The OPEN Grand - was: Bad Kitty

[Alan W Deverell]

The problem here is NOT the Cat - it's the piano owner.

IMHO Grand Pianos should ONLY ever be opened fully to give
performances (public or private) or to tune them.

No cat would ever insult a GOOD pianist by PEEING on him or the piano.

For practice just the first lid and adjust the music desk.

Pianos opened for other than these 2 reasons are opened for
ostentatious purpose. Perhaps the cat was indicating what it thought
of ostentatious pianos (as the cat psychology commentator below
suggested)

Pianos opened for any other reason are at risk of collecting:

Cat Pee
Dust
Leaves
Excess moisture - liquids (coffee + tea + beer + wine)
etc.

Please add to this list based upon your experiences

AlanD (who chooses to keep pianos rather than cats - but does like
house trained cats who like good pianos and even average to poor
pianists)


>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org
>[mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
>Of JIMRPT@aol.com
>Sent: Friday, June 05, 1998 10:02 AM
>To: t.seay@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU; owner-pianotech@ptg.org;
>pianotech@ptg.org
>Subject: Re: Re: Bad Kitty
>
>
>
>In a message dated 6/4/98 5:34:29 PM, t.seay@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU wrote:
>
><<Please don't get your "feline's" hurt, all
>you cat lovers out there...>>
>
>Tom;
> Good try but it won't work :-( .    I love cats and dogs
>and think they are
>great companions and that we do not give them credit for
>being as smart as
>they really are. Inappropriate behavior in cats, dogs and
>people is always
>just that inappropiate.  While we would not consider
>eliminating a child who
>messed on a piano, elimination of cats and dogs for doing the same is
>certainly within the realm of reasonability.  Perhaps
>numerous methods might
>be tried, with varying degrees of success, in an effort to
>dissuade the animal
>from doing such inappropiate behaviors....if none are
>successful and you
>(generic you) are willing to put up with these happenings OK
>, if not OK also.
>  Dogs may sometimes do something without
>forethought.........   but I don't
>think a cat does something like messing on a foreign surface
>without a
>specific purpose in mind.  It could be that the cat is
>jealous of the owner
>spending so much time playing on the piano and is using this
>as a means of
>expressing itself, etc.
>  In any event animals who display this type of inappropiate
>behavior are not
>acceptable in my world nor would the equivalent behavior be
>acceptable in the
>animal world where such things would be dealt with swiftly by their
>peers.......
> Perhaps Jims' "DeWalt sander" with "40 grit belts" might be a bit
>much.......I much prefer a silicon carbide 80 grit myself..
>Jim Bryant (FL)
>