Practice room grands

Tim Coates tcoates@iw.net
Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:35:37 -0500


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If you check the archives Dave has talked about excessive string 
breakage in the past.  There were some comments from members on this 
list that the professors and the students are using excessive force to 
play the pianos at his school.  I was not part of the discussion, but I 
remember following it.

Tim Coates
University of South Dakota
University of Sioux Falls



David M. Porritt wrote:

> The hammers aren't particularly hard, they are just played hard.  They 
> all break at the capo bar.  The school has an "Artist Certificate" 
> program for people wanting to be performers.  The only entrance 
> requirement is exceptional playing and acceptance by a teacher.  It is 
> generally a post graduate program though we've had students as young 
> as 16.  These kids are really serious and have very few academic 
> distractions.  They practice hard 6 - hours a day.  The program is 
> limited to 30 in all disciplines.  Currently we have 9 pianists (I 
> think!).  The rest are in other orchestral instruments or singers.  
> It's fun to watch them grow, and their practice habits are a good 
> example for the other students.  The downside is that they take a huge 
> toll on the pianos.
>  
> dave
>
> __________________________________________
> David M. Porritt, RPT
> Meadows School of the Arts
> Southern Methodist University
> Dallas, TX 75275
>  
>
> ----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
> From: Alan McCoy <amccoy@mail.ewu.edu <mailto:amccoy@mail.ewu.edu>>
> To: <dm.porritt@verizon.net <mailto:dm.porritt@verizon.net>>, College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org <mailto:caut@ptg.org>>
> Received: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 08:54:28 -0700
> Subject: RE: Practice room grands
>
> Dave,
>  
> Wow. That is a lot of broken strings! Are those hammers rock hard or 
> have you spent time softening them? How the heck do you get anything 
> else done around there after replacing all the strings?
>  
> Alan McCoy
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf
>     Of David M. Porritt
>     Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 7:58 AM
>     To: caut@ptg.org
>     Subject: Re: Practice room grands
>
>     Wow!  Since Kawai's are pretty high tension scales, I can't
>     imagine how many strings get broken with that kind of use!  Mind
>     you, I like Kawais, but that combination of piano and use! 
>
>     9 of our 10 piano major practice rooms have Steinway "L"s or
>     "M"s.  The other one is an older Baldwin.  All of them get
>     frequent broken strings.  I probably replace 5 to 8 a week.
>
>     I'd like to tune them at least once a month too, but I wonder what
>     I'd have to neglect to do it.
>
>     dave
>
>
>     __________________________________________
>
>     David M. Porritt, RPT
>
>     Meadows School of the Arts
>
>     Southern Methodist University
>
>     Dallas, TX 75275
>
>      
>
>
>     ----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
>     From: Avery Todd <atodd@UH.EDU <mailto:atodd@UH.EDU>>
>     To: <dm.porritt@verizon.net <mailto:dm.porritt@verizon.net>>, College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org
>     <mailto:caut@ptg.org>>
>     Received: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:39:52 -0500
>     Subject: Re: Practice room grands
>
>
>     Dave,
>
>     If I had my "druthers", I'd like to tune them at least once a
>     month! With the
>     kind of music so many of the kids play (Prokofiev, etc.) and the
>     numbers of
>     hours they're in heavy use, ours need that. Probably more.
>
>     The problem we have here is that those piano major rooms (9 of the
>     10) have
>     'lease' Kawais and are changed out every year, so it takes a bit
>     to start
>     getting even a little stability.
>
>     Avery
>
>     At 09:28 AM 9/17/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>     The grand pianos in practice rooms, the ones reserved for the
>>     piano performance majors, how often do you tune these?  Do you
>>     have a schedule?  How do you determine that?
>>
>>      
>>
>>     I have these pianos listed in my inventory as 6x per year and I
>>     don't feel that this is enough.
>>
>>      
>>
>>     Comments?
>>
>>      
>>
>>     dave
>>
>>
>>     __________________________________________
>>
>>     David M. Porritt, RPT
>>
>>     Meadows School of the Arts
>>
>>     Southern Methodist University
>>
>>     Dallas, TX 75275
>>
>>      
>>
>>
>>      
>
>     ______________________
>     Avery Todd, RPT
>     Moores School of Music
>     University of Houston
>     Houston, TX
>


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