn't really address our situation in an appropriate way. My own take is that the accreditation process it provides an opportunity for us to raise issues and bring them to the attention of people who can make a difference. Especially in a large university, it takes a very loud squeaking wheel to get any grease. The key here is not to rely on NASM to have anything to say, but rather to make it an in-house effort. The self-evaluation is by far the largest part of the accreditation process. Most of the time (from what I have seen and heard) the NASM report is based pretty extensively if not exclusively on the self-eval. So if one of the biggest deficiencies noted is in the area of pianos (purchase/condition/maintenance, whatever), it will show up pretty loud and clear in the report - that gets read by the Dean, various associate provosts, the provost, and maybe other administrative types with budgetary responsibilities. And it has the added weight of being said by an outside entity. Another aspect is that my piano report will be read by various faculty members within the department, educating them, and making it part of their mix of priorities. Hardly any of them have the faintest idea of even how many instruments we have, let alone how old they are, how much care they get, etc. I look at these matters in the long term. I'm sure persistence will pay off eventually, but for all I know it may be another 10 years. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico >>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC