Craig: Our main concert hall is used a lot by the orchestra and wind ensembles for rehearsal and all organists consider it an organ practice room. Consequently the pianos are not targets for much of the day. The room is scheduled in the Facilities office but people do get in there and use the pianos if nothing else happens to be going on in there. Our small recital hall (160-seats) is also a lecture hall so it too is tightly scheduled. The only time I have in these places is before most musicians are awake. dp David M. Porritt dporritt@smu.edu -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Craig_Waldrop Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 5:22 PM To: CAUT Subject: [CAUT] Performance piano usage Dear List, I am writing this to solicit your help in gathering data on performance piano usage and access control. This query is directed primarily to full-time techs at schools of music, although I welcome any and all productive input from those of you with experience working in a very active music institution. I work at Baylor School of Music where we have two primary performance venues. One is a large concert hall and the second is a smaller multi-use recital hall. We have two Steinway concert grands in each hall. Three of these instruments are kept locked when not in use; the fourth one is a ³stage² piano used for orchestra and other instrumental ensemble rehearsals. There are also three or four other smaller rooms (lecture and rehearsal halls) containing seven-foot grand pianos. Here are my questions: 1. Does your institution have guidelines for usage of performance pianos and if so, how are they implemented or enforced? (If a document exists which you could share, please feel free to email it to me privately). 1. Who has keys to your best concert pianos (assuming they are locked or access to the room is restricted)? 1. How much rehearsal time is allowed for performance majors giving a recital? 1. How do you control or limit time of piano use for evening and late-night rehearsals? 1. Approximately how many hours a week is your best piano played? 1. In your opinion, what is the distinction between ³rehearsal² and ³practice²? My request comes to you following a meeting with the dean of our School of Music regarding a multitude of piano maintenance issues and he asked me to gather ³supportive data.² There was specific discussion about a particular professorıs habit of giving a key to students with upcoming recitals. The existing guidelines allow two two-hour rehearsal times on the piano that theyıve chosen to play. The students who are given keys are FAR exceeding that amount of time. (I have discovered them at times playing very late at night/ early morning; donıt know for how long.) If these questions are too long for our list forum, I apologize. Please respond privately if you wish to minimize that. Thanks in advance for your assistance. I would really appreciate your input. Craig Waldrop, RPT Staff Piano Technician Baylor School of Music Craig_Waldrop@baylor.edu _______________________________________________ caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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