Hi Kent I agree 100 % with your thinking about a relationship between the instruments appearance and the respect with which it get handled. That said I think that the amount of resources many schools allocate to piano hold prohibits much of what you rightly (IMHO) suggest. As far as removing lids. I cant stop them from doing it... even without consulting me. But I can make myself an appropriate pain in the pattotey about such things. It does raise awareness abit and lessens the damage that is otherwise unavoidable to some degree or another. I have after 8 years here at UiB managed to nearly eliminated the tendancy of folks to place food stuffs on instruments. Grin... I get a kick out of going into practice rooms and seeing the extra note holder standing there in horizontal orientation so as to serve as a side table. I always thank the person for doing so. Cheers RicB ****************************************************** I have a couple questions about maintaining concert pianos on stages at universities. 1) Do you have a policy about the touch-up of finish damage? I would think a good-looking piano would generate more respect and care than a beat-up one. (Although I didn't think that the time a couple years ago when we had a D refinished and the first week-end it was back in service, it received more damage than it had before being refinished. I still haven't recovered from that one.) Does anyone touch-up as needed? Or perhaps annually? Never? 2) Do you have a policy on removing lids? It seems like every recording project, every duo-piano performance, every large ensemble performance requires the lid to be removed. There is also a history of damage being done while removing and replacing grand piano lids. Sure would like to know what various schools do. Thanks. Kent Swafford
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