You've got to be kidding! Our faculty put all the music they are using for every class, every student on top of the piano. To be honest the teaching studios are not huge so the tops of pianos are almost essential to them. Fortunately I never raise the top to tune so I only take their stuff off if I have to replace a string etc. Most of them have their home pianos covered with stuff too. I don't think this is a battle I want to even start. dave David M. Porritt, RPT dporritt at smu.edu<mailto:dporritt at smu.edu> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul T Williams Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 5:22 PM To: caut at ptg.org Cc: jrichmond2 at unl.edu Subject: Re: [CAUT] Pizza party Hi all CAUT's Incorrect, and correct at the same time on both accounts, Alan. These pianos are OUR pianos. We all pay taxes, you, your parents, me, my boss, the piano faculty, the students, etc. These pianos are property of the state in which you live and work. To make them last must involve cooperative care. All of these students just forget or haven't grasped the fact of where their taxes go. What a great place to put your instrument case, your lap-top, your valve oil, etc It's just the right height after all!! I put a very simple note on all practice pianos on the lid.. "nothing allowed on the pianos...especially anything liquid." Guess what... most of those notes gave permission to students to simply use my note as a "coaster" for their drink!! :>( All of them have the tell-tale cup ring on them. I know Oberlin has a $50 fine for anything brought into the practice rooms or class-rooms....maybe a good choice... if it can be "policed". Or, we can all put covers on the lids; fit in just a way to make them just a bit too fluffy to set anything on them. There's some bucks to spend! We have at least two benches in each practice room, one for their butts and one to put their junk on, but that doesn't work either! ALL FACULTY (except two or 3) put junk on their pianos here...including some who choose to put total city displays of whatever Euopean city they visited over their journeys.. on their studio pianos...and most of them have done so for years, so who am I to tell them?!! I'm just "the help" in most of their minds,( never mind that I've have gained at least as much or more education and experence than any Post doctorate shy of a PHD: therefore putting me on par with them or better...also with 30+ years of performance experience...alomost none of which can match!!); and should just please their every whim, including taking all their junk off "their" pianos for service...Unless the faculty also keep ALL crap off their pianos, then, so will the students slurely follow. This, too will take time,,,, as Mom put beautiful Christmas scenes on the top of Grandma's pianos as they grew up. There's no end. It will never end!!! Perhaps plexiglass or Spurlock-style white plastic fitted for each piano is the way, but, why encourage them to do it? There is a way, but I'm not experienced enough to control this. How have all of you to keep faculty from putting junk on their pianos? I'm very curious. Thanks for all response! Best, Paul reggaepass at aol.com Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org 04/27/2009 03:52 PM Please respond to caut at ptg.org To caut at ptg.org cc Subject Re: [CAUT] Pizza party "They are not your pianos. You can't take it personally." Yes, and when I get the attitude, "Yea, Alan, we know: These are YOUR pianos..", I tell them, "No, they are YOUR pianos. My piano is at home, and I would NEVER bring it here!" ;) Alan Eder -----Original Message----- From: Zeno Wood <zeno.wood at gmail.com> To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:06 pm Subject: Re: [CAUT] Pizza party David (Skolnik, that is), Thanks for your insights, they all ring true. Dealing with egos in any kind of institutional setting can be tricky, and that's a big part of working at a college. I've been lucky to have the support of the Chair and others, and in fact, when I say I've sent emails to the faculty, what's actually happened is the Chair has forwarded my emails to the rest of the faculty. I hope I haven't given the idea that I play Piano Cop (if at all, I'm the Good Cop [cid:image001.gif at 01C9C762.5926FEA0] ). I think that I've established a working relationship with the students and faculty from having taught a few classes and playing in a student ensemble when time allows. I've also been seen as a resource and have been invited to give piano presentations to piano students and composers. Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree with your point that "They are not your pianos. You can't take it personally." We take care of the instruments, but they're not there for us. And if nobody used them, we wouldn't have a job to begin with. Cheers, Zeno Wood ________________________________ An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!<http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1220572846x1201387511/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=AprilExcScore427NO62> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090427/eb08624e/attachment-0001.html> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.gif Type: image/gif Size: 541 bytes Desc: image001.gif URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090427/eb08624e/attachment-0001.gif>
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