I'll have to chime in here. The American product (cars, pianos, I can't think of anything else!!!!) are being bombarded with the ever increasing good or mainly cheaper products from China, or wherever. We need to hang on to our best products...in this case... Steinway. This is one of the last national treasures we have. I totally agree with having different pianos for practice rooms.. We also have Baldwins, Mason and Hamlin, and Yamaha pianos that are still pretty good instruments (after I rebuild some of them!!!) My point is, is that students will not get a "good education" on only Steinways! I would love to have only Steinways, but, again the budget speaks loudly... That won't happen..We just want to get a new Hamburg D, but nobody wants to fork out the bucks! I beleive that the more opportunity for students have to play on different brands, the better they'll be out in the "real world". Unfortunately, they always pick the Steinways first!! It's just a given to pick what one believes is the "best piano". But if the next room over is a M&H that has been totally rebuilt, action weighted, voiced, and such...why do they go to the one out of tune a bit just because it's a Steinway? I randomly make a "check" on what practice rooms are used by the piano majors and they always pick the Steinways, broken strings or not.... ???? Paul "Kendall Ross Bean" <kenbean at pacbell.net> Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org 11/22/2008 11:30 PM Please respond to caut at ptg.org To "'David Ilvedson'" <ilvey at sbcglobal.net>, <caut at ptg.org> cc Subject Re: [CAUT] "All Steinway" Schools. The problem with... David~ Oops. Right you are. Highly unusual in this day and age to see an American company making a good product... Let's give credit where due, and not throw the baby out with what he's done in the bathwater... (By the way, in this case, what is your definition of good...? ;-) ) ~Kendall -----Original Message----- From: David Ilvedson [mailto:ilvey at sbcglobal.net] Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 5:52 PM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] "All Steinway" Schools. The problem with... If I might comment...I don't see why we are constantly coming down on Steinway? This is an American company making a good product. We NEED more of this... David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- From: "Fred Sturm" <fssturm at unm.edu> To: "caut University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org> Received: 11/22/2008 5:37:16 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] "All Steinway" Schools. The problem with... >On Nov 22, 2008, at 1:14 PM, Ed Sutton wrote: >> Is it possible that only practicing on one brand of piano results in >> performers who only know how to play that brand of piano, and so, >> believe that it is the only best piano for performance? >> Kinda like knowing that English is the language everybody else should >> learn to speak? >> ES > I have to say that from my experience, what is more important is >whether the piano has been well maintained: in good "condition," >regulation, voice, tune. Practicing on pianos that are lacking in those >respects is definitely a detriment. As for variety, and how that >impacts the educational experience, I am certainly in favor of variety >(personal experience as a performer/practicer included here). But I >must say that I find more variety among pianos within the Steinway line >than among pianos in any other line. Some will say that is a defect >caused by bad production or design standards. I say it is admirable >whether or not it is a "defect," because variety is necessary to the >performer. Pity the violinist who has to choose one instrument. I'd >rather be the pianist who has to take "pot luck" some times. > Bottom line, yes, philosophically and indeed practically speaking I >hold with those who favor diversity. Diversity of brand may or may not >be a good thing in and of itself, depending on many factors. If the >brand S&S plus the marketing skill of the company is capable of getting >donors to open their wallets, I say hurrah!! In most of these cases, >there was no replacement budget or a laughably inadequate one prior to >"taking the plunge." > The number of schools which have adequate replacement budgets, and are >capable of maintaining both diversity and quality (of maintenance >especially) is pretty tiny. I happen to work at one (well, we have an >adequate replacement budget, and a not quite adequate maintenance >budget). Trying to come up with a variety of quality instruments is a >challenge, especially working under state regulations. Our dealerships >are limited in their offerings, and I often don't get bids on >instruments I would want to consider (eg, the dealer who carries >Bechstein as well as Kawai and Yamaha failed to bid the Bechstein last >year even though I listed it on the request for bids). Shrinking >markets and increasingly weak dealerships mean choices are very >limited, unless I want to go to the expense of shipping people 500 >miles or more to try out pianos (and they are willing to spend the >time). > In any case, this whole question is very much a mixed bag. There are a >lot of passions aroused one way and another. I think that on the whole, >those schools who choose to go all-Steinway are well served, as long as >they have adequate maintenance staff. If variety of brand/ manufacturer >is a big plus, this means that all the other schools have the >opportunity to compete on this basis, and if it is a big plus, the >students will come flocking to their doors. What I fail to understand >is why people seem to feel threatened. Competition has been going on in >the piano world for 300 years. May it continue. >Regards, >Fred Sturm >University of New Mexico >fssturm at unm.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20081123/b4ac46a0/attachment.html>
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