[CAUT] 1/4 tone piano conversion

[Andrew Anderson]

Mr. Crane hit the nail on the head.
I outlined the affordable ways to accomplish this, two pianos tuned a 
1/4 step apart and synthesizers and then encouraged him to look into 
writing grants.

We just had DUO46 over and much of their repertoire was bankrolled by 
various foundations interested in new music.  I pointed this out to 
him and as he is a composer with reputation in his and his family's 
name, he should be able to draw grant money for instruments on the 
commitment to expand the repertoire for them.

I spoke with the North American representative for Sauter, Basilios 
Strmec, and he basically said the same thing.  There is support for 
these academic forays available.  Sauter would build a 1/4 tone piano 
again for a committed customer.  It would involve dusting off the old 
plans and updating them but they do take these kinds of projects on.

I should clarify that Dr. Gorecki is a professor here (composer in 
residence is more of a communal acknowledgement then a title) and has 
put down roots in the community that suggest he will be here for a while.

Andrew Anderson

At 09:40 AM 12/4/2007, you wrote:
>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