George Winston Concert

[Jon Page]

One beneficial element of George's contract is that sometimes
the piano is left in better condition.  When they were planning
the performance I spoke with someone on his staff about the piano
in the hall.  He made the offer to pay for repairs on that piano to
bring it up instead of paying for a rental.  I told them there was
absolutely no hope for the S&S M in the hall and directed them
to the local Conservatory.
To which a B was supplied that needed no extra work :-)
Unfortunately, the movers left the piano on the floor of the
auditorium rather than the stage. Just try to put your hands
on a 12' ramp on a Saturday afternoon 50 miles from nowhere.
I have conections and a ramp arrived about 6pm.  There was
just enough time to get the piano on the stage and set up
for the sound check. (I tuned it on the floor prior to moving).
Needless to say, it was a minor fiasco, but worked out after
all the anxiety.
The only next difficult task was to touch-up a few unisons
above the clamour of the audience during half time. He has
an interesting method of marking the offenders.  He keeps a 
supply of small pieces of masking tape handy to place on the
strut over the note. This speeds up the process by not having
to hunt (and reduces the selection of what we may hear and 
need to focus on).
All in all it was an enjoyable experience but with my increasing
reconditioning ventures, tuning is being phased out.
Not completely but considerably.

Jon Page