<HTML>All, It's hard to know where to start in the middle of this thread - We need to address some of the other big problems which, when addressed, wil= l give the subject relating maintenance to longevity more punch with our adm= inistrators.. Right now we don't have the attention of school administrators - with some e= xceptions, administrators don't seem to have sufficient reason or motivation= to properly fund and staff for piano service. The fundamental problem is that across the board we face an institutional in= ertia.  Beyond the classic, intrinsic difficulty of obtaining funds for= rebuilding which can't seem to fit into the budget model of new purchasing = and annual maintenance is an even more fundamental issue:  School insti= tutions do not have the motivation to address these issues.  Institutio= ns - i.e. school, NASM, etc.  And there is an institutional inertia on = our side too.  This year NASM was very clear in its correspondence with us:  administr= ators have too many other problems than to begin a dialogue with us on piano= maintenance.  They don't want to be saddled with pressure to spend mor= e on pianos and piano maintenance.  If that is the position of the domi= nant accreditor of schools of music in the US, I think we need to recognize = the enormity - and importance - of our task.  It involves a long-term c= ommitment to: developing accredited specialists in university piano service (i.e. a CAUT = curriculum within the Annual Institute and a CAUT creditial); Actively, persistently promoting the properly trained CAUT RPT to:   university administrators   piano faculty   state officials overseeing the establishment of criteria for piano se= rvice personnel   piano manufacturers, whose retailers increasingly determine the choic= e of piano          service personnel at univer= sities. Continuing to provide documents (such as the Guidelines and the ensuing comp= anion documents, and other publications), as well as dialogue (such as the C= AUT list, the annual CAUT forum, and state and regional CAUT events) to esta= blish and develop a body of CAUT knowledge and practice. This is why we need to figure out ways of working with our own (CAUT and PTG= ) institutional inertia.  The PTG is only beginning to realize that uni= versity piano service is at the forefront of the marketing work of the PTG.&= nbsp; There is no annual budget for marketing the RPT to the university admi= nistrators, but the home office found funds for a one-time mailer to adminis= trators this last year.  This is the kind of thing that needs to get in= to the consciousness of the efforts being made to do long-range planning.&nb= sp; It is not just a marketing issue, it is a training issue, a credentialin= g issue, a fundamental issue of identity, even.  The driving force dictating the selection of piano technicians at universiti= es is often related to the success of the retail piano establishment with it= s college sales.  The retail side needs our help in defining acceptable= university piano service. Surveys and studies need to be conducted, but they cost money and require hu= man resources.  One fundamental issue is, How many pianos does a univer= sity actually need?  Many schools may be overstocked, sometimes with hi= gh maintenance pianos (old unstable ones, or new unstable ones).  How d= oes anyone know if there are too many pianos?   NASM has no recomm= endations about this.  I hope that we will develop numbers relating maintenance to longevity, so th= at when the time comes that we have made sufficient impact to be heard, the = numbers will be there to use. Bill Shull In a message dated 6/13/03 7:29:53 AM Pacific Daylight Time, dm.porritt@veri= zon.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Hammers are different, players = are different, acoustics are different (this affects how hard people will pl= ay it), people's opinion of what's worn out are different, sound boards effi= ciency are different, hammer bushings are different,...... A piano is either suitable for a purpose or it's not.  The artists know= , the technicians know and that's the criteria for doing maintenance.  = What we seem to be trying to do is to objectify the criteria enough to expla= in it to the non-artist who controls the money.  I frankly don't think = that can be done.  Either the artist has credibility with the non-artis= t or he doesn't.  I don't think this can be reduced to an auditable dat= a stream.  Further, our failure in this attempt will weaken our credibi= lity. dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 6/13/2003 at 3:53 PM Richard Brekne wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I aggree with this Wim. These q= uestions should have reasonable answers, and they would be valuable to be ab= le to put on the table when dealing with admin folks. I just put a brand new= set of hammers on a Hamburg C in October. The instrument has been used on a= verage 5 hours a week since then. Just two weeks ago I had no choice but to = file down a bit as the grooves were 2 mm deep already. These were 1/2 high S= trike Weights. We all throw in data like this to a central data base.. and t= hose answers will reveal themselves. All we need is way of archiving the inf= ormation so it is easy to arrange in meaninful ways. RicB Wimblees@aol.com w= rote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">IBean counters not withstanding= , this is still a question I would like to have answered. Airplanes fly a ce= rtain number of hours before they are reconditioned and eventually put in th= e graveyard out in Arizona. We get a maintenance schedule for our cars. But = what are some guidelines for pianos? How many "hours" of playing do a set of= hammers get before needing to be replaced? How many times can we restring a= piano in the original pin block. When does a soundboard need replacing? How= many times can a piano be rebuilt, with a new soundboard and pin block and = strings? Last year this subject was talked about briefly, but I don't think = we ever got a definitive answer. I realize these are all questions with lots= of answers, based on usage, climate control, budgets, etc. But this is the = kind of information that would be useful, even to techs out in the field. An= y one want to give some answers? Wim   </BLOCKQUOTE> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broad= park.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A> <A HREF="http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html">http://www.hf.uib= .no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html</A> </BLOCKQUOTE> **************** END MESSAGE FROM Richard Brekne ********************* _____= ________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________</BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>