[CAUT] Pizza party

[Jim Busby]

Alan,

Good answer/good policy. The worst offenders seem to be the faculty. Maybe if the director, along with the faculty came up with "a policy" (Ours. This one...) then being their own idea they might pay attention.

Best,
Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Alan Crane
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 10:47 AM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Pizza party

On Monday 27 April 2009 11:22:32 am Jim Busby wrote:
> “Oops. But where were we supposed to put them????”

The answer to that question is:
"Wherever you would have put it had the piano not been there."

This very neatly (and silently) introduces into the discussion the intimation 
that they put the item on the piano *because* it was there, and though the 
exchange rarely touches that topic it does occur to some who actually bother 
to think about it afterward.

Here at WSU, we make that very clear to everyone (not that it isn't an 
on-going battle... but that's the nature of the institutional world... its 
non-stop education!).

I sometimes add to such discussions that I don't mind at all if they let go of 
their instrument (or whatever) that high off the floor, as long as there 
isn't a piano underneath it when they do.

With our concert instruments, we allow *nothing* on the piano -- whether the 
cover is in place, or not --!
We maintain that the students and faculty (and visitors) have better things to 
do than to make judgement calls as to what items are, and are not, 
appropriate for placement on expensive instruments.	
If there's nothing on the piano, there's no problem; and that's that.

-- 
Regards,

Alan B. Crane, RPT
School of Music
Wichita State University
alan.crane at wichita.edu