Musical Pianos

[Ron Torrella]

We have had an ongoing problem, the likes of which I have never seen.  We
have some practice rooms with nothing but vertical pianos -- new Yamaha P22s
-- in them.  10 of the pianos are School of Music pianos, 5-6 are part of the
Yamaha loaner program.  For some reason, somebody is driven to move those
pianos from one room to the next.  Sometimes we find two pianos in the same
room as if somebody decided they wanted to play duos or something (maybe
concertos?), but more often we find pianos have been moved to the room just
across the hall.  (Once, we found four or five pianos in one room standing up
*on end*! Ie.  the keyboard was _vertical_!)  These new pianos are in locked
rooms.

The floors in that building are covered with the usual tile stuff.  No
carpet.  So pianos tend to roll quite nicely on those floors.  Installing
carpeting is not financially feasible.

I've "hobbled" the pianos owned by the School of Music by using a 3/8"
nut&bolt driven between the wheels (they're the double wheeled variety).
Although they still move for the benefit of the cleaning crews, those pianos
are rather difficult to move and I think they've managed to resist the
movers' efforts.  The pianos without this caster lock are the ones being
moved.  For the time-being, we're going to put two 2x4s back on the bottoms
of the loaner pianos.  The one that has them on right now hasn't been moved,
so that appears to be an effective means of thwarting the movers.

Has anyone else been dealt with this kind of "soft vandalism?"  Have I
identified the best means of discouraging the unauthorized moving?

(If you decide to reply, do everyone a favor and *liberally* edit the quoted
portion!  I realize that this is a long post, but I wanted to get most of the
facts in there.)


Ron Torrella               "Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought,
School of Music           and not, as many of those who worry most about their
University of Illinois    shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit
                    or oratory." -- Emily Post, Etiquette