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ORU Becomes First All Steinway School

Oral Roberts University (ORU) is now officially considered an All Steinway School. ORU is the first university in Tulsa and one of only a handful of Christian universities in the world to achieve this prestigious mark of distinction.

There are only 120 schools worldwide recognized as All Steinway institutions. By becoming an All Steinway School, the majority of ORU's pianos are Steinways or Steinway products. Steinway pianos have a reputation for being the world's greatest pianos.

"We have dreamed of being an All Steinway School for many years and the students and faculty are ecstatic that day has arrived," said Wendy Shirk, dean of the ORU College of Arts and Cultural Studies. "Being an All Steinway School will allow our students the opportunity to work with the best pianos and will help attract future, world-class musicians to ORU."

ORU boasts a number of alumni who are world-class pianists. Three Steinway artists are among the ranks-Tulsa area music icon and ORU Instructor of Piano Donald Ryan, David Osborne and the late Larry Dalton. 

By achieving this prestigious status, ORU will be able to offer the highest quality of pianos to those students who are applying to prestigious schools of music. Piano students will be able to develop their technical skills and a discriminating ear for producing musical sounds which are indigenous to Steinways. Examples include brilliance as well as subtleties of tone quality and voicing, varieties of touch and articulation, and multiple levels of pedaling.

All Steinway Schools demonstrate a commitment to excellence by providing their students and faculty with the best equipment possible for the study of music. The Department of Music at Oral Roberts University now owns ten Steinway grand pianos, one studio upright Steinway piano, three Boston grand pianos, four Essex grand pianos, and seventeen Essex studio upright pianos.

Students will be inspired to practice for longer periods of time on these pianos which are superbly crafted for durability and resilience in a properly-maintained environment. Consequently, with higher quality of practice, students will progress more quickly toward advanced piano literature and gain necessary knowledge to prepare them for even better jobs in the music profession. This status from Steinway makes the ORU music department more attractive to students.

Thirty-seven new Steinway pianos were recently purchased for the Music Department thanks to $130,000 given by a number of generous donors as well as funds from a $10 million gift given for campus renovations. A $60,000 gift was given by Joe and Renae Bufogle toward the purchase of a Steinway 9 foot concert Grand piano. The music department is continuing to seek funds to purchase additional Steinway pianos. 

The ORU Department of Music is a member of NASM, the esteemed accrediting association for music departments in universities throughout the United States of America. Accredited baccalaureate degree programs are offered in music performance, music education, music in liberal arts, liturgical music, music composition, worship arts, and music technology.

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