BP School gets grand deal on piano

Success, the saying goes, is always a matter of luck and timing.

That’s the perfect explanation of how the Blooming Prairie School District got itself a grand piano.

The district is in the middle of a $34 million construction and renovation project, which will include a new performing arts center.

“We were hoping to have a baby grand piano in our new facility,” said Superintendent Chris Staloch, “knowing that we would have this beautiful space” and beautiful acoustics.

“Hoping” and “doing” are two different things, of course – especially when it comes to a quality big-ticket item like a baby grand piano.

Mid-quality certified pre-owned – and some new – baby grands fetch anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000, so hoping seemed like the best the district could do.

But what is music without timing?

“Amelia Harthan happened to be at Schmitt Music in Brooklyn Center this summer, and there was a widow of a musician who was looking to get rid of a grand piano,” Staloch said. “And they started talking about it.”

Harthan, of Hayfield, was music director for Blooming Prairie’s high school musicals for more than a decade.

The widow “wanted to put the piano in the music store, basically on consignment,” said Karen Fouarge, president of the BP Education Foundation – which played a big part in the success.

“We’d been keeping the ed foundation informed about the building project,” Staloch said. “One of the members reached out to me right when we passed the referendum (in November 2021) and said, ‘if there’s something big, something that could stand out, we’d like to be a part of it.’”

What’s bigger than a 9-foot grand piano, relatively new, in mint condition?

Harthan told the woman about a little school district in southeast Minnesota that was building its first-ever performing arts center, and the dream to furnish it with a piano befitting the space.

“When she found out it was a small school and (the piano) will be getting use, she gave them a heck of a deal,” Fouarge said.

The “pretty nice price,” Staloch said, was $32,000. That piano, brand new, has a suggested retail price of $200,995.

“Obviously, new wouldn’t have even been a thought,” he said, and contacted the executive committee of the BP Ed Foundation about the opportunity.

“We talked it over, decided that we’d purchase it and it would be put to good use in the years to come,” Fouarge said.

The group paid for the K Kawai grand piano – the preferred choice for many classical pianists – and paid to have it delivered, along with a dehumidification system for the instrument.

“The school will be doing the ongoing upkeep on it,” Fouarge said.

That’s thanks to the music boosters, “who are going to help be part of that,” Staloch said, “because it’s an expensive piece of equipment. It’s probably going to take a little more maintenance than just a regular piano does.”

As part of the performing arts center space, the district had planned for a closeted space off to the side of the auditorium for the piano they were hoping for someday.

“It was originally built for a baby grand, so we needed another foot” to accommodate the full grand, Staloch said.

“It was early enough (in the construction phase), so we talked to the architect and moved a wall about a foot at no additional cost to the project,” he said. The dehumidification system was built into the room to protect the piano.

The ed foundation’s executive committee has heard it played, thanks to BPHS music teacher Kari Bottin.

Though it was a unanimous decision to purchase the instrument, Fouarge said, “it’s a really beautiful piece, and after they saw it in person, they were really glad we were in the right place at the right time.”

Both she and Staloch said the story mostly speaks to the support of the community.

“This is why we do our annual auction,” Fouarge said, “to make money and have it go back to the kids and the district. This is what we do, and this is why we do it – for the kids.”

Some students have already had the chance to play the piano, Staloch said, and “the sound from it is just amazing.”

The district continues to work with other people on donations.

“The ed foundation is supportive, and it’s the people behind the ed foundation,” he said, “so many people in our community, doing all of this fund-raising.

“It’s quite a story, isn’t it?”