[CAUT] Care and feeding of stage grands

[Rick Florence]

Excuse me Barbara, but that would be Arizona STATE, in Tempe, not arizona, down in tucson :-)

It is true, we have found that people do treat the pianos better if we care for them aesthetically as well.  It doesn't mean we don't have damage, or that we always have the budget for all we wish to do, but it is important to us.

As for the concert instruments, we clean them a few times a week during service and touch ups.  We will do minor repairs, but have a poly guy come in every 2-3 years to go over the whole piano (we only have polyester finishes on our stages).  Lid removal is a small pain, but it doesn't happen that often, only a handful of times a semester, and we are ALWAYS asked for permission and guidance.  We have been relatively successful in convincing them that it is hard on the pianos and that, in the hall, it doesn't sound any better.  The only times I have been surprised with a missing lid in the last 15 years have been with visiting artists.  They give me strange looks when I explain to them our protocols of asking permission first and actually folding the covers and storing them on a shelf back stage, as opposed to throwing them on the floor.  Makes me wonder (shudder at) what happens at their halls.

It's rather ironic to me that the same visiting offenders are often the most vocal in their praise of the condition of our pianos, you would think they might see the connection...sigh.

________________________
Rick Florence
Senior Piano Technician
Arizona State University
School of Music



-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org on behalf of Barbara Richmond
Sent: Sat 1/19/2008 8:30 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Care and feeding of stage grands
 

When working on other institutional pianos, I've often thought of the techs 
at Arizona who even have the practice room piano cases fixed up because they 
feel they get treated better.

Barbara Richmond, RPT
near Peoria, Illinois




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kent Swafford" <kswafford at gmail.com>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 9:00 PM
Subject: [CAUT] Care and feeding of stage grands


>I have a couple questions about maintaining concert pianos on stages  at 
>universities.
>
> 1) Do you have a policy about the touch-up of finish damage? I would 
> think a good-looking piano would generate more respect and care than a 
> beat-up one.  (Although I didn't think that the time a couple years  ago 
> when we had a D refinished and the first week-end it was back in  service, 
> it received more damage than it had before being refinished.  I still 
> haven't recovered from that one.) Does anyone touch-up as  needed? Or 
> perhaps annually? Never?
>
> 2) Do you have a policy on removing lids? It seems like every  recording 
> project, every duo-piano performance, every large ensemble  performance 
> requires the lid to be removed. There is also a history of  damage being 
> done while removing and replacing grand piano lids.
>
> Sure would like to know what various schools do. Thanks.
>
>
> Kent Swafford
> 

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