�鶹��Ƶ Offers MFA in Piano Technology</h1> <article> <h1>�鶹��Ƶ Offers MFA in Piano Technology</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 13:19:51 +0000</p> <span>�鶹��Ƶ Offers MFA in Piano Technology</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-07-11T09:19:51-04:00" title="Tuesday, July 11, 2023 - 09:19">Tue, 07/11/2023 - 09:19</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Since its inception in 2014, �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory’s <a href="/node/388166">graduate-level program in piano technology</a> has emerged as a world leader in training students for careers in advanced piano technology.</p> <p>Beginning this year, graduates of the two-year program will earn a Master of Fine Arts in Piano Technology. The new degree replaces the Artist Diploma, which is typically conferred only in conservatory settings.</p> <p>Developed in conjunction with Steinway & Sons, �鶹��Ƶ’s piano technology program encompasses maintenance and rebuilding as well as preparation of instruments for performance and the subtle dynamics at play when translating a concert artist's concept of how the instrument should respond to them. Since the program’s founding, graduates have secured prized positions with performing arts organizations and educational institutions across America and throughout the world.</p> <p>“You don’t need to be a high-level musician to excel in this program,” says <a href="/node/30191">John Cavanaugh</a>, executive director of piano technology and one of two principal mentors. “We welcome students who don’t necessarily have an extensive background in music: those whose undergraduate degrees may be in engineering, math, science, or even something else. We’re interested in helping students who have an interest in learning how artistry meets technology to put all of these different backgrounds together.”</p> <p>The application for fall 2024 entry will become available in September. Learn more on the <a href="/node/388166">piano technology page</a> of oberlin.edu.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Two-year graduate program prepares students for careers that blend artistry and technology, with no prior musical training necessary.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-07-11T12:00:00Z">Tue, 07/11/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28901">Piano Technology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/john-cavanaugh" hreflang="und">John Cavanaugh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Piano technology students works on an instrument in the shop.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Julie Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Home Township Hero</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 16:42:11 +0000</p> <span>Home Township Hero</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-06-21T12:42:11-04:00" title="Monday, June 21, 2021 - 12:42">Mon, 06/21/2021 - 12:42</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>There are 12,116 parts that make up a Steinway grand, and beyond that, every piano has its own personality. The instrument presents myriad opportunities to sculpt the feel and sound for individual pianists or even for individual pieces. The distinctive training, time, experience, and mentorship it takes to be a Steinway-level technician is more akin to artistry than craft.</p> <p>Most pianists don’t have a command of what happens on the inside of a piano that makes it sing or sag. So it is the technician’s job to steer a pianist in the right direction—toward a particular instrument or in the adjustments made to one. Technicians at this level must have highly developed musical sensibilities and an incredibly discerning ear. They must establish trust with the pianists they work with—to hear the artists’ perspectives, then make decisions on how to coax the instrument to respond in the right ways.</p> <p>In 2014, �鶹��Ƶ launched the <a href="/piano-technology">Artist Diploma in Piano Technology</a>, developed in partnership with Steinway, to meet a need in the music world—and at �鶹��Ƶ. The conservatory’s collection of some 234 pianos had amounted to a mountain of annual maintenance. Pianos fill practice rooms, professors’ offices, and performance spaces across campus. Piano students, faculty, and a busy calendar of guest artists require pianos that not only sound good and are mechanically healthy but which are, in many situations, tailored to the specifications of particular performers and repertoire. While �鶹��Ƶ had been teaching introductory and intermediate piano technology classes to �鶹��Ƶ undergraduates for years, the students being trained weren’t capable of helping keep up with the demands of the conservatory’s pianists and instruments. The two-year program grew out of Steinway’s deep history with �鶹��Ƶ, which has been an “All-Steinway School” since 1877—the longest continuous relationship with Steinway of any institution in the world.</p> <p>The same year the piano tech diploma was launched, and 8,376 miles from �鶹��Ƶ, in the South African township of Soshanguve, a young man named Tshepiso Ledwaba experienced something of a revelation. The clarinet he played was damaged and needed repair, but there was no one in the area who could do it. Ledwaba picked the brain of a visiting juror for an international flute and clarinet competition taking place at the University of South Africa, or UNISA.</p> <p>“He told me I should learn to repair instruments,” Ledwaba recalls. “He said, ‘There is a need here!’ And it became suddenly obvious to me: <em>Do this.</em> Earn money!”</p> <p style="text-align: center;">/ / / / /</p> <p>Tshepiso (pronounced “tseh-PEE-soh”) Ledwaba was the first in his family to study music formally. His training began while he was a middle-school student with after-school programs run by UNISA, the country’s largest university. UNISA dedicates significant resources to community outreach, arts, and promotion of African culture, and its Community Music Foundation educates some 1,400 students between the ages of 2 and 23. Without this program, there would be no music instruction in Soshanguve, nor in four other townships in the Gauteng Province that UNISA serves. Like many community music programs across the world, its goals go beyond music training: UNISA envisions its efforts as a way to boost confidence in students and to provide positive alternatives for young people who face crime, drugs, and poverty in their everyday lives.</p> <p>South Africa’s townships today retain many characteristics they had under apartheid. Located on the outskirts of major metropolitan areas, they are marked by underdeveloped infrastructure and racial segregation. Though legal discrimination of this type was abolished in the early 1990s, the country’s long-held racist structures and related violence continue to plague its people of color. Lack of access to continuing education and vocational training, disproportionally high unemployment, and deep disparities of wealth still define these areas and exacerbate the country’s slow economic growth.</p> <p>Ledwaba’s neighborhood was built as part of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Project. RDP houses are one story and simply constructed out of cinderblock, some faced with stucco or brick. They are often flanked by informal settlements—areas with wood and corrugated metal dwellings.</p> <p>Ledwaba and his two siblings were raised in one of these small, four-room houses, surrounded by a “stop-nonsense wall”—a security barrier—that separates the hand-poured concrete front yard from the street. Two outside “boys rooms” were later built for Ledwaba and his older brother by their father, a now-retired painter and glazer. The home is sparely furnished, but has the essentials. In the heat of summer, a ceiling fan moves the air. There is space enough that Ledwaba’s mother ran a kindergarten out of the house for much of the time he was growing up.</p> <p>After finishing high school in 2008, Ledwaba earned his UNISA Music Teacher Accreditation. He started working for the university’s Community Music Foundation in 2010, tutoring students in music theory, clarinet, and recorder.</p> <p>At first, his parents were not supportive. “Music is only entertainment—not a job,” he remembers them saying. And though this was work he loved, it supplied a frustratingly low income, especially with the responsibility he felt toward his family. It simply was not enough.</p> <p>In 2016, Ledwaba was appointed project coordinator for Soshanguve’s community music program. He had also taken up the bass and played gigs with various pick-up groups. That year, he was introduced to <a href="/node/30191">John Cavanaugh</a>, �鶹��Ƶ’s executive director of keyboard technology and founder of the piano tech program, who was in Pretoria as the official technician for the 13th UNISA International Piano Competition, which Ledwaba served as a support staffer. He had no idea at the time of the changes that were to come.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">/ / / / /</p> <p>Ledwaba’s introduction to �鶹��Ƶ was already long in the making. In 2011, South African jazz saxophonist, music educator, and university administrator Karendra Devroop visited Ohio to talk about ideas for student exchanges between �鶹��Ƶ and South Africa’s North-West University, where Devroop was director of the music school and conservatory. During that visit, �鶹��Ƶ Professor of Economics <a href="/node/5506">Barbara Craig</a>, who had met Devroop in South Africa, put him in touch with John Cavanaugh.</p> <p>“John asked me ‘What’s the piano world like in South Africa?’” says Devroop. “I told him it’s actually very good, it’s very strong. We have world-class performers who have emanated from our country and gone on to international careers. However, we are not cultivating young technicians, and it’s a very big concern because the piano fraternity is growing.</p> <p>“John took no time and offered to come over during winter term and work for free.<br> It would be his way of ‘giving back.’ So I brought him to North-West University in Potchefstroom in 2013. I made the arrangements for him to work on our pianos for<br> two weeks.”</p> <p>Cavanaugh and <a href="/node/30111">Robert Murphy</a>, �鶹��Ƶ's associate director of piano technology, traveled to South Africa with five conservatory students who had taken Cavanaugh’s courses. They tuned “many, many pianos,” Cavanaugh says, as part of their winter term project.<br> <a href="/node/6686">Bobby Ferrazza</a>, director of �鶹��Ƶ’s <a href="/node/3231">Division of Jazz Studies</a>, was there at the same time with a group of �鶹��Ƶ jazz students, as was A.G. Miller, emeritus professor of religion. “It was A.G. Miller who suggested that if I were to look for a student to teach in �鶹��Ƶ, I should look for an African student to teach in order to help them get from under the thumb of apartheid,” says Cavanaugh.</p> <p>The connection Craig and Miller made between Devroop and Cavanaugh proved fortuitous.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>With the action removed from the piano, John Cavanaugh (left) guides Tshepiso Ledwaba and two classmates in a hammer felt resurfacing technique using a sandpaper file. (photo by Julie Gulenko '15)</figcaption> </figure> <p>“In 2015, when I was taking on UNISA’s next international piano competition, I needed an official piano technician,” says Devroop. “New regulations and decreased funding at the university made it impossible for me to bring in the technicians from the Hamburg Steinway facility we had previously used, so I called John and asked for some ideas. He offered to come for the rate I could afford.”</p> <p>UNISA, like �鶹��Ƶ, is an All-Steinway School—the first institution on the African continent to earn the designation, bestowed by Steinway & Sons Hamburg in 2011. The university has presented international and national competitions for piano and other disciplines since 1982; �鶹��Ƶ piano alumnus and Steinway Artist <a href="https://www.spencermyer.com/">Spencer Myer ’00</a> took first prize at the 2004 competition, a credential that effectively launched his international performing career.</p> <p>“While John was in South Africa,” Devroop says, “we spoke again about the need to develop piano technicians so I was not always in this bind. That’s when he made another extraordinary offer.”</p> <p>Cavanaugh told Devroop that if he sent him a qualified student, he would personally take him under his wing at �鶹��Ƶ and teach him to be a fine piano technician. “The first person I thought of was Tshepiso.”</p> <p>Ledwaba had been a student and then tutor in the UNISA Community Music Project for about eight years when Devroop joined the administration and took over management of the outreach program in 2011.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>“Tshepiso’s accomplishment is very important…That �鶹��Ƶ could intervene to help us in this way, to produce an expert of this kind, on pianos, and on the Steinway, I think is very important.”—Thabo Mbeki, Chancellor of UNISA and former President of South Africa (photo courtesy of UNISA)</figcaption> </figure> <p>“From day one that I met [Ledwaba], there was something unique about him,” says Devroop. “His personality is fantastic, but he is also the kind of person who is ever willing to assist. If there was a visiting ensemble to take care of or concert that needed to be set up, Tshepiso would be the first one to put his hand up and say, ‘I’ll be there.’ Because of his personality and his ability to work and to learn, I gave him as much responsibility as I could because he was such a reliable guy.”</p> <p>Cavanaugh and Devroop spent the next year wrangling institutional support and resources from �鶹��Ƶ and UNISA. The cost for this kind of study and travel was unimaginable for Ledwaba and his family. The two men also guided Ledwaba through contractual agreements with UNISA as well as the student visa process.</p> <p>“I knew that if I gave him the opportunity, he would make the most of it,” says Devroop.</p> <p>“Tshepiso is also such a humble person that, as a representative of UNISA, I knew he would be a good ambassador for our institution.” �鶹��Ƶ and UNISA collaborated to find ways to get Ledwaba the training he needed at �鶹��Ƶ, where he arrived in January 2018.</p> <p>“It was absolute culture shock,” Ledwaba remembers. “Everything about it. And it was cold. I had just left summer in South Africa, and even though John prepared me, Ohio is cold! But I was very excited to get to work. My classmates had already started in September, so I wanted to get in there,” he says with a laugh. </p> <p style="text-align: center;">/ / / / /</p> <p>With the piano technology program, Cavanaugh and Robert Murphy realized a vision and solved a workload problem. It addresses a need for technicians and provides more advanced training to students who are ready to pursue careers as artist technicians.</p> <p>Designed for a minimum of three students each year, the program has graduated 10 students thus far.</p> <p>“At �鶹��Ƶ, students certainly gain a complete understanding of voicing and touch,” Cavanaugh says. “They get a broad sense of how pianos really work, and they understand how the keys relate to the inside and the whole body of the piano.</p> <p>“More than that,” he adds, “they are learning to bridge the gap between piano technology and the concert pianist.”</p> <p>Cavanaugh brings pianists of all ranks and varieties—students, professionals, accomplished amateurs, faculty, guests, classical, jazz—into the shop on a regular basis so the students learn to hear and communicate clearly. “I teach them how to listen to an artist, interpret what they want, adjust the instrument to satisfy them, and then how to negotiate priorities when you can’t satisfy them.”</p> <p>The program is rigorous and hands-on. Classes are held every day in the piano shop. Students work on projects and practice skills on parts of pianos that are stationed across the space. They are assigned work throughout the conservatory’s piano collection for daily maintenance. They travel for special instruction and additional training and participate in summer internships and apprenticeships, also arranged by Cavanaugh.</p> <p>For two summers, Ledwaba worked at the renowned Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado, under the leadership of its head of piano technology, Justin Holcomb. The festival produces 400 concerts in eight weeks—a trial by fire for technicians.</p> <p>Holcomb was impressed with Ledwaba’s skills and affable demeanor and immediately designated him head apprentice. During those summers, Ledwaba learned to tune pianos very quickly, knocking out six a day. He prepared the piano for a June 2019 performance by jazz great Gregory Porter. It was his favorite experience at Aspen.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>“I’m a small boy amongst big giants. I’m privileged, honored, and humbled to even be able to take a pic with them, all because of piano tech,” says Ledwaba (center), flanked on the left by UNISA Vice Chancellor Mandla Makhanya and John Cavanaugh and on the right by Thabo Mbeki and Karendra Devroop. (photo courtesy of UNISA)</figcaption> </figure> <p>The culmination of all that �鶹��Ƶ piano tech students learn comes in the final semester, when they travel to the New York Steinway factory for a week of intensive scrutiny. Steinway has developed exams specifically and only for the �鶹��Ƶ Artist Diploma Program—an honor that involves preparing a grand piano, then receiving a final grade. Ledwaba traveled to New York for his exam in April 2019.</p> <p>“Tshepiso excelled in everything,” Cavanaugh says. “He got the highest score ever. He prepared a piano to factory standards—also put his own spin on it—and came up with a really nice instrument. The Steinway examiner called me immediately and said, ‘This guy is amazing.’”</p> <p>After 18 months of intensive instruction, two summer apprenticeships, and another semester of mentorship under his belt as an employee in �鶹��Ƶ’s piano workshop—during which Ledwaba completed training in belly work and woodworking skills, action regulation, restringing, tuning, and voicing—it was time to go home. His student visa was expiring, he was homesick for family and old friends, and with the next UNISA International Piano Competition about to commence, he was needed in South Africa.</p> <p>By the time Ledwaba returned, preparations for the 2020 UNISA competition were under way. Cavanaugh was there with him, tasked with installing a new set of hammers in a Hamburg Steinway concert grand, then setting up the piano to perform in an international competition. Ledwaba prepared a second Hamburg concert grand under his supervision and, says Cavanaugh, “He did an outstanding job.” They pulled 12-hour days to get things in shape, a rigorous schedule that Ledwaba embraced.</p> <p>“It was such an amazing and awesome privilege to be working with my mentor, teacher, American dad, and friend, John Cavanaugh,” he says of the experience.</p> <p>The competition’s opening events were attended by the university’s top administrators, as well as dignitaries, students, the competition’s 30 participants (including jazz pianist Michael Orenstein ’18), 10 distinguished international jury members representing the jazz and classical worlds, and Ledwaba’s family.</p> <p>Devroop lauded Cavanaugh and �鶹��Ƶ and the role they had played in Ledwaba’s education.</p> <p>“UNISA cannot thank you enough for filling this gap in our country. There are no words in my vocabulary to express how sincere our gratitude is to you.”</p> <p>Devroop also announced the establishment of the UNISA Piano Repair Centre, which would be housed on the Pretoria campus—and headed by Ledwaba. Ledwaba now begins a five-year contract with UNISA as one of the most highly trained and sought-after Steinway technicians in the world. He has received training at Steinway’s New York factory and is scheduled to receive training at its Hamburg factory. He also has been charged to teach three students, carrying the structure of �鶹��Ƶ’s piano technology program to South Africa.</p> <p>Cavanaugh was invited to address the audience and soon turned his remarks toward Ledwaba.</p> <p>“It was my pleasure to meet Tshepiso Ledwaba four years ago when I came here. Sometimes, I am interested in students because of their personality. It was very clear to me from the beginning that Tshepiso wanted to do this. The interest he had and the questions that he asked made me certain that, along with his training as a musician, he might be perfect for this. As it turns out, he is the best student I’ve ever had.”</p> <p>The hometown crowd erupted in a boisterous round of whistles and applause.</p> <p><em>Cathleen Partlow Strauss '84 is director of Conservatory Communications. This story originally appeared in the <a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2021/">spring 2021 issue</a> of the </em>�鶹��Ƶ Alumni Magazine<em>.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tshepiso Ledwaba ’20 brought the talent to become a world-class piano tech. �鶹��Ƶ gave him the training.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-06-21T12:00:00Z">Mon, 06/21/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Cathleen Partlow Strauss '84</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3724">�鶹��Ƶ Alumni Magazine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28901">Piano Technology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/john-cavanaugh" hreflang="und">John Cavanaugh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy UNISA</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Where There’s a Will, There’s a Steinway</h1> <p>eburnett — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 20:34:40 +0000</p> <span>Where There’s a Will, There’s a Steinway</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-04-01T16:34:40-04:00" title="Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - 16:34">Wed, 04/01/2020 - 16:34</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For Jiaqing Luo, an interminable week had passed since seemingly everybody else had left town. An eerie calm had settled over �鶹��Ƶ’s typically lively campus, and an unshakable restlessness had settled over Luo.</p> <p>“I’ve stayed in my dorm almost all the time,” says the third-year student from China’s Hunan Province. “Every time I see other students, we all wear masks for safety.”</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Jiaqing Luo endured a quiet week in South Hall before the delivery of three pianos helped break the silence. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Jiaqing Luo)</figcaption> </figure> <p>Luo is one of nearly three dozen �鶹��Ƶ piano students who hail from international destinations that have become unreachable in recent weeks, as fears surrounding spread of the novel coronavirus led to tightened restrictions on global travel. For almost all of these remaining students, sparsely populated residence halls continue to be home—perhaps until May, perhaps for longer.</p> <p>As �鶹��Ƶ officials took up the task of ensuring that each student was safe and well cared-for, one glaring deficiency emerged: The piano students had no access to their artistic and creative lifeline. With college and conservatory buildings marked off-limits to ensure that safe social distancing could be maintained, a campus that boasts an incredible 240-plus high-quality Steinway pianos suddenly had none for its students to use.</p> <p>“Each of our piano faculty has been in touch with our students on an almost daily basis,” says Professor Alvin Chow. “Many were in a fragile state, and of course their first question was usually <em>When and where will we be able to practice?</em>”</p> <p>The situation took on added complexities on Sunday, March 22, when Ohio enacted a statewide shelter-in-place order that would take effect in less than two days, perhaps further complicating access to instruments for students of the first All-Steinway School in America.</p> <p>“It’s certainly possible that the week these students had already spent without playing could have been the longest they’ve ever gone in their lives,” says Michael Straus, the conservatory’s associate dean for operations. "It was important for us to do whatever we could to safely reunite them with their instruments."</p> <p>At the direction of Dean of the Conservatory William Quillen, Straus coordinated an effort to deliver 14 Steinway grand pianos—each weighing more than 600 pounds—to campus residence halls and other locations accessible to piano students who were permitted to remain on campus.</p> <p>“For the health and safety of all those students, we wanted to keep them in the places they are living so that they would not have to move around campus more than necessary,” Straus says.</p> <p>Over the next two days, staff members from Student Life, Campus Safety, the Conservatory Deans Office, Concert Production, Keyboard Studies, and Piano Technology, as well as moving teams from campus and nearby Cleveland joined forces to uproot and relocate the pianos. Every instrument was delivered, set up, tuned—and equipped with disinfecting wipes—mere hours before the state-imposed deadline.</p> <p>On the first day the pianos were available to students, 25 reservations were made through Concert Production; in the two days that followed, another 75 requests poured in, accompanied by cheerful notes of thanks from grateful students.</p> <p>Jiaqing Luo, for one, took a seat at the keyboard mere moments after movers dropped the first of three Steinways in South Hall, where six other pianists also had been silenced in recent days. In the week since the pianos arrived, Luo has practiced for four hours each day, a regimen typical of his pre-pandemic routine.</p> <p>Each student follows provided instructions for safely cleaning pianos and practice areas before every session, and each is encouraged to maintain safe social distancing at all times.</p> <p>“I'm very happy in �鶹��Ƶ!” Luo says. “I can live safely and do everything that I want to do. For now I can't go out, so I have more time to study alone and practice.”</p> <p>In �鶹��Ƶ’s Asia House, three pianists now have their choice of three pianos.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Shangru Du is one of three pianists living in Asia House, where there are now three available pianos. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Shangru Du)</figcaption> </figure> <p>“It’s really comfortable for me, especially to be able to practice here in the dorm,” says senior Shangru Du of northern China, a resident of Asia House. “I appreciate the effort made by the conservatory. I know it’s not an easy task, but I’m very grateful for it.”</p> <p>Another resident of Asia House, Jianyi Gu of southern China, had been marking the days to her senior recital, which was scheduled for May 2 in stately Warner Concert Hall.</p> <p>The coronavirus forced the cancellation of more than 150 junior and senior recitals that had been on the books for this spring; instead, students will submit recordings to their teachers to satisfy their recital requirements.</p> <p>“I don’t think it can substitute for the real recital in Warner,” Gu says, “But we have no choice.”</p> <p>There may be a choice after all: Over spring break, �鶹��Ƶ’s piano faculty agreed to allow students to create a recital experience if they so desire—one that adheres to accepted guidelines for appropriate social distancing, of course.</p> <p>“They can choose to present it as they wish: privately recorded, or even as a live virtual performance within their own dorms, with friends watching online,” says Professor Chow. “That part is up to each student. I guess we'll see how creative they can get!”</p> <p> </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-04-01T12:00:00Z">Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For conservatory students still living at �鶹��Ƶ, a week without a piano was a week too long.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2379">Student Life</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28901">Piano Technology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/alvin-chow" hreflang="und">Alvin Chow</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Senior pianist Jianyi Gu of China is one of three dozen �鶹��Ƶ piano students who were unable to return home when campus closed in March. They remain close to their music even as they are distant from others, thanks to the delivery of 14 pianos to the residence halls they call home.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy Jianyi Gu</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>�鶹��Ƶ Forges Piano Technology Partnership with Shanghai Conservatory</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 11 May 2021 13:32:57 +0000</p> <span>�鶹��Ƶ Forges Piano Technology Partnership with Shanghai Conservatory</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-05-11T09:32:57-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - 09:32">Tue, 05/11/2021 - 09:32</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Two years after the Shanghai National Conservatory of Music was founded in 1927, a young composer named Huang Tzu became its director of academic affairs and a lecturer in music theory and composition. A 1926 graduate of �鶹��Ƶ, Huang played an integral role in introducing the Western traditions he experienced at �鶹��Ƶ to the teaching of music in China.</p> <p>Almost 90 years later, �鶹��Ƶ and Shanghai have rekindled a relationship that once again draws upon �鶹��Ƶ expertise.</p> <p>In May 2018, Dean of the Conservatory Andrea Kalyn, Executive Director of <a href="/piano-technology">Piano Technology</a> <a href="/node/30191">John Cavanaugh</a>, and International Outreach Coordinator Kai Fu ’06 met with officials from the Shanghai Conservatory to formalize a new partnership that will lead to the formation of a piano technology teaching program at Shanghai as well as plans for a new graduate-level degree in piano technology that will involve study at both institutions.</p> <p>In the coming years, �鶹��Ƶ’s partnership with Shanghai will also promote student and faculty exchanges that could involve departments throughout both conservatories. Beginning in fall 2018, faculty from Shanghai will participate in a residency at �鶹��Ƶ in which they will perform on traditional Chinese instruments and work with �鶹��Ƶ ethnomusicology students and faculty.</p> <p>“The partnership between �鶹��Ƶ and the Shanghai Conservatory reflects our mutual commitment to musical excellence and shared appreciation of the power of music to bring people together across difference,” Kalyn says. “We look forward to building on the 90-year connection between our two institutions in ways that advance our students’ professional preparation and deepen their understanding across cultures<br> and genres.”</p> <p>Since its inception in 2014, �鶹��Ƶ’s piano tech program has emerged as a world leader in the training of advanced technicians. In the coming years, Cavanaugh will oversee the creation of Shanghai’s state-of-the-art piano tech shop, while the first students in the nascent program will begin their training at �鶹��Ƶ. The new pact with Shanghai will consist of three years of study—two of them in �鶹��Ƶ—toward a master’s degree in piano technology conferred by the Shanghai Conservatory.</p> <h3>Piano Tech Milestones</h3> <p>The partnership also represents the latest in a series of growth spurts for �鶹��Ƶ’s piano technology department, which since 2014 has offered an exclusive artist diploma program for the training of advanced technicians.</p> <p>For the first time, the two-year program will offer enhanced opportunities for second-year students to receive off-site training at Steinway’s New York factory. It begins with a week of intensive, hands-on instruction at Steinway, followed by a return trip in which each student will be tasked with preparing two grand pianos for selection in one week; each student’s performance will be graded by Steinway’s technical department.</p> <p>�鶹��Ƶ holds the distinction of being the world’s only Steinway-authorized training facility apart from the manufacturer’s own Hamburg and New York City factories. �鶹��Ƶ owns more than 240 Steinway grand pianos and was the first institution to be named an “All-Steinway School,” a designation conferred in 1877.</p> <p>“�鶹��Ƶ and Steinway share a remarkable history of more than 140 years,” says Cavanaugh. “There could be no more fitting capstone to this program than for our second-year students to apply their skills and be evaluated at the very heart of the Steinway company. We are deeply honored to join Steinway in creating this opportunity for our students.”</p> <p>Back on campus, this summer marks the 15th anniversary of the Steinway at �鶹��Ƶ seminar, part of the C.F. Theodore Steinway Technical Academy. The program focuses on strategies for institutional piano technicians and welcomes more than a dozen technicians from around the world each July. This year’s seminar will feature the debut of �鶹��Ƶ’s newly expanded and renovated piano technology shop, which is equipped to handle four full piano restorations concurrently.</p> <p>Also new for 2018: the first piano technology summer intensive for Chinese students. The week-long program is intended for students currently pursuing bachelor’s degrees in piano technology elsewhere who may want to continue their studies at �鶹��Ƶ. Classes are taught by �鶹��Ƶ technicians and translated into Chinese by current students in the artist diploma program. To learn more about piano technology at �鶹��Ƶ, visit <a href="/piano-technology">oberlin.edu/piano-technology</a>.</p> <p><em>This story originally appeared in the <a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/con/connews/2018/">2018 </a></em><a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/con/connews/2018/">�鶹��Ƶ Conservatory Magazine</a>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Union calls for faculty residencies, student exchanges, advanced-level �鶹��Ƶ degree, and more.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2018-06-18T12:00:00Z">Mon, 06/18/2018 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28901">Piano Technology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/john-cavanaugh" hreflang="und">John Cavanaugh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">John Cavanaugh (standing, center) works with �鶹��Ƶ piano technology students in the conservatory's newly remodeled piano shop.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Julie Gulenko '15</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Master Technician Eric Schandall Works with �鶹��Ƶ Students</h1> <p>eburnett — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 21:10:52 +0000</p> <span>Master Technician Eric Schandall Works with �鶹��Ƶ Students</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-02-10T16:10:52-05:00" title="Friday, February 10, 2017 - 16:10">Fri, 02/10/2017 - 16:10</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>It would be easy to mistake a piano technician’s work for a discipline whose time has come and gone.</p> <p>They toil alone for hour after hour in the solitude of vacant studios and concert halls, employing old-fashioned-looking tools that evoke a cobbler’s kit. They detect sonic imperfections where few others would, then patiently tinker and tweak till a satisfying approximation of perfection is achieved. Their methods are mostly the same as they were a century ago, because the pianos are essentially the same too.</p> <p>They are musical craftsmen—an unmistakably rare breed—and each one of them is sorely needed.</p> <p>In January, students in <a href="http://new.oberlin.edu/conservatory/departments/piano-technology/">�鶹��Ƶ Conservatory’s piano technology program</a> spent a week in the company of one of the world’s best: master technician Eric Schandall.</p> <p>Born in America but now living in Norway, Schandall has worked as a piano technician since 1967, including a stint as an educator at the C.F. Theodore Steinway Technical Academy in New York City. Now nearing retirement, he services pianos and presents lectures and demonstrations on a wide range of related topics to groups worldwide.</p> <p>“We work to make it so that pianists can play <i>music</i> and not worry about playing the piano. That’s the ideal,” Schandall says of his craft during a break from working on intonation techniques with �鶹��Ƶ students in a Bibbins Hall studio.</p> <p>If piano technology exudes an air of bygone-era craftsmanship, Schandall notes that it is anything but a dying profession. The number of capable technicians, in fact, falls far short of meeting worldwide demand.</p> <p>“It’s a serious problem,” he says. “There are not enough good technicians. It takes a lot of training and a lot of practice, and you need practice on good instruments—and there are not a lot of opportunities to train on good pianos.”</p> <p>That’s where �鶹��Ƶ enters the picture. Developed by the conservatory’s Executive Director of Keyboard Technology <a href="http://new.oberlin.edu/conservatory/departments/piano-technology/faculty_detail.dot?id=20625">John Cavanaugh</a>, the artist diploma in piano technology is a two-year program presented in partnership with Steinway & Sons. It capitalizes on the conservatory’s long relationship with the manufacturer—�鶹��Ƶ was the first All-Steinway School, dating to 1877—as well as its ready access to incredible performers and more than 230 Steinway grand pianos of all vintages. �鶹��Ƶ is also the only offsite factory training facility for the Steinway Technical Academy, which for years has brought Schandall to campus every summer.</p> <p>In spring 2016, �鶹��Ƶ graduated its first class of piano technicians, Yu Jiaao and Chun Yen Chen. Both transitioned directly into coveted positions: Chen as a senior piano technician with Steinway & Sons in his native China, and Jiaao as a piano tech fellow at the Juilliard School.</p> <p>“Our artist diploma program is a mentorship,” says Cavanaugh. “Though there are lectures in tuning theory, nomenclature, piano construction, and design, the bulk of the training is done one on one with the student, with emphasis on solid concert tuning, action regulation, and restoration skills during the first year.</p> <p>“The second year is dedicated to tone regulation, with emphasis on working closely with performing artists—bridging the gap between what the musician seeks and ‘making it happen’ from a technical point of view.” Because the program is so dependent on the student-mentor relationship, no more than three students are accepted each year.</p> <p>Schandall will tell you that a technician’s training lasts a lifetime, though he considers 10,000 hours of experience—five years of full-time work—a typical benchmark to achieve proficiency. He notes that there are more highly skilled young pianists than ever before, which only adds to the challenge.</p> <p>“The technician community has to keep up with these kids,” he says. “The manufacturers and technicians who keep up with these machines have to be really good, and that takes a lot of training.</p> <p>“If you’re good,” he adds, “you’re always going to be in demand.”</p> <p>Schandall himself was a pianist through his teen years, though he never aspired to a professional career onstage. Newly married in his early twenties, he turned to piano technology at the suggestion of a friend and former teacher. He found his first position by thumbing through the phone book, blindly choosing to call the first name he spotted from the list. That call happened to be answered by the head of the North Bennet Street School in Boston, one of the most prestigious institutions of its kind. And they happened to have an opportunity available.</p> <p>Piano technology remains the only line of work Schandall has known in 50 years, a fact he cheerfully chalks up to his “singular lack of imagination.” His wife is also a veteran technician.</p> <p>“When you’re deciding what you’re going to do in life, you need to pay attention to what life wants you to do and what doors open up for you,” he says. “I’ve just been fortunate that doors opened for me.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2017-01-26T12:00:00Z">Thu, 01/26/2017 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28901">Piano Technology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Photo by Julie Gulenko '15</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>�鶹��Ƶ Piano Tech Program Graduates First Class</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 11 May 2021 13:48:54 +0000</p> <span>�鶹��Ƶ Piano Tech Program Graduates First Class</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-05-11T09:48:54-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - 09:48">Tue, 05/11/2021 - 09:48</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In the fall of 2014, �鶹��Ƶ collaborated with Steinway & Sons to launch an exclusive two-year program called the <a href="/node/28901">Artist Diploma in Piano Technology</a>. Intended for advanced technicians looking to hone their already developed skills in tuning, repair, and restoration of modern and historical keyboards, the graduate-level program yielded its first class in the spring of 2016.</p> <p><br> “The program is designed to bridge the gap between piano technology and the concert pianist,” says <a href="/node/30191">John Cavanaugh</a>, �鶹��Ƶ’s executive director of keyboard technology. Cavanaugh administers the program, with additional instruction and mentorship from fellow �鶹��Ƶ technicians <a href="/node/30111">Robert Murphy</a> and Ken Sloane, visiting teachers from Steinway’s New York factory, and independent master technicians.</p> <p>Both graduating students have stepped directly into coveted positions: Chun Yen Chen has been hired as a senior piano technician by Steinway & Sons in his native China. Yu Jiaao, also from China, earned an esteemed one-year fellowship in the piano technology department at the Juilliard School. He will work at Tanglewood in the summer and in New York during the 2016-17 academic year. After that, he will most likely return to his home city, Beijing, where he plans to work as a technician and teacher at one of Beijing’s conservatories.</p> <p><em>This story first appeared in the <a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/con/connews/2016/">2016 </a></em><a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/con/connews/2016/">�鶹��Ƶ Conservatory Magazine</a><em>.</em></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Two-year-old program matches alumni with careers worldwide.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-06-15T12:00:00Z">Wed, 06/15/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28901">Piano Technology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/john-cavanaugh" hreflang="und">John Cavanaugh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Yu Jiaao (left) and Chun Yen Chen are the first graduates of �鶹��Ƶ's Artist Diploma in Piano Technology program.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy Conservatory Communications</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>�鶹��Ƶ to Offer Artist Diploma in Piano Technology</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:03:59 +0000</p> <span>�鶹��Ƶ to Offer Artist Diploma in Piano Technology</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:03:59-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:03">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:03</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>�鶹��Ƶ’s new Artist Diploma in Piano Technology, designed in association with Steinway & Sons, is a two-year graduate-level program under the direction of Executive Director of Keyboard Technology John Cavanaugh.</p> <p>Open to three students each year, the program covers tuning, repair, and restoration of modern instruments and fortepianos, with emphasis on helping students understand the needs of performing pianists.</p> <p>Cavanaugh, who has taught piano technology classes for undergraduates at �鶹��Ƶ for several years, is inspired by the prospect of working with students on a more advanced level. His goal is to “bridge the gap between piano technology and the concert pianist. Students will gain a complete understanding of voicing and touch. They will get a broader sense of how pianos really work and understand how the keys relate to the inside and the whole body of the piano.”</p> <p>With additional mentorship by �鶹��Ƶ’s technicians and rebuilders Robert Murphy and Ken Sloane, the course of study includes advanced techniques on both New York- and Hamburg-built models. Students will also receive instruction from visiting teachers from the New York Steinway factory, as well as independent master piano technicians who specialize in action and tonal work.</p> <p>�鶹��Ƶ is an incredible laboratory for such a venture. With 234 Steinway pianos, the conservatory has the largest collection of pianos outside of the Steinway factory. The busy conservatory schedule, as well as the renowned roster of guest artists that come to campus each year, will provide students with a range of experience that is carving a new niche in the way advanced piano technology is taught.</p> <p>For more information, visit the piano technology page at <a href="http://new.oberlin.edu/conservatory/departments/piano-technology/index.dot">oberlin.edu</a>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2014-05-12T12:00:00Z">Mon, 05/12/2014 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">By Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28901">Piano Technology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/john-cavanaugh" hreflang="und">John Cavanaugh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">William Rieter</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>