On April 10, 2014, the Gershwin Model A Steinway came home to the School of Music, Theatre & Dance for the second time.  Their work completed, PianoCrafters engaged Piano Moving Specialists, a company out of Dearborn Heights, MI to deliver the piano to the Piano Tech workshop located next to the loading dock of the Moore Building.  The owner of the business is an affable fellow named Jack Carter.  He’s the best there is in the Metro Detroit area.  He handles every move personally, he cares about his crew’s safety, and he commands their respect.  The results speak for themselves; […]

It’s now April 2014 and we’re getting hints of Spring everywhere.  Aside from the welcome snowmelt, we’re seeing a little more green in the expanses of lawn across campus, and birds are chirping from the barren trees, claiming territory for the spring rituals of nest building and mating.  What a time of renewal! Such is the experience for the Gershwin Model A as well!  We now have strings!  And new keys! And a new hammer action!  It definitely is rebirth, a remaking of greatness. I visited PianoCrafters on Tuesday, April 1 to inspect the piano with its new strings, keyboard […]

In my earlier article about restoring an historic instrument, I promised to talk a little about soundboards specifically.  It’s a topic that can fill volumes, and goodness knows that piano technicians talk about soundboards a great deal.  Everyone has an opinion, of course, and that includes me! Of course, whenever the owner of a revered piano hears about soundboard replacement, there is concern that the piano won’t sound like it used to.  I think this is due to a certain urban myth about pianos and soundboards that gave rise to the phrase “the soundboard is the soul of the piano”. […]

Original Keyboard and Action of the George Gershwin piano. Having received the Gershwin piano in the Piano Technology Shop in the Moore Building, the thorny question of restoration confronts us.  How does one go about the rehabilitation of an instrument that is old while preserving its essence?  We’ve had a bit of experience with this in the past.  In fact, three examples of what and how we go about the restoration of an historical instrument can be found right on campus.  The first is the Elizabeth Gould Hochmann Steinway Model B which is on permanent loan to the University of […]

The e-mail from Marc Gershwin began with a simple opening: “Dear Bob, I am pleased to let you know that I would definitely like to donate the piano to the U of M.” That’s all I needed to know.  We were going to be the lucky beneficiaries of a major gift; the last one of three pianos owned by George Gershwin, a long Model A Steinway grand piano that he purchased in 1933.  Wow! It wasn’t necessarily a sure thing.  The process began with an inquiry from the dean’s office about whether I knew any appraisers in New York who […]

Nothing quite matches the anticipation of a long-awaited item arriving by mail or UPS or Wells Fargo Wagon…or so goes the sentiment behind the song in “The Music Man” (forgive me the reference to a composition not by George or Ira Gershwin).  But that’s  the feeling I had when the semi truck from Modern Piano Movers pulled in to the Moore Building parking lot of the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance at 8:30 p.m. on April 13, 2013.  It was really “something special” to see that 75-foot vehicle pull in and unload George Gershwin’s prized Model […]

George Gershwin was among the world’s first “Crossover Artists,” a master of not only opera, stage, and screen, but as well, of melding the styles of popular jazz with those more traditionally identified in the symphonic orchestra. As such, his music invites new and fresh interpretation, while still retaining the essence of Gershwin’s own artistic identity. Jazz trumpet professor Bill Lucas leads the project and points out: “As a Symphonic musician with serious jazz roots, it is often difficult to have to play Gershwin’s music within the orchestra, so straight laced, without any of the tools a jazz musician is […]

Gershwin on the Fringe, a set on Flickr. U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance jazz trumpet professor Bill Lucas is in U-M’s Duderstadt Studio this month working on a new project — Gershwin on the Fringe — that taps into the lifeblood of Gershwins’ creativity by bringing a classical brass quintet together with a jazz combo. The resulting CD project will be released this spring with concerts in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Professor Lucas plays both jazz and classical music regularly as he is also a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Other U-M faculty involved include David Jackson […]

In celebration of George’s 115th birthday this week, I was a guest on Craig Fahle’s radio show on WDET in Detroit. Every time I get to talk about the Gershwin Initiative at the University of Michigan or the new George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, I get even more excited about the project. Click on the image above or here to listen to the segment on the Web. Thanks go to Craig and WDET for taking the time to celebrate this momentous opportunity.

As the newly appointed editor-in-chief of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, I can’t believe my good fortune — to lead the team of scholars charged with the task of restoring and clarifying our understanding of the oeuvre of the Gershwin Brothers. It’s a privilege and honor to take on this responsibility and to contribute my passion for music and research to the task of making the works of George and Ira Gershwin available in full scholarly editions and for the first time. Most surprising to many, however, may be that this work needs to be done at all. […]