I Wish!

[Joseph Garrett]

I just got a call from a client. The father was conveying a problem that the
son was having with the piano. The piano is an Upright. One that has been in
the family for a long time. It was nicely refinished and the action and keys
were reconditioned/regulated, by me, a year or so ago. Sounds like a nice
situation. Oh, the home is not capable of having a grand piano....just no
space available.
Now the rub. The son is working on a Rachmaninoff piece, that calls for
Sustenuto pedal!
My Wish: I wish that ALL teachers would HAVE to visit each student's home
and play on the "home" piano, then they would have some idea what the
student's piano is capable of! I know that a few teachers "lurk" on this
list, so what think ye?
My short term solution was to explain to the son the situation with their
piano. (It used to have a muffler strip for the middle pedal.) Yes, I could
retro-fit a sostenuto onto this piano, but it would be costly. I also
advised the son to find a school/church grand piano, with sostenuto
mechanism, to practice on. Don't know what else to do.
So, there's the problem. Anyone have any further thoughts on the subject?
Regards,
Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)