[CAUT] Prepared pianos

Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu
Mon Jan 31 15:25:09 MST 2011


On Jan 31, 2011, at 2:44 PM, Jim Busby wrote:

> You might be interested to know what precipitated this “problem” we  
> have at BYU. I have been finding sticky notes, and have noticed  
> “coloring” on the strings. I came to find out that this was crayon  
> someone was using to mark nodal points. (Anyone know how to clean  
> that off?) So…. I put notes in every piano with the sticky notes  
> that said “Please don’t touch the strings or dampers of this or any  
> BYU piano. If you want to do some “inside the piano” compositions  
> please let us help you.”  The teacher took umbrage with that note  
> and wrote a nasty letter to the Director about “how dare we…” etc.  
> so, now the debate and fight begins.


	Hmmm, I guess I'd have to say your note was a bit of an over- 
reaction. Not that the results of what the students were doing isn't  
annoying and at least cosmetically damaging, but better to address it  
as that: "What you have done has made this pristine looking piano look  
like crap" is the message to convey, and so I'd offer alternatives and  
suggest they come to you for additional suggestions and help. "Crayon  
is not a good way to mark nodes, it is hard to get off the strings.  
Please do X instead." "Please remove your sticky notes when done."  
That sort of thing. Prohibition is not an effective policy, it just  
causes resentment and tends to be ignored anyway. And "touching the  
strings or dampers" was not really the issue, was it?
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm

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