Union High School boasts an exceptional musical programme, embodied by its stunning Blรผthner Patent Grand Piano, Model 7.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ 1906, ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ – ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง 192๐ค๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญรผ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ 7 ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ.
The story of Blรผthner pianos begins with Julius Blรผthner, who was born in Falkenhain, Germany, in 1824. Initially a cabinet-maker, Blรผthner founded his piano-making business in 1853. His dedication and innovation quickly garnered attention; his pianos were showcased at the Industrial Exhibition in 1854 and later adopted by the Leipzig Conservatory. By the turn of the 20th century, Blรผthner had become Europeโs second-largest piano manufacturer, producing both grand and upright models that were celebrated worldwide.
๐๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฐ, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐นรผ๐๐ต๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
Zelda Oosthuizen, the school’s senior music teacher, enlisted the expertise of Mark Davis from Mark Davis Piano Service in Cape Town to restore the instrumentโs mechanism. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ป ๐ญ๐ฐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฐ, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ.
The restoration focused on revitalizing components that had experienced wear and tear over the decades. Worn cloth, felt and leather were replaced with new materials, including key mortise bushings, backcheck leather, and various felt components.
Additionally, new hammer shanks, flanges and hammerheads were installed, with all center pins replaced to optimize friction and mechanical performance. Each friction point and surface was carefully lubricated, ensuring smooth operation, before the action was reassembled and regulated for optimal performance.
๐๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐโ๐ด ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ. Mark Davis took great care to replace only those materials that had suffered significant deterioration, preserving the unique character of the Blรผthner while restoring it to excellent playing condition.
In an additional effort to accommodate the local climate, the piano was pitch-corrected and tuned to A442. This tuning choice considers Graaff-Reinet’s humid summer climate, preventing the pitch from dropping too far during the drier winter months. By tuning to A442 in summer, the piano maintains an optimal pitch range throughout the year, ensuring that its musical integrity remains intact.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐นรผ๐๐ต๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐, ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐’๐ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ถ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ-๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐.
