[CAUT] Moving Grand Pianos Intra-Department

[Zeno Wood]

Hi Paul,

I'm proud of my spelling too, so I too had noticed that David had
implied you had made an error when in fact you had not.  David S, wat
gives?

We too are operating under an austerity budget, so I appreciate the
urge to save money.  That said, we don't often move pianos, so I'm ok
with getting the mover every once in a while.  It might behoove you to
be upfront with your director, and ask for some percentage of your
savings to be returned to piano maintenance, so it's not just a hope
that you're harboring.

We had our Yamahas pulled a couple years ago, leaving us in the lurch.
 It hasn't been too pretty, piano-wise.

-Zeno Wood

On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 10:20 AM, Paul Milesi <paul at pmpiano.com> wrote:
> Thanks to all who have offered suggestions for handling this.  It seems a
> little clarification is in order.
>
> First, though: David, I wrote the word “imminent,” not “iminent.”  What I
> wrote is correct and what I intended.  Your “sic” implies that you quoted my
> spelling, which you didn’t.  Nothing to do with spell check.  Usually I
> don’t need it.  ;)
>
> No, we do not move pianos very often, perhaps twice a year at most.  These
> moves, however, are imminent because as of last Friday we have 4 faculty
> studios without pianos, 2 grands and 2 uprights.  The Yamaha dealer came and
> collected loaner instruments because the University failed to meet its
> commitment to purchase in a timely manner.  If it isn’t straightened out, it
> will be on me to slot in pianos from our own inventory before January 9th.
>  Money at this school, apparently unlike David’s school, is not flowing
> freely.  We are on an austerity budget, like a lot of other institutions.
>
> No, I haven’t asked the workers’ union about this, or even their supervisor.
>  I came here to get some collegial input prior to speaking with my chair
> about how this might be accomplished.  This is not about enabling.  We are
> simply trying to survive/thrive as a small department, and sometimes we need
> to do things for ourselves.  And I would much rather get the credit for
> economizing and then perhaps receive $500 or $1,000 more in my budget for a
> set of new hammers or whatever.
>
> Again, thanks for all the considered input.  Keep it comin’!
> --
> Paul Milesi RPT
> Staff Piano Technician
> Howard University Department of Music
> Washington, DC
> (202) 806-4565 Shop/Office
> (202) 246-3136 Cell/Text
> paul.milesi at howard.edu
>
>
> ___