university pianos always in bad shape?

[BoliverAllmon]

So i have been to several universities and colleges and they all have crap for pianos. I even went to UTSA for a competition and saw that they had 50 sound -proof rooms (that wasnt cheap) but in my opinion only 3-4 decent pianos. My teacher who went to Peabody says that it was the same way there. Most of the pianos were out of tuned or had something wrong with them. Is this what is expected in every university?

boliver

[pianodoc]

There are very few universities that have enough full-time technicians to properly maintain the entire inventory.  Instead, preference usually is reserved for the performance, and piano faculty instruments.  At the school where I'm a contract-tech, the shrinking budget forced them to reduce my load from 9hrs/month (way too little to keep everything in shape) down to just whatever the faculty screams about most.  Oh, and hitting the practice rooms 'bout once a year...

Arts budgets; last to feel the boost, first to feel the cuts.

[BoliverAllmon]

that is pathetic.

[faulty_damper]

And playing on these instruments really changes your sense of touch and tone.  Since almost all if not all the instruments are out of tune you become desensitized to what a unison sounds like.  And because some parts of the keyboard are not uniform with the other parts the discrepency of touch alters your touch.  I was a bit appalled after practicing in a practice room one day, going home and playing on my piano, and couldn't play the music evenly or cleanly.   I guess you have to get used to it.

[BoliverAllmon]

or practice elsewhere.

[faulty_damper]

If you even have time to go home and practice between classes.  You deal with it. Make a note of which practice rooms have pianos in least need of repair and maintenance and use those.

[BoliverAllmon]

also you can go to a local church and practice. Some churches allow it.

[Motrax]

Or if there's a nearby piano dealer you could rent an upright ('s what I'm gonna do next semester). As a student you might be able to negotiate reasonable prices, and if you can find a relatively secluded place to put the piano (assuming your room is too small) whoever's in charge of the building probably won't mind a piano moving in for a while. You get your own in-tune, even-touch piano for not too much extra money, and you don't have to walk to the music building to practice.