<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Aug 22, 2008, at 5:05 PM, Israel Stein wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; ">Fred,<br><br>I don't know if this bit of information is of any use, but some years ago - perhaps in the late 80s or early 90s (before I came to work there)  - San Francisco State University School of Music and Dance was put on probation by the accrediting agency. One of the factors cited was the poor condition of the practice room pianos. They were old, beat up Baldwin Hamilton, Wurlitzer and Everett studio uprights, dating back to the 60s and even 50s. The school had to embark on an upgrade program - and at this point we have Yamaha P-22s purchased over the past 12 years (plus 8 loaners) in all the practice rooms and in some classrooms/teaching studios. Faculty offices are still equipped with the old beaters...<br><br>So, someone somewhere does pay attention to piano condition...<br><br>The school is off probation, BTW...<br><br>Israel Stein</span></blockquote><br></div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Interesting. It is certainly within the purview of the evaluation committee to tour the facility and view the equipment. But they aren't specifically asked to evaluate pianos. Pianos are listed in the manual as equipment (in the midst of a long list), and it states <div><br><div> <div class="MsoNormal">"Facilities and equipment shall be adequate to support faculty needs, all curricular offerings and all students enrolled in them, and be appropriately specialized for advanced work."</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> and<o:p></o:p></div> <span style="">"Budget provisions shall be made for adequate maintenance of the physical plant and equipment."</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"> </span> </div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></font></div><div>So there is authority to look at both condition and the maintenance plan, but only in a very general way. Then, specifically about technology related equipment, the manual says:</div><div><br></div><div>"Music units with goals and objectives that require constant updating of equipment must demonstrate their capacity to remain technologically current."</div><div><br></div><div>I proposed to add a couple sentences specifically about pianos at that point:</div><div><br></div><div>"Pianos must be maintained at a level consistent with artistic needs, including tuning, regulation, voicing, reconditioning, and rebuilding and/or replacement as needed. Music units should demonstrate that they have competently trained staff (whether employee or contract) to maintain their pianos at an adequate level, and that they have in place a plan for regular, on-going replacement and maintenance of their piano inventory."</div><div><br></div><div>And I added a lot of supporting argument, a template for how they might go about evaluation, as well as an offer (on behalf of PTG and the CAUT committee) to help in the evaluation process. And I suppose a couple people read it, and decided, "nah..."</div><div><br><div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Regards,</div><div>Fred Sturm</div><div>University of New Mexico</div><div><a href="mailto:fssturm@unm.edu">fssturm@unm.edu</a></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div></div><br><div></div></div></div></div></body></html>