On Jul 24, 2010, at 6:18 PM, David Skolnik wrote: > 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 suspect this is a common situation. We have a limited budget, and we work in a very "loosely efficient" manner. I find it acceptable, myself - it works. And there isn't budget for more staff, so it has to work. We are about to pare yet another 3% from the budget this fall, after three consecutive parings. I have no idea what will disappear, but I know nothing new will appear (in the way of staffing). The concert grands don't leave the hall and associated storage area without my OK. But we have five 7' grands and a couple smaller ones on trucks, and some are in rooms with double doors. When two pianos are needed for an orchestra piece for example, one of the pianos from another room is moved in. Other moves happen from time to time as needed. Sometimes I am consulted, more often not. I don't worry about it. I have enough things on my plate, so that kind of control is not a big priority for me. And frankly I don't see much to worry about, as long as they don't leave the building. At worst a lyre might be broken off, but I think I have removed the last of those potential obstacles. Finish scratches on 40+ year old instruments are not a big issue (I touch them up once a year with black lacquer and an artist brush, and they look acceptable). I am much more concerned about the inner workings of the pianos, so that is where I put my focus. Regards, Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu http://www.youtube.com/fredsturm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100724/8c3db827/attachment.htm>
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