Eric, Rick & Kendall, Being a graduate of Oberlin I know that for 40+ years The Conservatory has always had a high ratio of Steinways. However, when I came to Madison, WI I found that each piano instructor had picked their own pianos in 1970.. They ranged from German Steinway, NY Steinway, Bechstein, Bosendorfer, Mason & Hamlin, for faculty with Baldwin, Yamaha, Viennese Kimball, and Steinway for the students practice rooms. This was fun to compare the pianos, hear the comments about their favorites, and even their choice for differing genre of music. Students would stand in line for their favorite piano, and I heard immediately if anything was wrong with 'their' piano. Personally I have no bone to pick with an All Steinway school. However, I do know from experience our students got a good cross section of pianos for use, and were good consumers when it came to picking out pianos. The fallboard decal was not the most important part of their decision. And, when our students performed 'outside' the School of Music they knew some characteristics of other pianos and adjusted quickly. That's the 'real' world. I applaud your good fortune Eric. Keep in Tune ! Joel Joel Jones, RPT Madison, WI On Nov 22, 2008, at 1:52 PM, Kendall Ross Bean wrote: > Omigosh! Thank you so much Rick! > > I am so glad someone had the courage to bring this important point up. > I > couldn't have said it better. > > Thank goodness someone else sees the problem with having a music > school that > only uses one brand of piano. > > What about all the other great pianos out there? Is there really a BEST > piano? (Perhaps- -for marketing your music school, or for making money > for > that manufacturer.) > > As a pianist, I found it utterly necessary to be able to practice on a > number of different pianos with different actions and touches, and > sounds, > and designs, because I would be running into all kinds of different > brands > and makes and designs of pianos in real life. (And what a wealth of > quality > and experience that was!) > > Only practicing on one kind of piano, or one brand, severely limits the > pianist in his ability to be able to cope with a number of different > pianos > in diverse venues and performance situations. > > The piano competitions have had a similar myopic outlook for many > years. Can > we have the courage to ask ourselves - "Is it true, this premise on > which > the competition is so often based? Is there truly a "Best Pianist" (or > a > "Best Piano")? What about all the other pianists (or piano builders) > who > have devoted, and sacrificed, their lives to perfecting their skills, > who > also have something of great value and worth to offer?" Unfortunately > these > days it is generally "Winner-take-all," even though there is lip > service to > 2nd and 3rd prize and runner up. > > A Nation, a World of "All Steinway Schools"! Yes, and a MacDonalds on > every > major intersection in every town in every country, except those who > are wise > enough neither to sell out to mediocrity, nor a "one-size-fits-all" > solution > to the world's diverse problems. Whose vision is this, anyway? Not > mine, and > hopefully not the vision of a number of thoughtful folk out there, > either. > > It's not that Steinway isn't a great piano (or wasn't, at one time). > It's > just that it isn't the only one, and we truly deprive ourselves of so > many > valuable and significant perspectives and experiences when we only > focus on > what we think is "The Most Famous, the Greatest, or the Best". > > So. What's suddenly wrong with Baldwin, (which CCM reportedly boasted > the > "largest" inventory of, "anywhere in the world" for the past several > decades)? Or Mason & Hamlin? Or Charles Walters? Or Yamaha? Or Kawai? > Bechstein? Or Bosendorfer? Or... (Any one of myriad other wonderful > brands?) > -Except that perhaps one less-informed but influential segment of the > public > doesn't consider them "Top Dog", as they do Steinway, because of S.& > S.'s > hyper-aggressive marketing program? > > How would it be only being able to work on, or perform on Steinways? I > think > it would truly drive a person crazy, eventually. But apparently that > is the > professed dream of many piano technicians, if you believe their > testimonials > in Steinway promotional pieces. > > I truly believe that a conservatory that only offers their students > one make > of piano to practice and perform on, is truly depriving those students > of an > important opportunity and learning experience that should be available > to > them. > > Diversity. Yes, that says it all. Please, please, can we continue to > encourage diversity? Isn't that what really makes institutions of > higher > learning relevant, in this diverse world we have today? Too often I > feel > people in positions of power, who are making important decisions, have > decided we need "One-size-fits-all." Certainly that outlook tends to > make > life less complicated. But, I also feel, ultimately less fulfilling. > > Money and donations, and the desires of donors certainly aren't > everything. > But unfortunately they seem to have "top billing" in many of our > institutions of "higher" learning today. > > I truly don't mean to rain on anyone's parade. I'm sure that, for those > involved, this was a real coup or accomplishment. But unfortunately > when a > large number of people have a huge investment in seeing something > happen a > certain way, different or equally valid and valuable perspectives go > out the > door. > > Yes, I agree wholeheartedly, Rick. A truly sad day for music. > > Thank you, so much, for your cogent and all-too-pertinent observations. > > Kendall Ross Bean > PianoFinders. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Rick Florence [mailto:Rick.Florence at asu.edu] > Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 7:41 AM > To: caut at ptg.org > 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 education 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 > > > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 9206 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20081122/7bf24ed7/attachment.bin>
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