School of Music buys new
grand piano for Recital Hall

by Mark McGowan

NIU’s School of Music welcomed a new member to the family over the summer, one with three legs and 88 keys.

The brand new Steinway grand piano in the Recital Hall was delivered on the first Friday morning of June, tuned later that afternoon and put to use the next day.

It replaces an aging warhorse, which has been moved to a different location in the Music Building for lighter duty. Each year since 1974, the old piano averaged around 100 performances along with hundreds of rehearsals.

“The old piano was original equipment to the building, and it’s the instrument which sees the most daily rehearsal and performance use,” said Harold Kafer, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts and a member of the school’s piano faculty. “The piano was just simply worn out.”

“Generally, getting 15 years out of a performance piano is pretty good,” added Paul Bauer, director of the School of Music. “The fact that we got 30 years out of it by rebuilding it 15 years ago – we had stretched it.”

When regular maintenance no longer could support the level of professionalism the faculty and students demand – the piano’s soundboard, a major structural component, was starting to crack – the process to acquire a new instrument began.

Bauer said the $85,000 price tag, which could fund as many as three decades worth of music, is a far better investment than a $25,000 repair of a soundboard on a piano already way beyond its expected lifespan.

After bid requests were issued, Kafer joined NIU piano professors JeongSoo Kim and William Koehler and School of Music instrument technician David Graham in a trip to the Steinway factory in the Queens borough of New York City, where they spent a day playing, critiquing and discussing five pianos offered for their approval.

Selection of only one requires a balance of factors, Kafer said, including personal tastes, the piano’s technical performance and the characteristics of the instrument relative to the acoustics of the room.

“They’re all unique, like snowflakes,” Bauer said. “You need to find one that is best-suited for your performance needs. You want an assurance of getting an instrument worthy of your performer.”

“Three surfaced very quickly, two of which seemed to be clearly exciting on which to perform,” Kafer said. “The question was which of those two was most likely to serve best in the Recital Hall.”

Kafer said the winner – one “not too bright” for the Recital Hall – has made everyone happy. Dedication concerts are scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19; seating is limited, and free advance tickets are required. Call (815) 753-1546 or e-mail lslater@niu.edu.

“It’s a great instrument and a wonderful asset for the School of Music,” said William Goldenberg, a Presidential Teaching Professor on the piano faculty that also includes jazz specialist Willie Pickens. “It’s not just for the pianists, because almost all of the instruments and voices have to play with piano, so everyone will benefit. I’m sure it’ll be a great plus for the entire university for many, many years to come. We’re very happy to have it.”

For many, the purchase provided a once-in-a-career opportunity.

For Kafer, who oversaw the purchase of a piano while at Auburn University, it was his second chance to visit a factory, learn and see how pianos are built and to observe the updates in technology – although the construction of a piano remains “highly human-labor-intensive” work.

“It was a great experience for our faculty and technician to go through this process,” Bauer said. “It’s been 30 years since we bought a grand.”

Now that the task of bringing the piano to NIU is complete, and its service has begun, piano students and their professors have the responsibility of making the most of the instrument.

“One of the challenges of being a pianist is that, at some point in time, you’ll own your own instrument, on which you’ll practice. It’ll be the best instrument you can afford,” Kafer said. “With rare exceptions, it’s never the instrument you’ll perform on, which is not the case with other instrumentalists: They get to know their instruments very intimately. Over time, it becomes part of the skill set of a pianist.”

NIU’s new Steinway is probably “not only better” than most pianos students and faculty members use for practice, he said, but most likely “more exciting to play.”

“A great instrument does things to you, and for you, that you find exciting and elicits your best work. It’s a joy to play an instrument that doesn’t fight you, because then you’re free to give the audience your best performance,” Kafer said. “This is a piano that will elicit our students’ best performances, and that ultimately is the best reason to have that piano here.”

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