Hey Fred - All good points, and, ultimately, I'm sure you're right. Alan's description did leave considerable leeway for the imagination. There still seems to be something different between the "inordinately long distance" and moving a piano around on the stage or into a storage area. In fact, even with the latter, the two issues are: a) technique, and b) mind set. By that I mean that it may be one thing to understand what's to be done, and another to have that Navy-like obsessiveness that defines way a true stage professional does his job. The moment those young pianists or percussionists put their hands on a piano to move it, they are not musicians, or future anythings...they are stagehands. Fred, I'm curious about one thing you said:We don't have staff on hand >supervising and available at all times Why is this an acceptable model? Why does this situation seem built into the system? What would the university do/change if some significant accident did transpire, involving a student? And is this the norm, or do other institutions make more of an effort to control the movement of pianos? I wonder if Alan could establish a minor in piano moving. David Skolnik Hastings on Hudson, NY Thanks for the Brecht At 04:58 PM 7/24/2010, you wrote: >On Jul 23, 2010, at 8:54 PM, David Skolnik wrote: > >>All due respect to everyone, (really), but I'm not sure I buy into >>either the instructors aspiration or Fred's explanation. Who are >>these piano students that they are expected to move pianos around? >>So they're heading off to your's and your's conservatory and now >>think they are exempt from the proscriptions about moving pianos? > >Well, maybe there are institutions where proscriptions work, and where >only licensed and authorized people move pianos around. Not in my >world. The students are mostly the ones who move the concert grands on >and off stage, and move the rehearsal pianos around the rehearsal >halls and occasionally between them. Sometimes it's work studies who >have been given a modicum of training by the hall manager (who has >been given a modicum of training by me), but quite often it is generic >music students. If the percussion ensemble shows up for rehearsal with >its instruments and the concert grand is on stage, they do not search >for some "licensed" individual, they push it out of their way, >probably into the storage area. We don't have staff on hand >supervising and available at all times. That is just reality. > >>I can be on board with regard to pianists understanding the >>mechanical workings of their instrument, but what are they learning >>by moving a piano an inordinately long distance except, maybe, that >>it would be a good idea to have some friends on the football team? > > >I guess it is the "inordinately long distance" thing that sticks in >your craw. As long as it is a reasonably smooth shot, I don't see the >problem. I am willing to accept Alan Eder's judgment that it is a >reasonable move to do this way. > The thing is, music students are the future band and orchestra >directors of high schools, where they will be the ones in charge of >whatever piano moving happens. They are future faculty of community >colleges and small liberal arts colleges without much support staff, >where they will be the ones in charge. It seems to me that the more >people understand the potential dangers and precautions to be taken >when moving a piano on a dollie or on its casters, and when a >professional mover should or MUST be hired, the better. Yes, it can be >moved carefully down the smooth hallway on its truck. No, it can't be >moved across the parking lot to the next building. No, it can't be >moved over that high threshold. If there is even a very small bump, it >needs to be slowed way down and eased over. A lot of people have the >impression that if a grand is on a truck, it can be shoved anywhere, >and the more that impression can be modified, the better. >Regards, >Fred Sturm >fssturm at unm.edu >"Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to >shape it." Brecht -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100724/bd6dec48/attachment-0001.htm>
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