[CAUT] Teaching studio pianos

[Fred Sturm]

On Dec 4, 2009, at 10:44 AM, Jim Busby wrote:

> Do you have any suggestions? We can't hire another technician, but  
> we cannot keep these studios "up" under these conditions, along with  
> the other 425 pianos we have. We do have 2 fulltime technicians, 4  
> students, and one part time fellow, but it's really disheartening to  
> have a teacher call and say their piano is out of tune, etc. after  
> you tuned it 2 weeks ago! Well now, after 200 hours of REALLY hard  
> playing? Of course the tuning will go south, along with the hammers,  
> strings, regulation, etc.


	Yes, obviously the demand is greater than the supply, and something  
has to give, and that something is quality. But the quality of the  
concert instrument is so important that it should be protected as much  
as possible (while serving the real needs in terms of performance and  
rehearsal).
	It might help to give some perspective on the intensive needs of the  
concert instrument in terms of technician time. A couple examples:
	I have asked several top concert techs, who travel around the world  
prepping for competitions and for particular artists, how much average  
time they spend on an instrument, assuming the instrument is already  
in what is usually considered adequate concert hall condition. The  
answer is generally two days, and they are apt to be hard, 12 or more  
hour days, to take the piano up another level.
	A second thought is how much of your time is allocated to the concert  
instruments compared to others. I don't keep detailed notes, but I  
expect I spend over 10% of my time on my two, which means I could  
handle maintaining 20 pianos at that level. Hmmm, do the math. Does it  
make sense to put more pressure on these high maintenance pianos?
	And another thought is that a concert piano, well prepped, represents  
an investment of many more hours of time than any other instrument.  
Every hour of use requires some proportionate amount of time to  
counteract the wear. You have a lot invested, and it should be spent  
wisely.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu