By DEBORA SHAULIS

By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dr. Caroline Oltmanns holds down an ivory on the Steinway grand piano in her third-floor office at Youngstown State University Dana School of Music. She points inside the piano at the key's raised damper. There are about 100 working parts in between those points, she says.
Oltmanns knows the intricacies of pianos, which she has played since age 3. She has learned how susceptible a piano's sound quality is to environmental changes. She knows that pianos, like automobiles, require routine maintenance if they are to operate at peak levels.
Oltmanns is also painfully aware that upkeep of these instruments is costly. "We definitely need help with the maintenance," she says.
Piano Week: Preserving Dana's treasure trove of Steinways is one of Oltmanns' goals as she and her students prepare for Piano Week, which begins Sunday.
It's a high-profile week for the students, who will give free concerts in Bliss Hall Ford Theater. It's also an occasion for Oltmanns to sound off on the state of the school's pianos.
Steinways are revered among concert pianists. Dana School of Music is "blessed" to have a Steinway in a private practice room for each of the school's 30 piano students, Oltmanns said. Most of the instruments were bought in the 1970s.
Compared to "most conservatories that I've been to or studied at, the ratio of pianos [to students] and the quality of them ... makes Dana superb," said Oltmanns. A native of Germany, she was a Fulbright scholar at University of Southern California.
Constant tuning needed: Dana's pianos require constant tuning, since changes in humidity affect tone, she said.
Many of the pianos also need to be rebuilt after decades of constant use. That would make them "almost new," Oltmanns said. The cost could be as much as $5,000 each.
"It's not smart to put one lump sum into a piano," Oltmanns said. Gradual work is preferable.
Needs a fund: The school needs a piano maintenance fund. Otherwise, in the next five years, "we'll lose some of them," Oltmanns said of the Steinways.
Oltmanns is so steadfast in her desire for improved piano maintenance and acoustics that she stopped performing in Bliss Recital Hall last year, opting instead to play in places like Boardman High School's new Performing Arts Center.
"I'm still striking," she said. "I want to play in town. I play in town as much as possible, but not here."
Fund-raising will be a component of future Piano Week events, she added.
A piano restoration fund "sounds like a great idea," said Dr. George McCloud, dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts, which houses Dana School of Music. It could begin with capital equipment money from the university.
The problem is, there are "innumerable" needs, McCloud said. The percussion department received $50,000 to purchase new instruments. Equipment in the arts college's $400,000 multi-purpose computer laboratory for visual art and music students will need to be replaced soon, he said.
"Of course, we compete with other legitimate demands" from around the university, especially from equipment-intensive programs such as science and mathematics, the dean added.
Oltmanns has received support not only from McCloud, but also from her colleagues and the school's secretaries, she said.