[CAUT] Steinway school info

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Chris,
	I would advise using this as an opportunity. I think going through  
the workload formula is a good exercise, as a way of evaluating what  
you have and creating a basis for deciding what you want to or ought  
to do. You are right that the Steinway folks will essentially be  
saying that you need to replace most of the inventory, and will give a  
couple models (various proportions of Steinway versus Boston) for  
price - not terribly helpful, really, since you can easily look up  
MSRP and subtract the fairly standard 25% institutional discount  
without their help. I wouldn't put too much effort into their  
evaluation of your inventory (I went through this three times over the  
years, and what I did was to provide a spreadsheet or database  
printout of models, serial numbers and locations).
	But this does give an opportunity to raise the issue of the state of  
the inventory, and what needs to be done over a long term. I would  
suggest doing your utmost to be included in the meetings, providing  
your own input as the technician - emphasizing that the service  
component is just as important as what instruments the department has.  
I wouldn't comment too much on the all-Steinway concept (at least in  
public, maybe express reservations privately to individuals), but let  
it happen if it is going to. There could very well be many up sides  
for you and for the institution.
	But at the same time, I would develop a sustainable long term plan,  
based on on-going replacement, rebuilding (and possibly  
remanufacture), and general maintenance, with a rational annual budget  
attached. Or perhaps a couple of plans, one "ideal" and one  
"practical." And then, when and if they decide the all-Steinway option  
is too rich for their blood, you present an alternative. They are  
already thinking of making a change, attention is focused, take  
advantage.
	Where does the money for an all-Steinway switch come from? Well, part  
of the program is that Steinway provides free consultant help in  
raising money (it's part of their marketing budget). They will help  
develop a plan for raising money, working with the development office  
or with upper administration types. Even if it doesn't come to  
anything in terms of actually doing the all-Steinway thing, the  
process might set things in motion for your department/school to  
initiate a serious fund-raising/endowment program. UNM (and our  
department) has only started to get serious about that in the last  
decade or two, but it has begun to have very positive results. The  
university, though a state entity, actually only receives 20-25% of  
its funds from state allocations. It seems like this is a fairly  
common model for state schools these days. Our department has started  
to see real results from a sustained effort at building its own  
sources of money, especially in the area of scholarship endowment. And  
various student course fees give us the flexibility to do a number of  
very important practical things, including piano things.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On May 1, 2008, at 8:07 AM, Christopher Purdy wrote:

> The piano faculty here have got the Steinway school bug and I need  
> to learn more about this.  Could some of you who have experience  
> with this designation please give me some advice on how to proceed?   
> What are the real benefits of going through this process?  What is  
> the down side?
>
> We have some 80 practice rooms (115 total pianos).  The thought of  
> 80 1098's or Bostons makes my stomach churn.  Of course, I would  
> love to replace or upgrade our grands.  We currently have less than  
> 20 Steinway grands.
>
> Which leads me to my main gripe, who is going to pay for this?  It  
> seems to me that we should begin this process by starting with the  
> budget.  Otherwise I think we're just window shopping at the Porsche  
> dealership.  At this point I'm worried about my annual contract  
> renewal.  And there just aren't that many music school alumni out  
> there that can drop a check for 3-4 million.
>
> The local Steinway dealer says that the first step is for him to  
> come down for 2-3 days and do a total inventory assessment.  Will  
> spending this time building their data base be beneficial?  Or will  
> we be wasting the Porsche salesman's time.  I have been meaning to  
> download the CAUT data base and doing this myself. Would it still be  
> beneficial, or better than the Steinway spread sheet.  In my  
> pessimism, I can't imagine the Steinway data base isn't going to  
> lean favorably toward spending as much money as possible.
>
> I would be really interested in hearing others experience with  
> this.  Thanks for your time.
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T.
> Registered Piano Technician
> School of Music, Ohio University
> Rm. 311, Robt. Glidden Hall
> Athens, OH  45701
> Office (740) 593-1656
> Cell    (740) 590-3842
> fax      (740) 593-1429
> http://www.ohiou.edu/music
>
>

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