If you enter the Moody Towers, you will notice, in addition to the fitness room at the center of the hall, there are also two piano practice rooms next to it. And in the University Hilton, you can find a grand piano in a party hall on the second floor.
That’s good. That’s the norm of our life. It’s been so for a long time and has become a tradition. We simply can’t live without music. In contrast, however, at the University Center, a facility also known as the "living room" of our university community, you can’t see a single piano anywhere. Don’t you think it’s odd enough?
Only the "insiders" can tell you that there is still one Steinway grand piano there. But it’s stashed somewhere unobtrusively hidden in a large wooden box, and is not supposed to be played by students.
This is really a sad situation for UH students. For a comparison, I went to Rice University’s student center and found that even though it is much smaller than our UC, a grand piano is accessible to students. Even in neighboring Texas Southern University, where there is no student center to my knowledge, I was able to find a piano.
The piano situation at the UC was never so bad as it is today. In fact it was much better than what Rice has. I remember very well, when I first enrolled at UH as a graduate student more than 20 years ago, the large number of pianos I saw at UC amazed me. I felt like the pianos were almost everywhere from underground to second floor; you could see upright pianos in many meeting rooms. There was a large underground hall holding almost 10 upright pianos lined up in a row along the wall for group students to play. During lunchtime there were often tens of students gathered there, including me, chatting and playing. And on the second floor there were three luxury individual piano practice rooms equipped with grand pianos. Many religious groups used pianos for accompanying their singing when they gathered at UC for the weekend or Sunday worship. That was the UC piano’s "golden" period.
Who is responsible for this scarcity? The UC decision makers and administrators are to blame. It reflects the administrators’ negligence, ignorance and irresponsibility toward students ‘life concerns.
The great Frontier Fiesta event at UH was banned and abandoned by President A.D. Bruce in the 60s. But then it was recognized as a mistake, and later through many students’ and alumni’s effort, the event was resumed and continued until now. Similarly, the removal of the pianos from the UC was an inexcusable mistake. The UC administrators should have some sort of educator’s flair. They should encourage, incite and nurture students’ interests in science and arts, not deprive them from such opportunity.
UH President Renu Khator calls for advancing our university to a flagship institution. Such an ambitious goal can’t be accomplished without many types of efforts.
If UH does want to be a flagship institution, then it must show something worthy to the others to be recognized as an exemplary model. The UC must change its current plight; it needs a "renaissance" to bring the pianos back to its golden period again. As a minimal step, this cultural activity center should be equipped with some student-accessible pianos, and resume the piano practice rooms on the second floor.
Guo-Yin Xu, a UH alumnus, can be reached via [email protected].
