At many colleges and universities, music students practice on lower-tier institutional pianos. Of these, few are maintained in prime condition. However, world-wide, about 100 schools of higher-learning have had a defining moment and made the optimal choice to become All-Steinway Schools. To qualify for the All-Steinway School designation, a school’s inventory of Steinways as institutional pianos must equal or exceed 90% of the school’s total acoustic piano inventory. This esteemed designation includes The Julliard School in New York, the Yale School of Music in Connecticut, and the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio, to name but a few.
At Missouri Western University, the decision to invest in Steinways came when the school’s aging piano inventory proved to be in need of major maintenance and repair. Instead, the school decided to purchase 13 new Steinway instruments; among them are five Steinway grand pianos, one Boston grand piano, and seven Essex upright pianos.
Why Missouri Western Chose Steinway
For the music department at Missouri Western University, however, Steinway was the only choice: “A Steinway is the best there is,” noted Dr. Matthew Edwards, Associate Professor and Director of Keyboard Studies. “Piano majors now have the opportunity to practice, perform, and study on the best pianos in the world,” Edwards states.
What It Means to Be an All-Steinway School
The term, All-Steinway Schools, underscores the commitment to excellence that participating institutions have made to use only the highest quality equipment for the study of piano in their classes, practice rooms, and performance halls. Simply put: the world’s leading institutions insist on the world’s finest institutional pianos: Steinway & Sons.
How will becoming an All-Steinway School impact Missouri Western University?
Based on responses from current All-Steinway School participants, Missouri Western University’s music department may expect:
- The music department will attract the best-of-the-best candidates from abroad as well as nationwide.
- The enrollment in Missouri Western University’s music department will increase exponentially.
- The school’s piano students will enter and win more regional and national competitions.
- Renowned, well-established artists will seek residencies with or to perform at Missouri Western University due to the quality of the instruments the school now has at their disposal.
- Missouri Western University’s educational facility’s reputation for excellence will increase as well as its visibility.
Why Steinway Is the Institutional Piano of Choice
Steinway pianos are the institutional pianos of choice at hundreds of colleges, universities, conservatories, public and private schools, community music schools, performing arts centers, houses of worship, jazz clubs, recording studios, and the hospitality industry. This dedication to providing the finest educational tools available to their students, faculty, as well as to visiting artists, is recognized as a mark of their institutional excellence.
All-Steinway Schools demonstrate a full commitment to excellence by providing their students and faculties with the finest Steinway pianos possible for the study of music in higher education. That is why the only institutional pianos owned by the schools who have achieved this coveted designation, from the practice room to the recital hall, are exclusively designed by Steinway & Sons.
Expert Guidance from The Steinway Piano Gallery of Kansas City
Steinway Piano Gallery of Kansas City’s selection of Steinway institutional pianos is unrivaled. Whatever your skill level, from beginner, to serious amateur, college music major, or professional pianist, allow The Steinway Piano Gallery of Kansas City to assist you to find the ideal instrument that will enrich your life and facilitate your musical endeavors.
With the addition of 13 of the finest musical instruments available, Missouri Western University’s music students are poised to achieve their full-potential. “Whether students are alone in a practice room or in a crowded concert hall, they will be able to hear every nuance of their performance,” states Dr. Matthew Edwards. Adds Dr. Matt Gilmour, Professor and Chair of the Department of Music, “You can’t go wrong buying a Steinway. It’s a lifetime investment.”