NASM

[Bdshull@aol.com]

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
 
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