[CAUT] becoming an all Steinway School

[Avery Todd]

Rick, I really appreciate your comments! We also were approached about
becoming an all Steinway school. The consensus of the faculty was that they
wouldn't let us have any other brand of piano and how many of our students
would ONLY play on Steinway pianos. There are definite advantages but when I
was still emplyoyed there, that was the consensus. Now our local Steinway
dealer is also the Kawai dealer, with whom we have a "loaner" program and
they take care of the tuning and maintenance of those pianos. Which I would
have appreciated while I was still employed there and I'm sure my successor
enjoys also. With app. 135 pianos, +harpsichords, Fortepianos, etc., I know
I would!

On Dec 9, 2007 7:53 PM, Rick Florence <Rick.Florence at asu.edu> wrote:

> A few thoughts on becoming an All Steinway School…
>
> ASU has been approached a number of times with the "offer" of becoming an
> All Steinway School.  We have rejected the idea each time.  I hope future
> administrators will do the same.   It was quite apparent from the most
> recent proposal, last Fall, that the only advantage is to Steinway.  The
> School does not receive a better price on the products. There is little
> chance to select pianos, as most schools convert over in a short period of
> time and there is not enough inventory from which to choose.  The Schools
> are expected to keep their inventory at 90% Steinway products, with all
> performance areas being exclusively Steinway, eliminating some incredible
> performance instruments.
>
> We were told that Steinway works with schools to ensure proper maintenance
> schedules are followed.  I found this to be an absolute falsehood.  I
> contacted many of the All Steinway schools to get an idea of budgets and
> personnel.  I could find no appreciable difference between the All Steinway
> schools and other schools.  In fact I found many of the All-Steinway schools
> to be worse off in terms of a maintenance budget and staffing.  They all had
> their new pianos, yet few had a strategic repair or maintenance plan.
>
> At the Steinway proposal evening Bruce Stevens asked me if ASU was
> interested in the prestige of being an All Steinway school.  I told him
> ASU's prestige comes from its program, faculty, and students, which includes
> our administration's support of piano upkeep.  In short, we have built our
> own reputation.  The only one to gain prestige from our becoming an All
> Steinway school is Steinway.
>
> This does not mean that ASU does not appreciate Steinway pianos.  We have
> a large number of Steinway grands (45) and always will.  We also have three
> Steinway artists on our faculty.   We simply reject the idea that omitting
> other fine pianos from our inventory would make us a better school.  We feel
> it would do the opposite.  The following is an excerpt from my latest
> proposal to create an endowment fund for a perpetual purchase and
> maintenance program.   This proposal has been accepted by the faculty, the
> Dean and our Foundation.  We hope to begin raising funds this year.  I
> suppose I should thank Steinway for their part in this, as it was their
> latest visit that prompted the faculty and administration to accept my
> counter proposal of assembling/keeping an inventory of the finest pianos
> from around the world.
>
>
> ____
> Exclusive Piano Brands
>
>
> There seems to be a growing push in Academia for Schools of Music to
> become exclusive to a particular piano manufacturer.  Although this practice
> is a marketing coup for the particular manufacturer, we believe it is a
> disservice to both faculty and students.  We would not ask an artist to
> limit his or her works to only one medium.  Neither would we instruct our
> music students to perform the works of only one composer.  Why then would we
> limit our musical inquiry and performance to one brand of piano?
>
> We appreciate and celebrate the diversity of musical artistry attainable
> when given the opportunity to select from a number of finely built pianos.
>  We also better prepare our students to adapt to and create music with the
> wide variety of instruments they will encounter throughout their career.
>
> In terms of quality control and product design, a close look at the
> different models available from all major manufacturers invariably shows a
> weakness at some point in each of their product lines.  If we limit
> ourselves to one brand, we commit ourselves to their weaknesses as well.  It
> is a valuable tool to be able to combine the strengths of several
> distinguished manufacturers to best utilize our resources, and afford our
> students the best education possible.
> ____
>
>
> BTW, I understand there ARE All Steinway schools in Europe.  They, of
> course, use the Hamburg Steinway – an apparent advantage of geography.
>  According to the Steinway website they are:
>
> City of Edinburgh School of Music, Edinburgh, Scotland
>
> Hamburger Konservatorium, Hamburg, Germany
>
> Vestjysk Musikkonservatoriums, Esbjerg, Denmark
>
> Too bad. There are a lot of great pianos being built in very close
> proximity to these schools.
>
> Rick
>
>
> ________________________
> Rick Florence
> Senior Piano Technician
> Arizona State University
> School of Music
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org on behalf of Richard Brekne
> Sent: Sun 12/9/2007 9:01 AM
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Subject: [CAUT]  becoming an all Steinway School
>
>
> We have talked about becomming an all Steinway school... and brought it
> up at a recent visit by the regional sales rep from Hamburg.  It is our
> understanding that no such school exists in Europe... that this is an
> American thing.  We are looking into the possibilities of establishing
> the first such school here.  If we manage it.... all our non-Steinway
> inventory will have to leave our ownership... including a rather ok CF
> III that is 4 years old now.
>
> All in all... for better and for worse... I'd have to say that the All
> Steinway School stamp is one that is very very much worth the dark sides
> of any such marriage  is bound to have.
>
> Cheers
> RicB
>
>
>    hi folks
>    I'd be interested to hear experiences from those
>    techs. working at schools  that have become ''All
>    Steinway''. Is it very restrictive on the purchase
>    choice of instruments. What happened to existing
>    inventory. Was administration and faculty  won over by
>    becoming ''All Steinway''. How are the Boston pianos
>    holding up etc etc..........
>
>
>
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