Hi Andrew, This has been an interesting discussion but there are a couple of points no one has (I think) yet addressed. The first is that this is a "composer in residence" who is asking for terminal changes to be made at great expense on an instrument in which s/he has no vested interest, changes which will render the instrument (and the money spent on it) absolutely useless to anyone else in the universe __________ except for performance of whatever piece s/he is writing. At the end of this person's tenure at LCC, the institution will be left with an instrument whose only value might be to sell it to the next institution at which this composer lands a residency and requests such consideration. Another question is whether or not this composer has any expectations of their music being performed by anyone else ever, save in Partch-like retrospectives... assuming, of course, that there is eventually a large enough body of decent composition to warrant it. OTOH, there is a place for research and creative output in strange directions, and this is certainly a musicologically legitimate area of endeavor. Academic types involved in such exploration (in other disciplines anyway) typically write research proposals and apply for grant funding for such projects. This situation seems to fall squarely in that category and I would recommend taking that tack with this composer. If they can make a strong enough case for what they want to do, they ought to be able to convince funding sources to bankroll it. The instrument can be one that was "done right" at the outset, and at a performance-worthy level, rather than just a retro-fitted "extra" instrument that was deemed excess in the first place. A really nice 1/4-tone instrument might be an asset to LCC and the musical community at large and you might even make some cash shipping it around the world (with its resident tech, of course!) for 1/4-tone workshops, performances, etc... (maybe...) Don't sell this situation short by agreeing to cobble something together for this composer. If they're really serious, and good at what they do, its worth going after the money and expertise to do this right. If they're not ready to invest that much of themselves in this project, its not worth your time and certainly not worth requiring the school to pick up the tab for something which will fade away (except for the useless piano) as soon as their tenure is up. I'll be interested to hear how this whole thing progresses. Keep us informed! :) At 09:28 AM 12/3/2007, Andrew Anderson wrote: >Caut Listmembers, >I have a request from the composer in residence here to convert a >Baldwin upright school-piano (late 70s early 80s vintage) into a >quarter-tone piano. Regards, Alan B. Crane, RPT School of Music Wichita State University alan.crane at wichita.edu
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