List, First: I was just compiling some of Jim Coleman's writings about partials, stretching, etc. for my new trainee & realized how much I miss his posts! Does anyone know how he's doing? Ever hear from him? Second: I had an interesting conversation with Abbey Simon last week. It seems he'd been in Ft. Worth for a while and had practiced on a pianist's 7/8 keyboard in her home. I can't remember her name but I believe Abbey said she's also on the faculty at SMU. Dave???? Anyway, after about 3 hrs. or so, he'd gotten used to and seemed to really like it. Especially playing 10th's, some octave work, etc. This surprised me because he's always complained about how narrow the sharps are on most keys. That's one of the reasons he liked the Baldwins while he was a Baldwin Artist. They were wider. I found out today that he's talked to our Business Manager (& whoever else) about buying a couple. He said he'd buy one himself but wanted the school to buy another one. Would he want the school to buy one that fit a Yamaha CIII that's sent in for him now? One for one of our 'D's'? One to fit a 'B' in his studio? Or one to fit the Yamaha S4 that he has in his apt. here in Houston? I just don't see how the logistics of that would work out for him. I doubt that Yamaha would spend that much money for that ($10,000 ? I've heard) & I know the university wouldn't pay for one for a Yamaha that we don't even own. If we bought one for one of our D's, I'd much rather it be for one that the students could use. We have quite a few Orientals & probably some others that have fairly small hands & it could be especially useful for them. But then there would need to be at least one that they could use for normal practicing. How does that all work out for SMU, Dave? I believe I remember you saying you had one there. Do any others of you have a 7/8 keyboard? Just some musings. Avery _______________________ Avery Todd, RPT Moores School of Music University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-4017
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