[CAUT] Inventory

[Jim Busby]

Hi Dave,

Along with our 420 pianos here at BYU, we have about 5 keyboards in practice rooms. We also have a “lab” with about 30 which are used in composition. They have computers all the bells and whistles that midi uses. Another piano class room with about 30. Now, WE (Keith and I) thankfully don’t have anything to with these things. The local music store is over the whole shebang and rotates them out every year. They conduct a “sale” once a year here (which we also have nothing to do with) and that is how they make their money.

Soooo… yes, I feel it’s good to have a few in practice rooms because some kids need ‘em. They’re toys to me, but they can definitely do a lot that a piano can’t.  But I’m glad that I have nothing to do with them!

Regards,
Jim

From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Porritt, David
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 6:52 AM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Inventory

Bill:

Thanks for your reply.  This is the kind of information I need.

dp

David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu

From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of wbis290
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 7:14 AM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Inventory

Hi David,

I would think twice about electronic keyboards for several reasons. One is that even though Yamaha, as well as others, have "weighted", a good musician can readily tell the difference. One of the universities that I tune for does not have a music major and yet those who are in the music program for a minor agree that they like to play a "real" piano over an electric piano. Keyboards can give you a lot of different options, but as one member of the other university that I tune for says, "We only use a keyboard when we need something that needs to be mover quickly but I would never use one in a performance". Two, from my experience with schools that use the keyboards heavily, they usually don't hold up that well, no matter what the cost. As a result, they wind up spending just as much in the long run by replacing them sooner than they would an acoustical piano. That does not include service calls to repair them. The third thing that I would not recommend them is that whenever I check a keyboard, I have yet to find one that is in perfect tune. Some of them are not even in tune with it's self in the same octive. Hope this helps for what it's worth.

Bill Balmer,RPT
University of Findlay and Ohio Northern University



In a message dated 04/06/09 15:07:19 US Eastern Standard Time, dporritt at mail.smu.edu writes:
Colleagues:

I am going to evaluate our inventory and compare what we have with what I think we should have.  We don’t have any budget to make any big changes but I’m doing this to try to head us in the right direction.  Without a plan nothing happens.

One of the problems is that we have too many big pianos.  We have more Steinway Bs than anything else and frankly they don’t fit very well in small classrooms.  The other problem is the practice room uprights.  Our orchestral program is important here so we have lots of string, brass and wind players practicing in these little rooms and until they are getting ready for a recital, they don’t need a piano.  Our Associate Director and I had a conversation the other day about maybe using some electronic keyboards in some of these rooms.  Have any of you any experience with having a few keyboards as part of your inventory?

dave

_________________________
David M. Porritt, RPT
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
6101 Bishop
Dallas, TX 75275
dporritt at smu.edu



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