Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Coda: A quiet finale for the Piano Hospital
Coda: A quiet finale for #vanwa's Piano Hospital http://bit.ly/2uyhSa7
Link to tweet
Coda: A quiet finale for the Piano Hospital
Vancouver's School of Piano Technology for the Blind closed its doors for the final time
By Scott Hewitt, Columbian Arts & Features Reporter
Published: July 24, 2017, 4:24 PM
....
The School of Piano Technology for the Blind, a unique Vancouver institution, shut its doors for the last time Monday. That was after spending four months holding what felt like an ongoing garage sale, executive director Cheri Martin said.
....
Class photographs and special memorabilia have found new homes at the Baltimore home of the National Federation for the Blind, the Piano Technicians Guild Foundation headquarters in Kansas City, Kan. — and at the nearby Washington State School for the Blind, which inadvertently had everything to do with the creation of the Piano Hospital. ... When the school cut piano tuning as a vocational program in 1949, faculty member Emil Fries revolted. He mortgaged his own property to start the school; the school went on to graduate approximately 320 students across its 68-year history.
But this year, the very specialized program couldn’t enroll a single student. Martin, a recent hire, said she reached out as never before to vocational counselors and public agencies that work with the blind; what she kept hearing was that blind people need no longer limit themselves to “blind trades” such as piano repair and tuning anymore.
And that’s great news — but Martin wishes the school hadn’t shut down on her watch, she said. She may not have had time to grieve yet, but when she watched volunteer Bannon stripping Braille labels off drawers, she said: “It just makes me so sad.”
....
Scott Hewitt
360-735-4525
@_ScottHewitt
scott.hewitt@columbian.com
Vancouver's School of Piano Technology for the Blind closed its doors for the final time
By Scott Hewitt, Columbian Arts & Features Reporter
Published: July 24, 2017, 4:24 PM
....
The School of Piano Technology for the Blind, a unique Vancouver institution, shut its doors for the last time Monday. That was after spending four months holding what felt like an ongoing garage sale, executive director Cheri Martin said.
....
Class photographs and special memorabilia have found new homes at the Baltimore home of the National Federation for the Blind, the Piano Technicians Guild Foundation headquarters in Kansas City, Kan. — and at the nearby Washington State School for the Blind, which inadvertently had everything to do with the creation of the Piano Hospital. ... When the school cut piano tuning as a vocational program in 1949, faculty member Emil Fries revolted. He mortgaged his own property to start the school; the school went on to graduate approximately 320 students across its 68-year history.
But this year, the very specialized program couldn’t enroll a single student. Martin, a recent hire, said she reached out as never before to vocational counselors and public agencies that work with the blind; what she kept hearing was that blind people need no longer limit themselves to “blind trades” such as piano repair and tuning anymore.
And that’s great news — but Martin wishes the school hadn’t shut down on her watch, she said. She may not have had time to grieve yet, but when she watched volunteer Bannon stripping Braille labels off drawers, she said: “It just makes me so sad.”
....
Scott Hewitt
360-735-4525
@_ScottHewitt
scott.hewitt@columbian.com