I Wish!

[Mike and Jane Spalding]

Joe,

I couldn't agree more.  The teacher needs to be familiar with the student's instrument.  (Our daughters' teacher, way back when, was also our tuner, but that's another story).  My Alfred edition of Rachmaninoff preludes has special instructions, and an alternate version written out for some sections, for pianos without a sostenuto pedal.  It's hard to believe that the teacher and student have not talked about this.  I do like your suggestion about a church or school grand piano for practice.  The boy obviously has some talent if he's playing that music, and I would expect those organizations would recognise it and want to help nurture it. 

As a practical matter, most teachers that I know are dealing with much more basic issues regarding their students' pianos, like "you really ought to have a real piano instead of that electronic keyboard", or "tuning once every 3 years is not adequate".  Most of the students will never progress to the point where they play Rach or need a Sos.  But for those that do, I agree that the teach NEEDS to take an active role in making sure the student has access to an adequate instrument for the music being taught.  

As long as we're wishing for things, how about wishing for close working relationships between teachers and technicians, where they care about the condition of their teaching piano and let you keep it regulated and voiced, where you know enough about their teaching style and personality to match up piano owners to a compatible teacher, where they know and trust you enough to refer their students to you ......  For my part, I'm doing more than wishing; I've made this a keystone of my business strategy, because I see it as pure win-win-win for all concerned.  Not that everyone sees this and responds immediately..

Mike Spalding

  


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Joseph Garrett <joegarrett@earthlink.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 10:57 PM
Subject: I Wish!


> 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)
> 
>