Vol.25, No. 11	Jan. 21, 2000

Music Department Makes Sweeter Sound With New Steinway Pianos

By Ulrika Brand

Until this month, "Don't move" signs were posted on pianos in the rehearsal rooms of Dodge Hall. Elaine Sisman, professor and chair of Columbia's Department of Music, explained why: "They would come crashing down," she said. "A lot of the instruments were missing legs and were propped up." She added that many pianos couldn't stay in tune through a semester: "They were in terrible condition."

The urgent need to upgrade the Music Department's pianos had been independently confirmed by the Academic Review Committee of the Arts and Sciences in 1996-97.

Now the department has 19 new Steinway pianos, which are located in various practice and performance spaces around campus. With the support of David Cohen, vice president of Arts and Sciences, a quarter of a million dollars was allocated to buy the instruments. Cohen said, "The Arts and Sciences is firmly committed to providing a first-rate Music Performance program for its undergraduate students. The recruitment of Deborah Bradley to direct the program, the plan for increasing the number of music practice rooms and now, the purchase of new pianos are fundamental steps toward realizing this aspiration."

The pianos were delivered on a gray Monday, Jan. 10. They constitute a quantum improvement for the Columbia community, not only for its music students and performers, but also for its listening public. An ambitious program of classes and concerts is planned for 2000; schedules can be accessed on the Web at www.music.columbia.edu/Musicperform.html.

Deborah Bradley, who became director of the Music Performance program in 1999, pointed out that many undergraduates receive their formal introduction to music when guest ensembles and artists perform on classroom pianos for students of Music Humanities. The course is a Columbia College graduation requirement; with 29 sections of the class this semester, it is one of the University's most well-attended.

The new pianos will benefit not only students studying the Core Curriculum and popular Music Department electives, but also those in the Music Performance program. There are currently 120 piano students, with 50 on the waiting list, 57 students in chamber music ensembles, 46 in the Orchestra (with additional students taking part without credit) and approximately 20 participating in the joint Juilliard-Columbia-Barnard performance exchange program. The Music Department's resident ensembles Moebius (of which Bradley is pianist) and Speculum will also perform on the new instruments.

"A real piano is a great help," said Kimmy Szeto CC'00, a senior double-majoring in music and mathematics-statistics. A pianist since the age of five (he also plays violin and double bass), Szeto's main focus at Columbia is composition. He explains that up to this point, he has only used a keyboard in his dormroom, but with the arrival of the new pianos he plans to spend more time in the practice rooms. In addition, he predicts, "The pianos will generate more enthusiasm for performance, especially because of the pianos in the dorms."

Bradley commented: "The piano upgrade is a great boon for recruitment. Sometimes the first question prospective students and their parents ask me is: 'How are your facilities?'" She said it is often through their performing activities that students become interested in music as an academic discipline. The Music Department offers graduate programs in musicology (history, theory and ethnomusicology) and composition. It currently has 60 undergraduate majors and concentrators, and 80 full-time graduate students (with an additional 15 part-timers). The Music Performance program does not offer a concentration nor grant degrees, but has a large constituency, as cited above.

The new pianos include five Steinway B's — grand pianos — now in place in the graduate lounge of Philosophy Hall, three classrooms, and St. Paul's Chapel, accessible for concerts. (The chapel piano was a joint purchase between the Music Department and University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis, with the blessing of Provost Jonathan R. Cole.) The Music Department's allocation of two baby grands from Steinway's Boston line for the dorms inspired Ross Fraser, director of Undergraduate Residence Halls, to purchase two more. All pianos other than the five Steinway B's are Bostons, including the baby grands in the dorm lounges, the additional classroom pianos, the rehearsal piano in Lerner and the uprights in the practice rooms. Steinway developed the Boston line, based on its handmade piano, to be heavily used. Bradley commented, "They sound very good and are very durable."

Steinway's sale to Columbia of the 19 pianos (one of the largest in Steinway's history) included a substantial exclusive purchase discount. As an added bonus, the company offered free use of Steinway Hall, a beautiful building on 57th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, in the Carnegie Hall district. Columbia will be able to hold intimate concerts and receptions for the development and showcasing of its performers.

Sisman pointed out that in addition to Cohen and Cole, two other administrators from Arts & Sciences were instrumental in the process of acquiring the Steinway pianos: Victoria Prince, deputy vice president for Administration, and Roxie Smith, associate vice president for Planning. "We couldn't have managed without their support," she said.