Close but No Piano

Despite the love and respect for music for which the University is renowned, the college is now suffering from a disgraceful shortage of pianos. The ratio of musicians to instruments is so great--few Houses now have more than one practice piano--that aspiring musicians battle for practice hours days in advance. Precious artistic energy is wasted on manipulating schedules, and outwitting rivals. Physical strength, rather than potential talent, often determines the allotment of time. In the musical life of the Houses, where harmony and cooperation should prevail, discord now reigns.

As discussions of the relative merits of the Houses continues, and the orchestration of spring returns to Cambridge, more pianos should be purchased for the Houses. The importance of the piano in relation to the broader pursuit of learning is well recognized. Indeed, as Logan Pearshall Smith (1865-1946) wrote shortly before his death: "The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection even though it consists in nothing more than in the pounding of an old piano is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star."