In the storage area, there are the old dinged-up pianos with clunker keys. Then you step into a practice room and see the polished ebony Steinways, and it's like you're backstage at a makeover reality show. Maybe Elton John is the host.

The real story, however, is that the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam now has a full ensemble of Steinway & Sons pianos - in every practice room, professor's office and performance area. The shipment of 141 new Steinways, including two concert pianos, is the largest order ever placed in the history of the 154-year-old company.

Pianos were carefully transported in several deliveries from the Steinway factory in Long Island City to this State University college near the Canadian border that has produced about half of the music teachers in this state and about one out of six nationally.

The polished black instruments, all hand-made, were chosen with care. Music faculty and administrators went to Steinway. They played. They listened carefully to tones before selecting pianos.

Silence was the instrumental version of "clearing the palate" between selections.

Now, SUNY Potsdam is officially an "All-Steinway school," pronounced as such on its own Web site and on Steinway's.

That should interest potential music teachers, as well as budding performers, for many reasons.

With Steinways available for all students, "it really prepares them for being professional," said Paul Wyse, assistant professor of piano. "It ups the standards on both sides."

He also noted, "A good piano will respond to how far you push."

"Being used to a high level of instrument, they understand more details of pedaling, tone and sound," said Eugenia Tsarov, associate professor of piano. A higher quality instrument produces much more range.

"Being able to hear those differences stimulates the imagination," explained Gary Busch, professor of piano, music and literature.

Until this happened, he said, "it was just not imaginable to think I'd have a Steinway in the practice room and in the office."

Tsarov, who grew up in Russia, went to the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where the old, upright pianos were locked in the classrooms.

Busch, who is enjoying the "new piano smells" of spruce and varnish, said being an All-Steinway school is a "world of perfection we only dream of in the arts."

Students used to squabble about where their recitals would be, based on the quality of the pianos, but now that is unnecessary.

Non-piano majors benefit because the piano accompanies singers and other instruments. Crane School of Music also hosts an international piano competition every two years.

The piano teachers are members of United University Professions, NYSUT's affiliate at SUNY, led by William Scheuerman.

- Liza Frenette