Question about a purchase

[Joel Jones]

Avey,
For what it's worth,  at Wisconsin we have a 9' in each rehearsal room.
The only time we move any piano out of it's assigned venue is for internal
piano performance.   One of the rehearsal 9's is used for the cage pieces
etc.   Each piano is voiced for the hall and the class use.  Each rehearsal
hall has a different acoustic reverb and size.   I don't pretend that the
jazz ensemble would be happy with the piano used for chamber choir or the
Pro Arte String Quartet.
	It seems to me that you could use a piano in this situation.
	NO MOVING !

>Her husband, who's probably one of the best private piano teachers in
>Houston is seriously considering buying it for his home studio if we
>don't.
	No comment !

Joel



	>List,
>
>   Got a question for you. We have an opportunity to buy a Steinway D
>(1960, I think) in mint condition, for $35,000.00 and that figure might
>even be a little negotiable. We want it for our largest rehearsal room
>where the orchestra rehearses. I've been moving one of our D's into the
>room for a Saint-Saens Piano Concerto rehearsals, back to the
>performance hall today, back to the reh. room Monday for a Prokofiev
>Concerto rehearsals next week, back to the the Hall for a choir rehearsal
>and performance that needs two pianos, etc., etc. You get the picture,
>I'm sure.
>   The problem is that the Director of the Music Dept. (a cellist!) can't
>see the necessity of having a 9' piano in there only for rehearsals. He
>thinks a 7', or even a larger 6' would be sufficient. We pay $300.00 for
>every round trip and he can't understand the necessity of it. He says
>there are schools all over the country who don't have concert grands in a
>comparable rehearsal room. My thought (unspoken) was, "So what? There are
>schools all over the country who don't have and may never have, a nice
>new music building like we do, either. Does that mean we shouldn't have?"
>   We've already had two pianists 'almost' injure themselves trying to
>play a 7' Baldwin on those two concerti. One did postpone a recital for a
>couple of weeks. He just said, "That's too bad. They need to learn to
>adapt to the piano and the room, have the orchestra play softer and just
>do what they can. On a Prokofiev Piano Concerto? Fat chance. (It's either
>the 1st or 3rd. I can't recall right now.)
>   This is the closest I've gotten in my 6+ years here to getting into a
>"heated" discussion with him. This is his last year as the Director but
>is staying on to teach and perform, so there'll be someone else in that
>position next year. He's done some wonderful things for this department
>and if it weren't for him, we probably wouldn't have this new building.
>But it's so frustrating trying to get a non-pianist to understand the
>needs in a case like this.
>   Am I (and the head of our piano dept.) being unreasonable in
>asking/pushing for this?
>   Her husband, who's probably one of the best private piano teachers in
>Houston is seriously considering buying it for his home studio if we
>don't. He's the one who found it (it's waaaay out of the Houston area)
>while he was doing some Master Classes this past weekend. I'd just like
>some unbiased opinions. Or at least as unbiased as another university
>tech can be in a situation like this. :-)  Thanks.
>
>Avery