[CAUT] pushing pianos

[reggaepass at aol.com]

Hi David,

Alan'sdescription did leave considerable leeway for theimagination.    There still seems to be somethingdifferent between the "inordinately long distance" and moving apiano around on the stage or into a storage area.
Not sure where "inordinately" came from. Maybe I used it in a post that I cannot find now.  As I wrote in an earlier post, "By [a] 'long distance' I mean maybe a hundred yards or so (from one venue to another, on the same floor, through some doorways, withOUT turning it on it's side)."  


But the crux of the matter is students being educated about how to do what, as Fred points out, they are inevitably going to be doing to some extent or other:  Pushing pianos.



Alan Eder




-----Original Message-----
From: David Skolnik <davidskolnik at optonline.net>
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Sat, Jul 24, 2010 5:18 pm
Subject: Re: [CAUT] pushing pianos


Hey Fred -
All good points, and, ultimately, I'm sure you're right.  Alan'sdescription did leave considerable leeway for theimagination.    There still seems to be somethingdifferent between the "inordinately long distance" and moving apiano around on the stage or into a storage area.  In fact, evenwith 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 truestage professional does his job.  The moment those young pianists orpercussionists put their hands on a piano to move it, they are notmusicians, or future anythings...they are stagehands.  

Fred, I'm curious about one thing you said:We don't have staff onhand  

supervising and available at alltimes

Why is this an acceptable model?  Why does this situation seem builtinto the system?  What would the university do/change if somesignificant accident did transpire, involving astudent?   And is this the norm, or do other institutions makemore 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.  Whoare  
these piano students that they are expected to move pianosaround?   
So they're heading off to your's and your's conservatory and now 
think they are exempt from the proscriptions about movingpianos?

Well, maybe there are institutions where proscriptions work, andwhere  
only licensed and authorized people move pianos around. Not in my 
world. The students are mostly the ones who move the concert grandson  
and off stage, and move the rehearsal pianos around the rehearsal 
halls and occasionally between them. Sometimes it's work studieswho  
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 isgeneric  
music students. If the percussion ensemble shows up for rehearsalwith  
its instruments and the concert grand is on stage, they do notsearch  
for some "licensed" individual, they push it out of theirway,  
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 topianists 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 footballteam?


I guess it is the "inordinately long distance" thing thatsticks in  
your craw. As long as it is a reasonably smooth shot, I don't seethe  
problem. I am willing to accept Alan Eder's judgment that it is a 
reasonable move to do this way.
        The thingis, 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 supportstaff,  
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 canbe  
moved carefully down the smooth hallway on its truck. No, it can'tbe  
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 havethe  
impression that if a grand is on a truck, it can be shovedanywhere,  
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



 

 
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