No Budget

[Barbara E. Richmond]

At 01:19 PM 1/11/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>     In situations where piano care is mis-understood, the best way to
>promote proper care is by providing information & educating folks about the
>needs of the complex mechanisms wrapped in the wooden-box. People really are
>ignorant about the needs of pianos ...until WE let them know what it's all
>about! Find out what brands of pianos are distributed around the building(s)
>and get the manufacturers suggested yearly tuning schedule & provide the
>Music Dep't with that information. Prepare a suggested service schedule for
>the instruments with your fees attached. Include a short statement about your
>training and experience. Provide a reference or two from any musicians, piano
>teachers, dealerships, or persons who might be recognized by the staff.
>Provide a business card or two with your 'information-packet'.
>
>     Good-Luck in your quest, sir.
>
>Sincerely,
>Jeffrey T. Hickey, RPT

Jeff has given excellent advice here.  It took me five years of "educating"
a university (via annual reports and proposals and cc-ing them to faculty
and administrators) to get a staff position created at a small university
(90+ instruments).  In my case, it took faculty support (after they had
gotten all of their tenure and full-professor status, etc.), and a new dean
of faculty.  The music department head was the problem.

There are a lot approaches that can be used and I'd go into them if I wasn't
9 months pregnant and ready to pop (sitting at the computer has become a
challenge!).  Briefly, I included an inventory (including the ages of the
pianos), proposals for rebuilding, a replacement schedule, a copy of the
*Guidelines* published by PTG and a jim-dandy letter of justification that
talked about the time needed for adequate service and some analogies to help
make the point (Would the university have a fleet a cars with no budget to
run or service them?).

Victory was mine at last and them my husband accepted a job in Texas and we
moved!  Ah, life!

Good luck!

Barbara Richmond, RPT
Palestine, Texas