Alan & Rick et al, Cheers to CCM! I heard a similar argument - for not going too Steinway-heavy - all too often when I was a CAUT with my former employer, but, with all due respect I must disagree with the logic. And this coming from someone who feels as "at home" prepping a 2-manual French Double harpsichord, an 18th c. English square, an early 19th c. Viennese-action fortepiano, or a mid-19th c. Erard or Bösendorfer, as I do a modern concert grand. But, I guess that is precisely my point. Diversity in keyboard instruments at Oberlin means 200+ Steinways (all Steinway grands, with the exception of a handful of verticals) PLUS the following: -2 relatively new 5-octave replica fortepianos (a McNulty after Walter and a Wolf after Dulcken) -an 1853 Erard grand -an 1805 Broadwood grand -3 clavichords (one of which is a 2-manual instrument with pedals by Speerstra after an instrument Bach would have had at his disposal) -15 harpsichords (Italian, French, German & Flemish) tuned in 1/4 Comma Mean-Tone or Bach/Lehman, depending on use -2 virginals -14 practice organs (all but 2 are mechanical-action) -3 concert organs by Fisk, Flentrop & Brombaugh (the Brombaugh has split sharps and is tuned in 1/4 Comma Mean-Tone) To have a handful of well-maintained examples of non-Steinway grands to fill out an All-Steinway stable will not compromise a school's keyboard diversity by making the choice to significantly upgrade the quality of their piano inventory and ramp-up their recruiting attractiveness in a very sobering piano and higher-ed market. All best, Robert ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- Robert A. Murphy Piano Technician & Curator of Fortepianos Oberlin Conservatory of Music cell: 517.285.3269 shop: 440.775.8275 On Nov 21, 2008, at 11:34 AM, reggaepass at aol.com wrote: > Eric, congratulations on what sounds like a huge improvement in the > condition of your inventory (and the variety of a change in how you > spent your time?). > > Rick, your point about how crucial diversity is to education is > absolutely bedrock. Makes me ask myself what I would do, were I faced > with the prospect of the "All Steinway" option... > > Alan Eder > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Rick Florence <Rick.Florence at asu.edu> > To: caut at ptg.org > Sent: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 7:40 am > Subject: Re: [CAUT] CCM goes "All Steinway" > > I'm sure the infusion of the new Steinways will be an improvement over > your > present situation, but I can't help but think this is yet another > sellout to a > brilliant marketing campaign. > > I am constantly amazed at the number of educational institutions, > whose very > existence historically is possible because of a die-hard dedication to > diversity > and questioning status quo, making such a contradictory decision . > Music > institutions are being bought and paid for, robbing their students of > the > opportunity to make music on a variety of wonderful pianos, under the > guise of > joining the "elite." I wish more administrators had the guts to say > to donors, > "we would love to accept your donation and offer a complete musical ed > ucation to > our students by purchasing the best pianos from around the world, > including > Steinway." Instead, they are so excited about the money, they ignore > the > cornerstone of education - diversity. > > A sad day for music. > > ________________________ > Rick Florence > Senior Piano Technician > Arizona State University > School of Music > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org on behalf of Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel) > Sent: Fri 11/21/2008 7:59 AM > To: 'caut at ptg.org' > Subject: [CAUT] CCM goes "All Steinway" > > Hi All, > > Some of you may have already heard the news...Tuesday, the board of > trustees at > the University of Cincinnati approved a deal with Steinway that will > make the > Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music an "All Steinway School". We > will be > purchasing 165 new pianos for the school all of which will be > delivered before > next June! This is the single largest deal in Steinway's history in > terms of > number of units purchased. The total price tag is 4.1 million. This > deal is on > the initiative of our new Dean, Douglas Knehans and is the cornerstone > of a new > capital campaign and just one of a plethora of sweeping moves he is > making to > improve CCM's global image. Here's a link for the deal...there was > also a NY > Times article last Tuesday, but I can't seem to make that link active. > > http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=9235 > > I just got back from NYC where we selected > the first batch of pianos, 2 D's and > 8 B's and I was most happy to find the quality of the pianos in the > selection > room to be excellent...we had no trouble choosing our pianos. Our > first > shipment of 27 pianos arrives next week. While the quality of our > performance > pianos here at CCM has been perceived as excellent over the years, > the age and > quality of the pianos in the practice rooms, classrooms and studios > has been a > challenge. Before this deal, CCM had the largest inventory of Baldwins > anywhere > in the world I'm sure. The average age of our inventory here before > this deal > was 35 years so this will be quite an improvement for many years to > come. I have > no qualms or reservations about the deal...there's no question the > quality level > of our inventory is going way up. I am perfectly aware of the > challenges that > the next year will pose with all these green pianos but hey, there are > worse > problems to have. The nature of our jobs here will change dramatically > for years > to come...much less rebuilding, more tuning, voicing and regulating. > I'll keep > you all posted on how things go. > > Eric > > > > Eric Wolfley, RPT > Director of Piano Services > College-Conservatory of Music > University of Cincinnati > > > Traveling over the river or through the woods this holiday season? Get > the MapQuest Toolbar. Directions, Traffic, Gas Prices & More! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6319 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20081122/19f617ac/attachment.bin>
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