Ceremony in Potter Hall honors Western as third Missouri university to become certified

By Emily Gummelt

February 10, 2010 No Comments

Missouri Western officially gained its All-Steinway status Friday night during a dedication ceremony held in Potter Hall Theater.

Western is now the third university in Missouri to become an All-Steinway school.

The ceremony began with a showing of a documentary called “Note by Note,” which showed the process in which a Steinway concert grand—#L1037—was created and assembled. The actual piano was unveiled on stage afterwards, and played by pianist Robert McDonald—a faculty member of Juilliard in New York City—later in the evening.

Jim Hoover, district sales manager for Steinway & Sons, answered questions from audience members. Subjects ranged from basic piano care to how humidity affects the instruments.

“When you have a cold room and a cold instrument, you can feel and hear the results,” Hoover said. “If you’re comfortable as a person, the piano is comfortable.”

He offered a special thanks to music professors in the audience.

“You are the ones who inspired me,” Hoover said.

He also clarified that a person does not have to be a professional musician to play or appreciate these great instruments—one can be a student who is only in the beginning stages of learning.

“No matter how well you play, you become an extension of it, and it becomes an extension of you,” Hoover said. “I think the world would be in much better shape if we had more musicians.”

A special video acknowledgment from Sally Coveleskie, National Director of Institutional Sales for Steinway & Sons, was shown shortly after Hoover made his closing remarks. She was not able to be there in person, but wanted to recognize the students and faculty of Missouri Western.

“Missouri Western has provided (its students and faculty) with the best instruments possible for the study of music,” Coveleskie said.
President Vartabedian shared a few words as well.

“It’s been an eight-year institutional goal of ours (to become an All-Steinway school),” Vartabedian said. He believes this upgrade will help the university to grow.

“I think we will really be able to recruit and attract students we wouldn’t normally get,” Vartabedian said. “Art may be our only, truly universal language.”

Dr. F.M. Gilmour, chairperson in the music department, noted that all music faculty members were involved in the decision. He thanked the major contributors with a token gift from the university as a whole.

“Here’s a little bit of Missouri Western to take home with you,” he said.

Students were impressed with the upgrade on campus. Caitlyn Carter, a junior at Missouri Western, attended the ceremony and was pleased with Western’s decision to become an All-Steinway university. She is not a music major, but believes this will make Western look more prestigious.

“It kinda shows that Missouri Western is improving,” Carter said.