“New” Piano is Music Department Crown Jewel
One of the Music Department’s Steinway D concert pianos returned to campus this summer after undergoing a complete rebuild. The piano is from 1922 and is believed to have been purchased the same year Kirk Building opened, since that was the main performance venue at the time.
Having the piano rebuilt saved more than two-thirds of the cost of a new model, which can be in excess of $200,000. In addition to the savings, the rebuilt piano was crafted specifically to the University’s needs.
“Rebuilding a piano like this gives us the opportunity to customize parts and materials, and small-scale piano rebuilders can give much more attention to detail than a factory environment where new pianos are made in large numbers,” said piano technician Dustin Hamilton. “A custom rebuild job done by a high-end shop will always yield excellent results, sometimes better than what comes new from the factory.”
This rebuild consisted primarily of “belly work,” meaning the Steinway D received a new soundboard, strings and other interior attention. The soundboard is a piano’s “speaker,” and much like a high-end audio system, larger speakers project more sound. Concert grands have a large dynamic range, able to play the loudest louds, and softest softs. Large concert grands also have longer strings, giving them a clearer tone in the bass range. The technical aspects of the rebuild were completed by Wells Pianos in St. Paul, Minnesota, with cosmetic refinishing completed in Indiana.
“None of the original sound-producing parts of the piano remain. It is really an entirely new instrument,” Hamilton said. “This piano is destined to be the crown jewel of our recital hall stage for many years to come.”
The Music Department has roughly 45 pianos. These range from small uprights in practice rooms and studios, to small and medium grands in rehearsal halls and piano teaching studios, to performance instruments like the newly rebuilt Steinway D concert grand. The oldest piano on campus is a Steinway B from 1911. Truman also has other valuable grands from the 1950s through the 1970s.
“Steinway concert grands are the de facto standard piano performance instrument worldwide, and Truman is privileged to own four of them,” Hamilton said.
It is not unusual for Truman to have pianos rebuilt, but previous University piano rebuilds have been much less noticeable. In many cases the original soundboard is retained, especially when the instrument is not destined for a large room where it needs to project sound into a large space.
This piano left Kirksville in December and returned in July. The project had been planned for some time, and was completed thanks to financial support from the Provost’s Office. The piano is currently housed in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall and will be available for student pianists to play during recitals, as well as for faculty and guest artists, and accompany solo and ensemble recitals for countless other student instrumentalists and singers.
