More than 60 Pianos destroyed at the Ithaca College school of music

[C.F. Kane]

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2009/12/14/pianos-vandalized-at-ithaca-college.html

'Twas the night before finals when a vandal damaged more than 60 pianos at Ithaca College. The discovery stunned the school of music and its students.
A sophomore music student stumbled upon the instruments that suffered vandalism Sunday, the Ithacan reports. The expensive instruments had front sound panels and music racks pulled off. Even some baby grand pianos were damaged, the report says. A few pianos had been "completely flipped over."
"It's perfect timing," says Andrew Thomson, the student who discovered the vandalized pianos. "It's wreaking havoc."
Dave Maley, Ithaca's associate director of media relations, says that there is "significant dollar damage" to the pianos. Officials are still investigating and assessing the damage.
In the meantime, students held a candlelight vigil Sunday night in support of the music school.
Some students were angry, the report says. "You talk to any music student about this and we all feel like there has been some horrific murder here," Thomson tells the Ithacan.

 

[Morg]

How much you wanna beat it's a student that did it?

 

[Majic Walrus]

That sucks.

 

[ross2287]

Sounds like someone...was trying to strike the wrong chord.

 

[Anita18]

I play piano, and it hurts me inside when someone mistreats one.

 

[Paroxysm]

[YT]WWaLxFIVX1s[/YT]

 

[The Battousai]

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2009/12/14/pianos-vandalized-at-ithaca-college.html

 

[AndThePickles]

That's really upsetting Pianos should be treated with care and cherished. Instrument abuse

 

[Sarge 2.0]

That Thomson kid sounds like a dickwad.

 

[bell110]

"It's perfect timing," says Andrew Thomson,

Sounds like the perfect suspect. Right in time for piano finals.

It sucks and all, but seriously, a candlelight vigil? A little overdramatic? I assume the college has insurance.

 

[AndThePickles]

"It's perfect timing," says Andrew Thomson,

Sounds like the perfect suspect. Right in time for piano finals.

It sucks and all, but seriously, a candlelight vigil? A little overdramatic? I assume the college has insurance.

Do you/have you ever played an instrument? I played piano for many years...if someone had come and destroyed my piano, I'd feel like someone died

 

[C.F. Kane]

The whole thing has hit Ithaca's campus pretty hard, I guess largely because it's so out-of-left field.

I actually first heard about it through my brother - he's an arts student at Ithaca and from what I can tell the music department has been pretty shocked by the whole thing. Early estimates put it at hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the department

 

[Dave McFly]

Sounds like someone...was trying to strike the wrong chord.

[YT]knnwIMXuj1U[/YT]



seriously, that sucks for those students tho

 

[Bat Attack]

This pisses me off, some people are so immature it's just pathetic.

 

[Cunning Stunts]

Do you/have you ever played an instrument? I played piano for many years...if someone had come and destroyed my piano, I'd feel like someone died

Exactly. You touch my bass guitar, it's very likely that when you pull your arm back, your hand won't be there.

We get defensive over our ****.

 

[SuperFerret]

I like how they mention the baby grand pianos, like someone drowned a bag of kittens instead of messing up some (and I capitalize for emphasis here) COMPLETELY REPLACEABLE INANIMATE OBJECTS.

 

[Drakon]

It sounds like these pianos..........

Hit a sour note with someone.

YYYEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

[The Battousai]

I like how they mention the baby grand pianos, like someone drowned a bag of kittens instead of messing up some (and I capitalize for emphasis here) COMPLETELY REPLACEABLE INANIMATE OBJECTS.

Yeah - it's not like the arts have had a metaphorical knife shoved into the chest by legislators through budget cuts. There couldn't possibly be any reason for the people to so upset.



...in all seriousness though, pianos are incredibly valuable instruments - my music department sure as hell wouldn't react well to just one of their pianos being damaged (a couple of them are Steinways worth over $60,000) let alone 60.

This level of vandalism is completely despicable.

 

[NotAHenchwench]

That made me cry.... I don't understand why people would destroy musical instruments...

The music majors must be s******g themselves, especially if they have juries this week. I feel for them...

 

[Alexia Dark]

Absolutely horrible. I hope that person(s) gets clubbed over the head with a bassoon.

 

[Majic Walrus]

I like how they mention the baby grand pianos, like someone drowned a bag of kittens instead of messing up some (and I capitalize for emphasis here) COMPLETELY REPLACEABLE INANIMATE OBJECTS.

At the risk of agreeing with you SF, I agree with you. It sucks completely that this happened, but it's vandalism. Vandalism sucks and it's illegal but it isn't murder. Some of these people are acting like someone came in and killed every musician on the campus.

Yeah - it's not like the arts have had a metaphorical knife shoved into the chest by legislators through budget cuts. There couldn't possibly be any reason for the people to so upset.



...in all seriousness though, pianos are incredibly valuable instruments - my music department sure as hell wouldn't react well to just one of their pianos being damaged (a couple of them are Steinways worth over $60,000) let alone 60.

This level of vandalism is completely despicable.

True, but isn't all vandalism equally despicable?

 

[Darthphere]

A candle light vigil? Seriously? Like for real? Seriously? Like they actually sat there with candles singing Candle in the Wind or something? It's a ****ing piano, it can be replaced.

 

[NotAHenchwench]

At the risk of agreeing with you SF, I agree with you. It sucks completely that this happened, but it's vandalism. Vandalism sucks and it's illegal but it isn't murder. Some of these people are acting like someone came in and killed every musician on the campus.

In a way, it kind of has. When you're a music major you NEED the pianos to go through day to day life. I practice for about 2 hours a day, and that's on the smaller scale of other vocalists and instrumentalists. The pianists alone are in there for 5 or 6, deep into the night. Some of the instrumentalists don't use pianos, but think.... now all of those rooms probably have tape over them because it's now a crime scene. I sincerely hope their juries are over, because losing your practice space is one hard blow..

 

[Darthphere]

In a way, it kind of has. When you're a music major you NEED the pianos to go through day to day life. I practice for about 2 hours a day, and that's on the smaller scale of other vocalists and instrumentalists. The pianists alone are in there for 5 or 6, deep into the night. Some of the instrumentalists don't use pianos, but think.... now all of those rooms probably have tape over them because it's now a crime scene. I sincerely hope their juries are over, because losing your practice space is one hard blow..

But again, a piano can be replaced. When I think candle light vigils I think of the post 9/11 atmosphere. I think about a friend dying in a car wreck. I don't think "Man someone ****ed over some pianos". I don't care if playing piano is "your life" or whatever. Nothing that can't be placed was harmed here.

 

[NotAHenchwench]

But again, a piano can be replaced. When I think candle light vigils I think of the post 9/11 atmosphere. I think about a friend dying in a car wreck. I don't think "Man someone ****ed over some pianos". I don't care if playing piano is "your life" or whatever. Nothing that can't be placed was harmed here.

It's not JUST the pianos, Darth. It's also the students. It's also an attack on the department. It's like your home being robbed and burned to the ground. I do understand that they can be replaced, but it's still a violent act against a group of people who view those objects as MORE than objects. My cello, even though I haven't played in years, is sacred to me. If someone broke it, I'd probably wake up washing blood off of my hands and not remember what happened.